For anyone who follows my Instagram @mickyjicky and @my.six.point.five.inch.wrist , you may find out that I’m really into a ‘smaller watch’ recently. Therefore, in this post, I would like to talk about ‘watch size’ that why now I prefer smaller diameter watches and I think you should consider as well.
Here are my 4 main reasons!!
Wearability
When we talk about wearability, it depends on a wrist size of a wearer. My wrist is 6.5 inches (16.5cm) in circumference. In the past, I used to wear a big watch same as others during the glory days of Panerai when every man & woman wearing 44mm watches as a normal size. It was NOT comfortable at all. How uncomfortable? I have to take it off several times during the day because it hurts my wrist. BUT I kept wearing it because I wanted to follow the fashion trend at that time.
Until I got a chance to wear a smaller watch at around 36-37mm in diameter. Then I understand how comfortable it is. Because a smaller watches come with a thinner and lighter case. So I can wear them all the day without taking them off and even sometime I forgot that I’m wearing one.
When you read at this point, you may think if you have a bigger wrist than mine, let says 7 inches and above, you can wear larger watches comfortably. The answer is Yes and No.
Yes, a bigger wrist can wear a bigger watch BUT that doesn’t mean you cannot wear a smaller watch. In my opinion, “anyone can wear small watches but not everyone can pull off a larger watch” or in other words “Small watches are fine on big wrists, but big watches don’t look good on small wrists”.
Tasteful & Elegant
This is a matter of aesthetic taste. We are talking about a proportion between watch case and your wrist area. A proper watch case can sit on your wrist while allow some wrist presence which has a well proportional look.
It goes the same way as our clothing especially when we are talking about ‘Classic Menswear’. We normally go with a proper size to fit our body (not too big and not too tight) which will make an overall look more appropriate. With a smaller watch, it allows strap or bracelet to has more presence and curve beautifully on your wrist (for a taper strap or bracelet even more beautiful) which is more elegant and tasteful than a bigger watch that shows ONLY a watch dial on your wrist.
Like I mentioned above, when I see a person with big wrists wearing a small watch, I have nothing but respect for him. I think that person knows his/her own style and definitely with taste.
At this point, it is important to know a “Lug-to-Lug” or some call “Watch Length” which is a distance from lug tip to lug tip (see pictures above). This is another key dimension that can determine how big and small of that watch rather than its diameter. Some watches have a small diameter BUT have a long lug-to-lug for example Nomos and some military inspired watches.
Price
Normally, smaller watches are less expensive than bigger watch (when comparing in the same brand and model). We are talking about retail price (go to Rolex, IWC, Omega‘s website) and also secondary market price especially luxury watches made with precious metals and precious stones.
So this is another benefit of wearing smaller watches because you can save more money (for another watch, may be ^_^).
Timeless
As we all know, vintage watches are normally in the range of 33-36mm in diameter (they are still look very beautiful until today) and 37-38mm were considered as oversized watches. In modern days, most of the watches are in 40-42mm in diameter and some brands even consider 36mm and smaller watches are for women.
While people around me are picking 40-42mm when they look for their new watch and there are tons of available models & brands in the current market. I’m looking for 36-37mm watches. May be because I love the vintage style watches and may be because I wear classic menswear clothing. But above all, I believe that smaller watches will stand through a test of time. That’s why Rolex still keep the 36mm size in their Date Just, Explorer, Oyster Perpetual, and recently Day Date.
I also like the fact that it is more challenging to find the right watch for me and I prefer not to go to the same route as everyone goes.
My Final Thought
I hope that what I explained above can turn your attention toward a smaller watch in some ways. However, there are more other factors that I didn’t mentioned above such as the Shapes of watch i.e. Rectangular, Tonneau, etc., Thickness, and Colors of dial. These also can impact our perception on how big or small of the watch on our wrist as well. (I can write more about this in the future post).
What I wrote above doesn’t mean that I force myself to look ONLY for 36-37mm watches. For me, I feel comfortable to wear 40mm as the biggest size that I can go. I think 38-40mm watches are the suitable size for my secondary watches i.e. my Dive watch, Sporty watch for my active days.
Lastly, as the trend starts to show that smaller watches are coming back, I’m looking forward to see more Brands offer their famous model in smaller size. Also I think in the near future there should be ‘no gender’ in any brand catalogue and we as a customer will have more options of neutral gender watch designs.
What do you think? Please feel free to drop your comments below. Any opinion and suggestion are very welcome. It’d be much appreciated if you consider to visit & follow my IG account @mickyjicky and @my.six.point.five.inch.wrist
Thank you & See you on the next one!!