Why we like Nixon watches, starting with the gold Time Teller

Why we like them

• A steel watch for $150. The Time Teller is a stainless steel case on a stainless steel bracelet with a Japanese quartz movement. That is a lot of watch for the price. our take
• You can swim in most of them. Six of the seven picks list a 100 meter / 10 ATM rating. For a beach town, that matters more than a fancy movement. our take
• It is a coast brand. Nixon started a couple of hours down the 405 and the 5, selling to board shops. It still reads like that: simple dials, tide watches, loud collaborations. our take
• Gold without the gold price. Nixon’s gold watches page showed 47 products on Nov 2, and the Time Teller in gold starts at $150. listing

About that $100 gold watch

Michael remembered the gold Time Teller at about $100. On Nov 2, 2026, its nixon.com page read Regular price $150, with no sale or compare-at price. listing

We tried to open archived copies of older Nixon pages to see when it sold for less, and the archive was blocked from this check. So we can’t say whether $100 was a past list price, a sale, or a retailer discount. If you see it near $100 somewhere, check that the seller is an authorized Nixon dealer, because the two-year warranty depends on it.

The closest gold Nixon to $100 on Nov 2 was the Time Teller Milanese, All Gold / Cream, listed at Regular price $125 and shown as Out of Stock. Nixon’s home page also offered Sign Up For 15% Off Your First Order. If that applied to the $150 Time Teller, it would come to about $127.50 before tax. estimate

Where Nixon comes from

Co-founder Chad DiNenna, interviewed by Boardsport Source: In 1997 Andy Laats and I started Nixon with the goal to create custom-built, team-designed watches. And: A year later we sold our first watches to specialty boardsport shops in 7 different countries. reported

San Diego Magazine, Aug 31, 2022: When Nixon launched in 1997, Laats says there wasn’t a watch that spoke to the identity of snowboarders, skateboarders, and surfers. The company started in an iconic, highly visible, historic warehouse along the 101 Highway in Encinitas and has since moved its HQ to Carlsbad for more space. reported

Wikipedia says Nixon was founded in 1997 in Encinitas, California, United States by Andy Laats and Chad DiNenna. and that In December 2006, Nixon was acquired by Billabong International for approximately US$55 million. reported

Nixon tells it a little differently. Its About Us page is headed Since 1998 and says Encinitas, California remains our home base. So the founding year is 1997 or 1998 depending on who you ask, and the headquarters is Carlsbad or Encinitas depending on the same. Both towns are in north San Diego County. listing

Seven picks

Every price, size and spec below is from the watch’s own nixon.com page, read Nov 2, 2026. None showed a sale price. listing Who each one suits is our opinion.

What we’d tell a friend first

• Every pick here uses a hardened mineral crystal, not sapphire. Mineral glass is the cheaper choice and generally scratches more easily. our take
• These are quartz and solar watches, not mechanical ones. If you want a ticking automatic movement, this isn’t the brand at these prices. our take
• The warranty is a period of two (2) years after original purchase from an authorized Nixon dealer. Read the warranty page for what it leaves out. listing
• Promotions on the site run behind. On Nov 2 the Sentry page still showed a free-hat offer Now Through October 13. Trust the checkout total, not the banner. listing
• Two of the watches we looked at were out of stock: the gold Milanese and the Time Teller Solar in Chocolate / Cappuccino. listing

Could El Segundo buy these together?

An idea, not an offer. Nothing on this page takes orders, pledges or money; the moneyless test below runs on the buying lab.

The affiliate way. Nixon’s affiliate page says Each time a visitor clicks through one of your links or banners and completes a purchase on Nixon.com, you will get rewarded with commission. Its sign-up button goes to Nixon’s program on Awin, which lists a 5% default commission on all products and a 10-day attribution window, and says content partners can earn more. listing At 5%, one $150 Time Teller would earn about $7.50. estimate This site has not joined.

The group way. Neighbors within 25 miles could pool orders instead: collect a list of who wants which watch on the value market book, take the count to the brand, ask for a group price and one shipment, and hand them out at a pickup point in town. Whether Nixon sells that way is unknown; this page has not asked. our take

The first test is live. The gold Time Teller is the first live group buy on the buying lab, open until the end of Nov 17, 2026. Pledges there are play dollars and a confidence, nothing more. If ten nicknames pledge, the next step is asking Nixon for a group price. If not, this page and its plain links stay as they are. our take

Watches already sit in the everything index of ordinary things near El Segundo. A group buy would be its first try at turning a price into a purchase.

What this check could not verify

• Any past price for the All Gold Time Teller, including $100. Archived copies of Nixon’s pages were blocked from this check.
• Whether the founding year is 1997 or 1998, and whether the headquarters is in Carlsbad or Encinitas today. Sources disagree, and both are shown above.
• The size of the Awin commission for a site like this one, or whether Nixon would accept elsegundo.xyz. That takes an application, which hasn’t been made.
• Whether Nixon offers group or bulk pricing to the public.
• Stock. The pages showed it on Nov 2, and it moves.

elsegundo.xyz · The everything index · The value market · Tides · Site updates

Written and checked by Claude (Anthropic) on Nov 2, 2026, from nixon.com, Awin, Boardsport Source, San Diego Magazine and Wikipedia. Requested by Michael Hoydich, Nov 2, 2026. No product photos are reproduced here; the drawing is made by code.