I am in the market for a gold dress watch, preferably pre-owned and possible rose gold. The shortlist so far is PP Calatrava, ALS Saxonia, VC Patrimony and IWC Portofino - have I missed one? I am looking for a clean uncomplicated dial that will stand the test of time. Which one would your recommend? And which reference?

 

Can’t go wrong with a gold or gold capped vintage pie pan Constellation.

 

I am in the same market.

I am struggling with whether I want a date complication or not.

Not sure which country you're in, but our local PP AD has a very nice used 5227R with fresh PP service and IIRC new strap.

 

I believe a genuine dress watch should not have any complications, not even date. Noble metal dress watch should have hour, minute and a second sub dial to complete the look.

 

My son said the same.

 

Those are the traditional rules, but I’m not sure that they are closely followed anymore. No one would argue that this isn’t a dress watch.

 

He is a WIS!

 

Very few can make this happen. This is a dress watch with an exception, not as a rule!
Beautiful watch indeed...

 

famous last OF words…

 

Lol, I CAN’T argue with that.

 

In my view a dress watch should be relatively thin, less than 36mm, and preferably yellow or rose gold. If you are going a bit vintage an AP with their ultra thin 2121 movement can be had for a reasonable price, throw in a factory service and you have a high grade dress watch that is about 6mm thick with one of the greatest automatic movements ever made. It should be about high end luxury throughout, just not the appearance.

 

Zenith vintage

Rose Gold

 

I am looking for exactly the same thing. I am considering the JLC Master Ultra Thin Small Seconds.


Would a JLC Reverso be considered a dress watch? I know it was designed for Polo and, as such, a sports watch but..............

 

The small seconds is lovely but large IMHO.

 

My eye-sight ain't getting any better, the larger size makes it easier to read without spectacles.

 

What constitutes a dress watch is open to many interpretations. The Master Thins certainly are, especially in gold. A smaller gold Reverso could certainly be considered a dress watch too, especially if on a dark brown or black strap. Mine is on a chocolate leather strap with ecru stitching, it's less formal but I still consider it a dress watch. Only your opinion counts, no one is going around judging your watch.

 

That's what I was thinking and good to know someone else has the same opinion .

 

If you need a 39mm dress watch so you can read it, perhaps you need to see an optician.

But seriously, dress watches becoming over large is a bugbear of mine and I think 39 is too large. On a normal wrist I think 36-37 is the sweet spot. But even 37 can look large with a flat bezel.

 

I have seen an optician and I wear glasses for reading.
Even if 39mm is considered vulgar for a dress watch I would prefer that to putting spectacles on every time I wish to see the time. I have sold most of my smaller 36mm watches such as the military and Glycine Airman watches for that reason. Nearly all the watches I have at the moment are dive watches, around 40mm, because of the legibility of the dial.