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FWIW, you can always go "high-end" in the digital watches for bling. For example: http://www.thetimecomputer.com/ or http://www.ventura.ch/

Or instead, you might consider going classic and find an older "pre-owned" digital watch or maybe a more recent watch that is still widely available like the Timex T2N3129J...

You can already buy a watch with a synthetic diamond face for $5 - the Rado V10K. Rado is the leader in scratch-proof watches.

I wear a watch with a sapphire face and a nitrogen-hardened titanium body. I don't know the physics, but the metal is as hard as sapphire - I can scratch glass with it! So far, five years old and not a single scratch. But I do have a small dent in it from an emergency landing in a hang glider... ah, good times.

It's not a sports watch & I'm just an exotic-materials freak. :-) It's a simpler ventura that's not on the website anymore. Yeah, it was a bit spendy, but I made up for it by getting a lower-end ventura model on shopnbc.com for 80% off. And someone was still making a profit on that!

I totally agree... I think of rolex's as just fancy jewelery that you can buy in any mall in america. I prefer unique and technologically advanced watches. (I've had my hardened titanium ventura for 4 years and it's totally scratch-free and I haven't met another person wearing one) But, the Woman's Rolex automatic Oyster Datejust is the most consistently precise and accurate movement tested by COSC, so you've got to give them some credit.

I've had two titanium watches....

The first was a Wittnauer (I don't think they make it anymore). It was unfinished titanium, and got a lot of scratches during the year and a half that I wore it (it has a 10-year pacemaker battery!)

The second one is a ventura v-matic watch, and it's had the honor of being on my wrist for 3 years. Usually I get bored of watches, or they get scratched, so that's quite a feat! This watch has a special nitrogen coating that seems unique to ventura (I'd love to see it on non-watch products). The surface has been hardened to the hardness of saphire. Saphire is just below diamond on the hardness scale, and, yes, it scratchs glass. The watch is absolutely scratchless. It has a small ding (.5mm dia) that occured in a hangglider emergency landing (although "survived a plane crash" sounds much sexier!). But, the ding is exactly that - not a scratch. Since only the surface is hardend, the material is still soft underneath and can be dented.

Although the watch is big (pure mechanical, automatic winder), it's still light. As an engineer, I love the see-through back!! Check out the 3d viewer of it.

It's a bit spendy, but most of the price is the mechanicals inside. Ok, a good chunk (1/5-2/3) is to the retailer, but most of the manufacturing cost is probably labor.

I've had two titanium watches....

The first was a Wittnauer (I don't think they make it anymore). It was unfinished titanium, and got a lot of scratches during the year and a half that I wore it (it has a 10-year pacemaker battery!)

The second one is a ventura v-matic watch, and it's had the honor of being on my wrist for 3 years. Usually I get bored of watches, or they get scratched, so that's quite a feat! This watch has a special nitrogen coating that seems unique to ventura (I'd love to see it on non-watch products). The surface has been hardened to the hardness of saphire. Saphire is just below diamond on the hardness scale, and, yes, it scratchs glass. The watch is absolutely scratchless. It has a small ding (.5mm dia) that occured in a hangglider emergency landing (although "survived a plane crash" sounds much sexier!). But, the ding is exactly that - not a scratch. Since only the surface is hardend, the material is still soft underneath and can be dented.

Although the watch is big (pure mechanical, automatic winder), it's still light. As an engineer, I love the see-through back!! Check out the 3d viewer of it.

It's a bit spendy, but most of the price is the mechanicals inside. Ok, a good chunk (1/5-2/3) is to the retailer, but most of the manufacturing cost is probably labor.

I've had two titanium watches....

The first was a Wittnauer (I don't think they make it anymore). It was unfinished titanium, and got a lot of scratches during the year and a half that I wore it (it has a 10-year pacemaker battery!)

The second one is a ventura v-matic watch, and it's had the honor of being on my wrist for 3 years. Usually I get bored of watches, or they get scratched, so that's quite a feat! This watch has a special nitrogen coating that seems unique to ventura (I'd love to see it on non-watch products). The surface has been hardened to the hardness of saphire. Saphire is just below diamond on the hardness scale, and, yes, it scratchs glass. The watch is absolutely scratchless. It has a small ding (.5mm dia) that occured in a hangglider emergency landing (although "survived a plane crash" sounds much sexier!). But, the ding is exactly that - not a scratch. Since only the surface is hardend, the material is still soft underneath and can be dented.

Although the watch is big (pure mechanical, automatic winder), it's still light. As an engineer, I love the see-through back!! Check out the 3d viewer of it.

It's a bit spendy, but most of the price is the mechanicals inside. Ok, a good chunk (1/5-2/3) is to the retailer, but most of the manufacturing cost is probably labor.