re: Why are men's watches so fricking huge these days?

My Patek Philippe grand complication is a little on the big side, but it has to be to fit the movement.

All depends on the watch. There are numerous offerings as big as 45 mm that wear fine even on a smaller to average size wrist. A Panerai Radiomir is an excellent example of one. The 44 mm Luminor case also works because the way the case is proportioned is visually appealing, even on a smaller wrist. In my opinion, fliegers look best in the 38-42 mm range and divers 40-45 mm range. My taste in Fliegers tends to be closer to 40, and divers a little larger (with some notable exceptions being perfect at 40 mm). In my opinion chrono versions of any watch tend to look bigger on the wrist because of the required increased thickness of the case and the presence of the pushers.

I think non-sports type of watches do actually look better to my eye generally below 40 mm. Smaller than 36 mm starts to look to small for my aesthetic preferences, and 38 mm is a nice size for a dress watch. About the biggest watch I will wear with a suit is an IWC Portuguese Chrono 3714 - it clocks in just shy of 41 mm, but looks bigger because it essentially has no bezel. Still looks at home on an average or even smallish wrist.

Seiko dive watches (SKX0xx, SBDC0xx, SNZH5xx - not exactly a diver per se - to name a few) range from 42-44 and wear easily on a 6.5" without looking douchey, in my opinion.

The 2 tone Datejust is the quintessential try hard watch.

The watch is the last bastion of acceptable man jewelry. That along with just the simple need to be different lead to an increase in size which is now swinging back the other way.

The love of size can probably be attributed to Stallone when he popularized the little know Panerai watches in the US market. They were Italian made dive instruments but had fairly large 44/45mm cases. He found them in Italy while making the movie Daylight.

There are a lot of things that also make a watch wear larger than it actually is. All dial watches (no wide bezel) always look larger than their actual size and large lug to lug lengths wear large as well. Most of the JLC Reverso watches are rather small but their long LTL distance makes them unwearable for a lot of people. Also, the thickness is a big issue for some. Watches like some of the newer Omega watches with 8500/9300 movements are very thick as is the Rolex DSSD.

All but a couple of outliers in my collection are between 39 and 45mm. I do have a couple of smaller vintage Rolex and a California dial 47mm Panerai Radiomir. The Radiomir wears smaller than its size due to being rather thin and having wire lugs.

There are tons of watches of all sizes out there. If you like small watches the vintage options are numerous.

In the end, buy what you like and enjoy it whether it is a 34mm Patek or a 60mm Diesel. For an everyday watch on most men I think 40-42mm for a sports watch and 36-38mm for a dress watch looks the best.

Nice!

Mine has a gold case/face. Sorta hard to read but I still love it.

Need to pay for the extract to see what type of band it had when it was produced. I think they charge $125 for that.

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extract

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I think the Patek archive extracts are about $150 now. They are interesting to have for older watches, especially if they have sentimental value.

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Maybe find something vintage

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Actuallly going over to switz to visit a friend and get a cleaning this summer. I’m excited to see what that place looks like.

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ery easy, took me total about 15 minutes to take mine off, remove old insert, and replace with new ceramic one. I used glue instead of the supplied 3M with the kit. No special tools necessary.

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Yep, really easy. I used glue as well.

OP, if you’re looking for a luxury watch that really makes a slick statement without looking guido, look at the NOMOS brand. About $4500, and it’s heirloom quality without precious metals or unneeded complications. They make all sizes, but a 38 mm Tangomat should be perfect for your needs.





https://nomos-glashuette.com/en/watches/families/tangomat#/en/watches/families/tangomat/all-tangomat-models

They also make a $20k manually wound movement that is absolutely gorgeous if you really want something luxurious. Swoon...