The watch is 33mm, but it wears larger because ...

- it has a wide chunky bezel.
- the narrow bezel gives an all-dial appearance. (this one actually makes sense to me)
- it has thick beefy lugs.
- the case is thick and raises the watch high off your wrist.
- the curved lugs allow the watch to lie flat on your wrist.

According to sellers, virtually everything can make a watch wear larger than it actually is. It gets old.

 

Wears larger because my wrist is tiny.

 

This watch wears much larger on a bund strap!

oh- not so much from this view.

 

Yep, you said it! If it’s small, it’s small, and you will be disappointed when you buy it!

 

Unless you like small. I have actually been more disappointed by watches that were just too damn big than too small- and I have 7.5” wrists

 

Before inexplicably becoming interested in vintage watches, I never paid any attention to watches at all. Anything larger than 36mm or so looks like someone impersonating Flava Flav to me.

 

It’s funny, the 30-35mm watches I have wear as 30-35mm watches, and I’m very happy with that.

Two examples below...



Weird to try and upswell folks into something that’s smaller than they feel comfortable with when it comes to watches, where they wouldn’t accept it elsewhere.

I, for example, could squeeze my XXL frame into a L sized T-Shirt and shorts. I wouldn’t be happy, and neither would anyone watching tbh, so I wouldn’t even consider it.

That said, unless you’ve tried on one of these lovely little vintage watches, you don’t definitively know they’re not for you.

The “I can’t wear anything smaller than 44mm” crowd who’ve never tried a smaller watch on, I find just as irritating as the “its tiny but it wears huge” gang.

 

Let them stay in the land of the large- it keeps the pool more open for those of us who don’t need a hall clock strapped to our wrists to compensate for something else....0

 

Huh?

Oh...wait.

Yea I like small watches too!

 

This Langè is 39.5 but it wears larger. I assume its because of the narrow bezel and the expanse of eggshell dial. Very annoying to me and rarely gets worn to the point that I might let it go !

 

Yup- the form factor lends itself to smaller proportions IMO.

33.5mm Mido, lots of glass- no bezel, feels like wearing a 35-36mm.

 

Exactly !

 

NOMOS watches fall into this camp. I'd love to have one but the larger dials 41-42mm look too large on me, whereas I can get away with that size with other brands, and their 35-36mm are a bit small for my taste.

 

The pendulum is swinging the other direction- finally. We are seeing reissues now in 40-41mm for divers and 36-38 for standard sport watches- back to sanity. Unfortunately we have 15 years of watches that are pretty much unwearable IMO, but I tend to dig much further back than that anyway.

 

Equally funny: whenever any watch website/blog/pundit reviews a large modern watch, it invariably 'wears smaller than its case dimensions would suggest', or some such. All watches are fine, no mater the size relative to your wrist, apparently.

 

I never really paid attention to watch size until a few years ago, I just wore what I liked as most do. Gruen bumpers and vintage Elgin’s from antique stores in college at 31-33mm, then I got a little money and a real job and got a GMT & Speedy at 39 & 42, followed by a Navitimer and Tag Carerra both again at 42. Sure they felt larger at first but they were just watches I liked. As I learned more about “fit” and got fussier with age (princess & the pea) I realIzed why I wear the bigger ones less- they are heavy, the sit over my wrist instead of on it, they are tall and catch on things, they look like a tumor under a sweater sleeve, they catch on the cuffs of my shirt sleeves- they’re clumsy.

I still have all the aforementioned large watches, but they get worn very infrequently. I still love them but know they aren’t suited for my daily lifestyle. They don’t wear smaller- they are fucking huge.

 

Watch diameter is not really that interesting to know. So see if a watch size suits you (and fits your wrist!), you have to try it on, looking at pictures won't cut it.

Proportions, bezel or no bezel, dial size, bracelet width, everything is important.

- on the vintage Lecoultre I have, the 33mm diameter is paired with 16mm straps. Much better balanced (and looks a bit bigger) than a 34mm Tudor with a 19mm strap: the larger strap size on the latter makes the watch smaller, it squishes the case quite a bit.

- my new Seiko SLA021 is a beast at 44mm, or it should be. But as the case sides are angled and the dial small, all you really see is the bezel insert diameter and compared to an old SM300 from the 2000s with the HEV, it looks to have the same diameter at most. You have to take an actual measurement to see that the Seiko is larger. The Omega has a flat crystal, crown guards at 3, a HEV at 10, a bigger dial, a more aggressive bezel insert and thus looks almost larger even if it is barely 42.

So, while I agree that a lot of sellers are spouting off weapon-grade BS, there is a grain of truth laying somewhere.

 

My Midland is not a large watch to begin with, around 34mm its very compact, but the dial is small in relation to the case size.
This can work both ways depending on who is looking at it. It can seem larger to some eyes but smaller to others.
The small dial can make it look small but the greater relative area of surface metal of the bezel can make it seem larger. The sturdy proportions of the case and lugs adds to the illusion.
This watch, with its unusual water resistant case back design, similar to that of the Vostock Amphibia, is like a scaled down version of a much more robust design.
I wonder if they had a version of this with a rotating bezel?
There is very little information on this brand though they produced some very innovative designs, especially their asymmetrical case electronic watches which look to be desirable collector items if one can only find one.

 

The Glycine Airman seems like a good example of wearing larger than its size, especially if, like me, you have the dashing sense of style to wear it on a NATO strap that could go around your waist. But yeah, "wears larger" seems like something people feel compelled to add when talking about any watch that's smaller than a dinner plate.