Automatic versus quartz will really depend on what you want or if a watch.

Quartz will be the practical choice for someone who just wants a watch that just works - it is accurate, reliable and does the job with the minimum of fuss. If you don’t wear a watch every day for example, you can just grab it when you need it, knowing that it will still be ticking away at the correct time.

Automatic is the enthusiast’s choice. In most technical ways it is the worst choice - it is much less accurate, more delicate, generally thicker, and only has a power reserve of a few days so will stop if you don’t wear it and need reset. Yet somehow most of that doesn’t really matter, and the daft appeal of that sweeping second hand and the knowledge that your watch is powered by a physical mechanism rather than a small computer chip and battery are just appealing.

I own both - the watches that appeal to me the most are generally automatics, but I still have a few quartz models kicking about for the practicality.

A $500 budget also puts you nicely on the border of both - for a quartz model something like a Citizen Eco-drive is a superb place to start, plus you also have things like some of the Seiko models, Casio and a few models from the likes of Tissot. There are also a range of automatics available - the Seiko 5 range is a superb starting point, some of the budget models from brands like Hamilton or Tissot, done citizen models, and a vast array of models from the Chinese brands like Pagani, Steeldive and so on.

If you already own something like a Protrek as a rugged, outdoorsy (digital) quartz watch, something like a Seiko 5 would probably be a nice place to dip a toe into the world of automatic watches…