In America the ever growing trend is super-size, you find it in our food, our houses, our cars and now watches? I have been selling watches for a few years now. I have seen a trend in the market that suggests "bigger" is better (for sales anyway). I am sure it all started with a famous rapper showing off his "Jewels" on stage and escalated into Invicta watches that are too big to wear with anything. Small or petite watches designed for women are too small for them, my female customers prefer a mid size man's watch like the Cartier Tank's or a Rolex Datejust instead. Even watch manufactures are producing larger women's watches like the Michelle Caber Sport Sail watch. I find this very interesting. Any thoughts?
I see a trend 5-10 years ago where supersize everything in watch happened. I think on top of the rappers, Arnie and Sly also popularize this trend. 44, 48 even 51 mm become new watch size frontier (Omega produce hugely popular Planet Ocean 45mm. Even there is 48mm Railmaster XXL). However since 2012 the trend is reversing. AP Royal Oak offshore which hit 48mm with Arnold LE, now set 42mm as their standard. Omega also produce smaller size sport watches, culminated with popular SM300 reissue 38 or 39mm?). So I guess there is rationalization on what accepted as standard normal of watch size.
This trend will change. As economies around the world stall and/or contract, buying and showing off big, unnecessary luxury items is likely to become less attractive to many consumers.
An awful lot depends on the size of your wrist. I'm a little chap (5' 3") and anything over 38mm looks ridiculous on me. So the Omega vintage dress watches from the 1950s are just perfect, and I have no interest at all in large watches, old or new.
My wife thinks 25-28 mm classic women size is bit too little now, but she found 36mm watches outrageous, especially with thick case like Rolex DJ. 30-32 mm is her sweet spot. I worry she will eyeing my 34 mm collection, soon.
Ties get wider, then shrink, then grow wider again. Same for lapels. Skirts brush the floor, then barely cover the ... well, you get the idea. Fashion. Ever-larger watches have certainly been a strong trend over the past few years. AP finally went over the edge. No doubt that trend will one day reverse (IMO already happening). Not to say we'll ever go back to a 30mm men's watch, but hopefully will see more offerings settle in at a happy medium, at least for a while. The larger is better trend in watches has a dark side. It puts many of my favorite pieces at risk. Hanging on to my Sub by the skin of my teeth right now, as the Mrs. is feeling lately that her mid-size (35mm) Yachtmaster may be a bit too small. For me, anything over 42mm is just too large. My limit used to be 40mm until I discovered vintage Speedmasters.
I've been told---of course can't remember my impeccable source---that smaller watches are coming back slowly. The big ones already look ridiculous to me. My wife has dumped her uber Mischael Kors for a 36 mm Omega. Incremental I know but she can always by smaller.
GQ just did an article on vintage ~34mm watches. The clever folks never left them because classic is classic. Thirty-four to forty millimeters for me
As mentioned, fashion comes & goes in waves. However, I blame the expansion and perpetuation of the HUGE watch craze partially on Facebook. .....and you say to yourself "wait..... what did he just say?" ...... so I'll explain using an example as a lead in: Cell phones got smaller and smaller - until people started taking selfies on them and needed bigger screens to admire themselves and check the photo before posting it to their timeline on Facebook. It's all about showing off, and large watches fit right in with this mentality. HUGE watches will be around until narcissism goes out of style. We now return you back to your normal discussion. * opinions expressed in this editorial do not necessarily reflect those of the forum's management.
I don't believe it is a trend, but rather a shift, and it is permanent. This forum is by far the exception, and larger watches are here to stay. You may see a few "non-huge" watches released here and there, and exactly how big the average will be might fluctuate slightly, but the average is permanently bigger than it once was, and in my view it wont go back to where it was. Cheers, Al
The watch companies have to get you to buy something. So after the market is saturated with big watches. Yea, you guessed it.- You're out of date
Watches nowadays are conspicuous signals of status (ala Look how big my horns (watches) are!!), so I doubt the big watch trend is going to end anytime soon.
I agree with Archer, I don't think the average watch will ever hover around 35mm again. That being said, I think there are ripples making their way 'round again. When a company makes a sub-37mm watch today, it is a statement in and of itself - a harkening to a different time.
I have taken to wearing a smaller watch - takes some getting used to but then after a while it feels right. All down to personal taste. And I am 6ft 7 ins by the way...
To me it's also about the design. A 44 mm watch can actually look amazingly elegant or appropriate, and at 42 mm can look wrong in the wrist. How much of that diameter is actual dial versus bezel and bling, the colors, the thickness... I have several smaller watches that I wear weekly. a louis Cartier Tank, a Baume&Mercier Classima...both on them attract more attention than my 46m Planet Ocean. 36 to 38mm is a great size, the size my father always wore and his larger watches at 38mm are always appropriate on the wrist. (Bell&Ross and a Steel Baume) Now, the Aqua Terra design wears on my wrist at 42mm like a 38mm because of the simplicity and lack of bezel. I recently fell in love with Panerai, I got a Luminor Marina and thought it would be huge...too much...and yet this size and design (and it is 1950's) actually wears better than the Planet Ocean. Then I fell in love with the Radiomir California...I had my doubts, 5 years ago i detested large watches...and it wears incredibly elegant (and it is a 1936 design...) My wife, who for the most part is more visually oriented than trend oriented, hates my PO specially if worn with the bracelet. She thinks it's chunky, inelegant and unbalanced...and yet, to my surprise, loves the way the Panerai look on my wrist. She also likes the SM Pro the speedy and the Aqua, so it's not an Omega thing I should add I have a wrist slightly above average size...but the well designed small watches never looked off on it. My wife only has one 36 mm watch, the rest are the very small women size tanks Swiss Army Hermes etc etc. She has a Santos in gold that is breathtaking and it is I think only 32mm, if that...and she has the Ballon B at 36mm (I think) and it looks amazing as well (She is a little over 5.11 and does not have small hands) So, I think taste and design will determine the size. A good design is a good design...a bad, bling(y), stupid design will always seem off to the mainstream wearer. A good watch feels right at any size. You know it the moment it sits on your wrist.
Interestingly, nobody, but nobody, (including my wife) has ever commented on the watch that I have been wearing at the time - either negatively, or positively. It seems that here in the UK we just don't see watches at all
LOL, maybe, My wife was raised in Belgium and the UK (I'm from Spain) so I don't think it's a cultural thing. Maybe it is just about rolling up your sleeve in "just" the right way at the right time
The trend with bigger watches is slowing down due to adjustments made to fit the biggest marked - the asian market. They have smaller wrists and the deepest pockets.
