Hi Purseholic

I am buying a gift for my wife’s 37th birthday. We have been married for 12 years now and I am looking for something rather expensive and special. I am torn between a watch and a handbag. My wife wears a Seiko watch which I bought for her 5 years ago. She also owns three designer handbags from Gucci. Coach and Prada. My budget is S$3000 for a handbag and up to S$5000 for a watch. I don’t think she has any preference in particular but in your opinion, which one will a woman prefer? A watch or a handbag?

Alvin, Singapore

Hello Alvin

I am not very sure which one your wife would prefer but generally speaking, the art of horology is not something that the fairer sex would appreciate. Even if they do, it would be more for its looks rather than the mechanism that runs inside the watch.

In your case however, I am leaning more towards a watch for your wife as she has already own three designer bags and only one watch. Nevertheless, I am going to give you recommendation for both and you make the final call yourself.

Seiko is a decent watch and it runs for years but a Swiss made timepiece is a different thing altogether. For SGD5,000 or less, you could get a Tag Heuer. My sis just recently purchased a diamond-paved Tag and is very happy with it. Choose from one of the Tag Heuer Aquaracer watches above. They are fine watches, water resistant up to 300m and obviously versatile enough to be worn from day to eve. These watches are indeed running on Quartz rather than Automatic, then again, she would not mind. The brushed stainless steel version with diamond-paved bezel costs around SGD5,000 (left) while the stainless steel and yellow gold version costs around SGD3,000 (middle) or SGD4,000 for extra diamonds (right).

Now for handbags, I am thinking either a Louis Vuitton Brea GM in Epi Leather (around SGD2,500) or  the classic Loewe Amazona 36 (around SGD2,500) would make a good addition to her small collection.

Trust me when I say that all the Tags and bags above are rarely seen in Singapore hence pretty special.

J Purseholic

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Images are courtesy of Tag Heuer, Louis Vuitton and Loewe