Journey of small wrist in the big dive watch world

[ManMachine]

I've always worn watches for its functionality, and a digital Casio had been a companion for a long time since I need a count down timer and audible alarm. Never had the urge to get a high end or luxury watch, even after browsing through who's who big watch brands in "what watches do you sport" threads in bimmerphile forums. Then I wore a quartz fashion watch for a couple of years after getting a desk job. The need to replace the leather band led me to stumble on WUS, and the rest is history, as the dive watch and micro brands made me feel like a kid in the candy shop again.


The bad news - the challenge turns out to be anatomy - skinny wrist in general doesn't seem compatible with all the cool and functional dive watches, and for my sub 6.25' wrist the choice seems very limited. After some search and reading great reviews of various watches here, I got two popular watches that I think work for me: Orient blue Ray and Halios black Laguna. The Laguna's bracelet turns out to be too loose for me even at the tightest setting, but Jason may have a solution. The key is of course the length of the watch; lug to lug of 49-50 mm appears to be the limit for my wrist. Photos below - excuse my lack of photography skills, despite using a good Nikon camera.







Both watches have well known and reliable movements, and more importantly, excellent designs. They cover a range of common dive watch design themes with internal and external bezels. Laguna's internal bezel is very good - no way I can accidentally bump it, but the flip side is that it takes a bit effort to turn it while it's on the wrist. Ray's bezel is nice to turn and quite good for its price. Both have thoughtful designs with the hands with metallic edges, and I really like the sharp looking sword minute hands. Both have indices that are clean and easy to read. The dials are clean and uncluttered, even with the watch logos. Not many watch companies manage to put out good logo designs. Laguna has the retro and unique case design, while Ray is quite common. Of course, both have excellent lume; some say Ray is on par with the Monster, and of course Laguna with its internal bezel really shows off its huge glass area with lumed markers - it's quite a sight at night. What could improve - Ray could use the day/date white on dark blue, and maybe Laguna could use indices with metal edges to gain more sophisticated look (aka Aquadive); the chrome edges around the indices of the Ray give the watch a richer look.


In the future, I will consider Aquadive and the good old (and maybe the new) OM, although I'm not in any hurry, as additional watches means the hassle of having to adjust time. Using a auto winder doesn't make sense to me - it's like keep the car running in the garage.


A couple of photos of the watches on rubber strap - imo the most comfortable and sporty straps (while also look good). Laguna on the included isofrane and Ray on the Bonetto Cinturini 281. Both are very comfortable. The buckle design on the isofrane is really thoughtful and a great feature. BC 281 is a quarter the price of isofrane but is thinner, tapers down to 20 mm and has only one keeper. It is actually slightly longer and can accommodate various wrist sizes. For the Ray, it seems a good fit since Ray is lighter and smaller.









Ray on bracelet (per my wrist size): 150 grams; on Bonetto Centurini 281 95 grams.
Laguna on bracelet: 208 grams; on Isofrane: 146 grams.

By the way, my kids love the lume at bedtime and the vanilla scent from the straps. Each now has a cute Flik Flak watch.

Thanks to the WUS community - a lot of fun has been added.
Cheers,
ManMachine

[ceebee]

Although my wrist is 7", I know it must be tough with your wrist. I just received my Blue Laguna last week and sold it within a few hours. The case was just too big for me. It wears larger than the 43mm it's supposed to be.
I agree with you on the winder. I don't use one. Why keep winding your watch because you are going to have to adjust it anyways and my way of thinking is.....your just going to wear out the movement faster.
Good luck !!!

[Klesk]

I feel your pain, being that my wrist is just short of 6.5". To make things worse, there are very few watch shops on the island so the only way I can try some watches is to buy them and see how they fit. Over the years I have found some watches that fit me well, from the giant Breitling Super Avenger and equally huge Casio GX-56, to some smaller ones like the Marathon GSAR and TSAR. Two watches that fit me perfectly, at two ends of the spectrum are the Bell & Ross BR02 and Luminox 3050 series. I don't have either now but will eventually. Check them out if you get the chance.

[ManMachine]

Klesk - thanks for the ideas. After having Laguna on my wrist, I'm quite confident that watches like Aquadive BS100 and Olivier bronze would fit fine. The relatively short lug to lug length is critical. I guess one has to watch the height a bit, and of course having the right strap to balance the watch is also important.

ceebee - I'm a bit surprised you feel Laguna is too big. I guess one reason is the large glass area due to the internal bezel, which is what I like about this watch. Other similar or larger dimension watches with external bezels would have significantly smaller glass surface area.

The next quest is of course to check out the actual diving world. Since I'm near sighted and wear glasses, things would be a bit tricky, but I guess there's always the snorkeling option. One time in Kauai, I was snorkeling among the big sea turtles, which were right near the surface.

[flipangle]

I know exactly how you feel. My wrist is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5.75 or 6 inches. Lots of watches I'd like to wear but can't. I've found that the Seiko Sumo looks really good on small wrists though. I've discovered you can wear watches with large faces just as long as the lugs don't hang off the sides of your wrist. That's why I'm going to look into buying a Oris. Some of their models don't realy have huge lugs hanging off the sides.