Even just a couple decades ago, if you bought a men’s wristwatch, it was probably small. Really small. Like, just-a-smidge-bigger-than-a-Kennedy-half-dollar small. For nearly as long as men have been wearing watches on their wrists, watches ranged from about 33mm to 36mm, and those that were any larger were stylistic outliers and chunky sports watches. In fact, some large watch designs from way back were derided for being unnecessarily big.
Since then, times have changed, but the virtues of a small watch remain. If you’re already a believer in a restrained timepiece silhouette, it’s a good time to be alive as that’s the trend du jour among collectors and watchmakers. If you’re on the fence, wondering what’s behind the trend, or looking for ammunition for your next argument with a big-watch devotee … here’s why we think small watches are the bee’s knees. See our full small watch guide for our favorites.
What’s the Beef?
A couple of decades ago, watches got beefed up. The 40mm to 42mm range became “standard,” and a chronograph or dive watch would likely be a few millimeters bigger still. Hulking sports watches from the likes of Breitling and Panerai were status items in the ’90s and ’00s and, the popularity of sports models from big brands like Rolex led other makers to creep up case sizes — even if said watches were not actually sport models or did not require a brawny case for any functional purpose. The consensus among some prominent watch folk is that this case inflation was a holdover from an era of conspicuous consumption.
Watch collectors have come to love the authentically small case sizes of yore.
This doesn’t mean that the large watch-wearing individual is a braggart or is prone to compensate (as the argument from small-watch fans often goes), but it does mean the big and bold watch had become the norm, which as a result seems to have, in some instances, spurred a bout of neuroticism in the modern watch buyer. There’s an abundance of guides online to “finding the right size watch for your wrist” (here’s one, for example) and forum posts inquiring as to whether or not a watch will fill out an enthusiast’s wrist — wrist circumferences no doubt having been taken with a tape measure and committed to memory. The subtext? Anything too small will look like a “ladies watch.”
