I own basically the cheapest mechanical chronograph watch in existence and I love it. For 250 bucks you can get a "Seagull 1963" watch from China on Amazon.
It's actually a really nice looking watch with a glass case back so you can see all the gears in the movement. It was designed by the Swiss company Venus a long time ago and they sold it to a Chinese company at some point where it got copied by a bunch of other Chinese companies.
You might find it under a different brand name. Mine is the "Seakoss" variant. They come in a bunch of different styles and sizes so pick whichever you prefer.
Sure maybe it's not great to be supporting China but so much stuff we buy comes from China anyway so I don't think about it too much.
I wanted a mechanical watch so I could admire the gears but I wasn't about to drop many thousands of dollars on one so this thing fits the bill.