I was told by a watch dealer that a 35mm watch is considered too small for most men

Modest_Proposal · Oct 10, 2016

GuiltyBoomerang
A Longines Automatic Conquest with patina? I'd wear that over any 40mm watch being offered 😀 If it looks good, stick with it!

(I might be biased since 31mm watches work with my small manly wrists...)

Not sure if you know this - but the watch on his wrist is modern. It doesn't have patina. The dial is basically new, with respect to watches we generally collect. But it is a homage and I really do enjoy the no-date version.

ulackfocus · Oct 10, 2016

Larry S

Must be a Panerai.

meganfox17 · Oct 11, 2016

Tell the watch dealer "The World's Smallest 3 inch Bananas are the World's SWEETEST "

Wikipedia: Nino @Sugar @ Lady Finger @Malaysian Pisang Mas

citizenrich · Oct 11, 2016

In the olden dayz, they had small watches and big cars.

Apropos of: which Bond film had the Rolex on that skinny fabric strap? I get teh lulzz when newer watch enthusiasts get all bent and butt hurt about the skinny strap. I get it but it still makes lulzzxxx

jimmyd13 · Oct 11, 2016

This irritates me. Someone once passed comment that the tank I was wearing was too small (it's 25x40mm).

I glanced at his wrist and told him that the Skagen he was wearing suited him perfectly.

Personally, I have no issue wearing a 35mm watch on my 195mm (almost 8 inch) wrist.

adam78 · Oct 11, 2016

Here's a 27mm Cushion on my wrist, followed by a 29.5mm Tetra 😎

citizenrich · Oct 11, 2016

jimmyd13
This irritates me. Someone once passed comment that the tank I was wearing was too small (it's 25x40mm).

I glanced at his wrist and told him that the Skagen he was wearing suited him perfectly.

Personally, I have no issue wearing a 35mm watch on my 195mm (almost 8 inch) wrist.

Both of these are beautiful and wear perfectly. I consider a 40mm tank eye pleasing and that VC is always gorgeous.

Archer · Oct 11, 2016

Canuck
The dealer had no concept of how Watch styles and fashion have evolved over decades.

Interesting you take it that way - I take it the opposite. The dealer likely knows exactly that fashion and trends have changed significantly, and is rightly stating that most people who walk into the store would find 35 mm too small these days. Notwithstanding some smaller watches being made currently, most are significantly above 35 mm if they are a man's watch.

Most people here disagree with this notion, but most people here are in a very tiny minority of watch collectors, which in itself is a very tiny minority of the population...

Pun · Oct 11, 2016

SmokyT
I personally think the 35mm watch looks very good on your wrist. Just like anything else, I'm sure the trend will swing back to smaller size sometime in the near future.

It already has started... ALS recently launched new Saxonia gold watch in 37mm size with same movement they have in 40mm. Others too are gradually shrinking sizes of their new watches. In any case a decent dress watch is still between 33 to 37 mm unless you've some exceptionally large wrist.

Pun · Oct 11, 2016

jimmyd13
This irritates me. Someone once passed comment that the tank I was wearing was too small (it's 25x40mm).

I glanced at his wrist and told him that the Skagen he was wearing suited him perfectly.

Personally, I have no issue wearing a 35mm watch on my 195mm (almost 8 inch) wrist.

Here is my dress watch 36 mm on 7" wrist. And it has a good presence. I think I can carry even a 34mm very well.

jimmyd13 · Oct 11, 2016

Pun
Here is my dress watch 36 mm on 7" wrist. And it has a good presence. I think I can carry even a 34mm very well.

It's surprising the difference 1mm makes, though ... I have a 34mm Heuer, currently away being serviced, that is by far and away the rarest and one of the most interesting watches I own but it's genuinely too small for me to wear. I had a bund strap made for it to try to give it a little more presence but that's just wrong ... so sad.

Maganator · Oct 11, 2016

There cant be many men's watches being made at 35mm and below. The current trend is definitely for larger watches.

davidswiss · Oct 11, 2016

35/36mm is the classic size for a time only wristwatch. Taken, I think, from the Rolex Explorer. It suits most wrist sizes and unless you've aging eyes is perfectly readable.
Giant gold constructions taped to your arm seem to be a far eastern thing and as that's where the money has been for the last 10 years that's what manufacturers have made.
Wear what you like and the next time a salesman gives you bullshit about buying a house sized watch tell him you prefer something with a bit of style.

jimmyd13 · Oct 11, 2016

Archer
The dealer likely knows exactly that fashion and trends have changed significantly, and is rightly stating that most people who walk into the store would find 35 mm too small these days. Notwithstanding some smaller watches being made currently, most are significantly above 35 mm if they are a man's watch

Absolutely. But ...

Archer
Most people here disagree with this notion, but most people here are in a very tiny minority of watch collectors, which in itself is a very tiny minority of the population...

Yes we're watch ... enthusiasts but I'm not sure that makes our opinions unfashionable or incorrect. I can't get away with a Planet Ocean under a shirt cuff - it just won't fit no matter how much I like it, particularly with the "look at me" orange bezel and rubber strap. There are plenty of thinner dress watches with a larger diameter but, to me (and all of this is subjective afterall) a large dialed dress watch is just wrong anyway. There's either too much empty space on the dial or they become too busy to be a dress watch.

The real question is what you want a particular watch to be. I have garish, in your face, cartoon watches; I also have tool and diver's watches - my "beater" is a 1972 Mk II which I love not only for its looks but the legibility and history. Yet more and more I am drawn to watches from the late 30s to the early 70s - to my mind the real heyday of (wrist) watch production. I know and understand the advances in watchmaking (God, the co-axial movement is poetry in motion), waterproofing (yes, I want a sea-dweller just for bragging rights) and many other areas .... but I also adore my vintage dress watches and wear every single one in spite of - or because of - the fact that they're less than 37mm.

Fashion is one thing, but does that mean that the salesman was right to say that one watch is "wrong" because it's smaller? Then again, I don't own a pair of skinny jeans nor a single breasted suit. I'm tall enough and wide enough to find that having a suit made to measure is easier than altering something off the peg and gives me a better fit and feel. My tailor might well (and has) said that slimmer fits and single breasted jackets are the fashion but he doesn't push one on me when I ask for something else. That seems to be more along the lines of the complaint here than anything else, doesn't it?

ulackfocus · Oct 11, 2016

jimmyd13
It's surprising the difference 1mm makes, though

That's because the difference of 1mm in diameter from 34mm to 35 mm is actually a difference of 54.2 square mm of surface area if both watches were completely circular. The length and surface area of the lugs can make a difference in how it looks also.

Modest_Proposal · Oct 11, 2016

jimmyd13
Absolutely. But ...

Yes we're watch ... enthusiasts but I'm not sure that makes our opinions unfashionable or incorrect. I can't get away with a Planet Ocean under a shirt cuff - it just won't fit no matter how much I like it, particularly with the "look at me" orange bezel and rubber strap. There are plenty of thinner dress watches with a larger diameter but, to me (and all of this is subjective afterall) a large dialed dress watch is just wrong anyway. There's either too much empty space on the dial or they become too busy to be a dress watch.

The real question is what you want a particular watch to be. I have garish, in your face, cartoon watches; I also have tool and diver's watches - my "beater" is a 1972 Mk II which I love not only for its looks but the legibility and history. Yet more and more I am drawn to watches from the late 30s to the early 70s - to my mind the real heyday of (wrist) watch production. I know and understand the advances in watchmaking (God, the co-axial movement is poetry in motion), waterproofing (yes, I want a sea-dweller just for bragging rights) and many other areas .... but I also adore my vintage dress watches and wear every single one in spite of - or because of - the fact that they're less than 37mm.

Fashion is one thing, but does that mean that the salesman was right to say that one watch is "wrong" because it's smaller? Then again, I don't own a pair of skinny jeans nor a single breasted suit. I'm tall enough and wide enough to find that having a suit made to measure is easier than altering something off the peg and gives me a better fit and feel. My tailor might well (and has) said that slimmer fits and single breasted jackets are the fashion but he doesn't push one on me when I ask for something else. That seems to be more along the lines of the complaint here than anything else, doesn't it?

If the dealer specifically stated that the watch, as the OP suggests, "was too small for most men.", Al would be 100% correct. The salesmen was spot on. Most men would consider the watch to be too small.

Archer · Oct 11, 2016

jimmyd13
Yes we're watch ... enthusiasts but I'm not sure that makes our opinions unfashionable or incorrect.

No one said it was wrong or incorrect. The dealer, according to the OP, said:

"a 35mm watch is considered too small for most men"

Not all men...most men. Simply looking around at the wrists of people next time you are out in public will tell you that most men don't wear 35 mm watches.

jimmyd13
There are plenty of thinner dress watches with a larger diameter but, to me (and all of this is subjective afterall) a large dialed dress watch is just wrong anyway. There's either too much empty space on the dial or they become too busy to be a dress watch.

My 35 mm Nomos Tangente beside a dial for an Omega Seamaster 300, which is a 42 mm watch...

This is a "large dial" for a dress watch (larger than the dial for the 42 mm watch), and the proportions are fine...

As we have discussed here and other places ad nauseam, the diameter of the watch is merely one factor in determining what looks too big or too small on one's wrist.

jimmyd13
Fashion is one thing, but does that mean that the salesman was right to say that one watch is "wrong" because it's smaller?

Once again, he said nothing of the sort according to the OP. It was a sales guy trying to make a sale.

I know people tend to get very excited up about the size issue, but I have no dog in this fight either way - I have and wear watches from 34 mm to 44 mm, and I enjoy them all. But the fact is, 35 mm is considered to be too small for most men these days. I know a certain, small, segment of the collector world wants thing to go back to where they were, but when companies like Omega call a 39.5 mm diver a ladies watch, I don't see that happening any time soon.

Again as we have discussed many times before, my feeling is that although the size may throttle back a bit, the average has moved upwards more or less permanently.

Cheers, Al

Mouse_at_Large · Oct 11, 2016

Perhaps some of this is down to the fashion for larger bezels on a lot of modern designs. The actual dial areas may differ less than the difference in case width.

Personally, I'll happily wear whatever I like. For example, contrast a 2255.80 with a vintage Rolex 1003. However, unless your surname is Hayek, usually it's probably better to wear one at a time 😗

mozartman · Oct 11, 2016

I remember when the larger sizes really began to take over in the early 2000s. In 2006, Patek Philippe finally discontinued the venerable 33mm 3919 Calatrava and replaced it with a larger model. IMVHO, this trend tracked the trend away from professional business and evening formal wear. For me, a smaller and thinner watch that easily slips beneath the cuff is an essential accessory for formal wear, and larger and thicker watches can stick out and look clownish. (Not always, YMMV.) But once the formal wear is ditched, the larger sizes are fine, especially where there are subdials and bezels with tiny numbers, small pushers, etc. I'll stick with my TGDW, as Archer Al calls them, for formal occasions, though IMVHO it's fine for every day too.

Syrte · Oct 11, 2016

Hi OP, will you see that dealer again? Can you please then ask him to explain how the following "small" 35-36mm watches are considered so desirable these days, to the point that the first one even made about 50K at a relatively recent auction?
Could you please ask him to find me one of those for real cheap considering most men ought to be shunning them? Oh, and by the way, I'm a woman so it'll look oh so perfect on my little female wrist.
Oops, edit, by the way the photo comes from Hodinkee in case he never heard of it. Can you please promise to report back on what he says? I'm just too eager to hear.
Oh, and by the way, I'm adding another "small" watch as plan B.