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Lack of comfort: the ultimate and eventual downfall of big watches?

9K views 102 replies 67 participants last post by  41Mets 
#1 ·
Hi folks. I've been wearing a 46mm watch that weighs ~200g (almost half a pound!). While I love the look of the watch (got nothing against the clown look; I get why big watches could look good), I think lack of comfort might be the uultimate and eventual downfall of the big watch trend. I size my watches a bit loose so as to prevent my hand going numb when my wrist expands. That means the watch could shift around length-wise. I find that the heavier a watch is, the more likely the watch will slip down to my wrist when my arm is in the vertical/down position. When that happens, I can't flex my wrist back and forth without being restricted by the watch. (Not that I need to flex my wrist regularly when I have my arm down, but the resrestricted feeling doesn't feel good.) What makes it worse with big watches is that the heavy weight makes the watch dig into my hand, and the large diameter of the case, large width of the bracelet, and big crown ensure maximum movement restriction and digging into the hand respectively, while a 36mm light weight watch with smaller everything does less of all those things. Lesson learned. If comfort is king as someone else mentioned in another thread, big/heavy watches can't last, unless they could be made light weight and have expansion spring on bracelet to allow snug fit on the arm without the watch falling down to the wrist.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I don't have a watch to purchase in mind yet, waiting to see if any watch sings to me. Nowadays I'm more of a watch wearer and a forum participant than a watch buyer! :-d I have some smaller, lighter watches that I rotate to when the big watch feeling gets to be too much. The most comfortable watch that I have might be the vintage Tudor from my Dad. It's got folded links and folded end-links, which might make the watch lighter? It's not my lightest watch (my Seiko dress watch on leather strap is lighter, probably due to the leather strap), but the Tudor is small, surprisingly light, and feels very evenly distributed in weight (as opposed to feeling case-heavy and the case side weighing down on the wrist). The unfortunate thing is that I'm too cheapskate to pay $300 to service the Tudor, so I don't really wear it.

In a way, luxury watch companies like Rolex that offer more traditionally sized options are selling more comfortable watches than other more trendy brands, so props for that! :-!
 
#4 ·
Oh I wish this were so, but there are many many people who still want big and bigger. When I stoped by the AD just to look around there are people stacked up looking at PAMs, POs and Breitlings. I tried on the new ExpII and commented that it was a tad too large for me, and the salesman laughed noting that most people said it was still too small.
 
#7 ·
Ok, so here is a true story that happened to me a year or so ago at my AD. I was wavering between the black/blue GMT and a SubC. My AD tells me that there is another regular that is coming to see the Blue/Black GMT. At the time I was wearing my Deepblue Depthmaster 3000 which is 49mm diameter and 19mm thick. I bought it primarily to test if I liked a watch that big and see if I could ever wear the Rolex DeepSea. So as I am comparing the SubC and GMT, the other guys walks in with no watch on his wrist. He is a little taller than me but our wrist size looks to be the same at 7.5". He sees me trying on the GMT and says that it is a tiny watch and he won't buy it. I say, 40mm is not tiny. He then looks at my Depthmaster 3000 and says, that's more like it. After he leaves, I ask my AD what he owns and the guy apparently has one of every Daytona ever made. He also had just bought a gold skydweller. So he had the nerve to say that the GMT was tiny, but yet owns upwards of 20 daytonas. WTF. Because of people like this, I don't think the big watch fad is going to be over any time soon.
 
#9 ·
I have an 8 1/2 wrist, so large watches (save a few that are just too big) work for me. Just acquired an EcoZilla and its working for me.
Could it be the smaller the wrist size, the higher the degree of uncomfortability a large watch delivers? Thats my take on the issue.
But I also have watches that are in the 42,44 mm sizes.
So IMO it's a judgement call.

X traindriver Art
 
#15 ·
I don't think so. Many (mainly younger) people who wear oversized watches have never worn a much smaller lighter watch and would not be aware of the comfort advantages. Also, I suspect that many are also accustomed to the weight on the wrist and falsely equate it with watch quality.
I've heard the Invicta team on TV spouting this on every watch. Feel how heavy this watch is...
that's a sign of real quality...:-d
 
#11 ·
I don't think there will ever be an industry-side downfall.

I do think that people tend to want smaller watches in their collection as they learn and experience more. I know I am.

I will always have some big watches. I just like them.
 
#20 ·
Indeed. And, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the look.....

To each his own is the bottom line. I just dont want folks ruining the possibility of keeping large watches around. My whole watch love was started because I had a substitute teacher in the 5th grade who wore what I thought was the most masculine watch on his wrist. It was HUGE compared to anything I'd ever seen. He was an army ranger and I believe had on an old Seiko 7040. It looked like a saucer on his wrist and it looked so tough, I thought, when I grow up, I'm gonna get me a big watch.

My first serious watch was an Omega Seamaster Pro Bond, that as you know was only 41mm. It was the largest thing I could find but still relatively small on my wrist and I always thought so. The funny thing is, it is the only watch that has ever dug into my wrist and left a permanent mark! Not because it was too large, but because I could never get the bracelet to fit properly or understood how to fit the watch. When ever I moved my arm, the watch would swing into the back of my hand and as I stated, left a permanent mark that is still here 15+ years later...And its a small watch...
 
#22 ·
People keep making threads explaining why the big watch trend is on its last legs, and manufacturers keep making larger watches that keep selling.

This trend was inevitable. Watches aren't about telling time any more -- not now that we're all carrying a little computer in our pockets. Watches have finally become pure jewelry. There's nothing wrong with that, but people wear jewelry for it to be seen.

I (perhaps naively) don't see 50mm watches becoming standard any time soon, but I'm also pretty confident that 36mm will never be the norm again.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Well, referring to it as the "clown look" implies that you do have some beef with larger sizes, but more so with weight and fit. ;-)

I'm sorry you can't find a good bracelet fit. Typically I can dial in most bracelets with a micro-adjust perfectly, even taking variations of wrist size into account. I sometimes have to wear butterflies a little loose, but it may just be something you adjust to with extra sizing links or leather straps or milanese bracelets or whatever-- I can't suggest a fix for that and I know some folks have more variation in wrist size day-to-day or even morning to night. Mine is very slightly smaller at night, but it's not enough to be an issue.

A fix for weight is pretty easy-- just buy Titanium.

My smallest watch actually worn is a 38mm titanium diver. On bracelet it's shockingly light and on a strap it just feels like air. Even sized up to a moderate size, doing something in Ti is going to be much lighter. Some folks dislike Ti because it feels *too* light and that's associated with 'flimsy' or 'fragile' in their minds.

I get proportional sizing. I'm a big guy with an 8" wrist. There are watches some people could pull off that absolutely look like a ladies watch on me. There's nothing wrong with the watch and there's nothing wrong with somebody liking that style, but it does not work for me. 38mm is my absolute, uncompromising minimum, and only if it wears large. 40mm is either OK or pushing it depending on the style and dial-to-bezel ratio, 42-44mm is my sweet spot and >44mm is do-able.

But, it's do-able *if* the watch is comfortable. Sometimes they're just not, even if the crown doesn't dig and the lugs don't overhang. That's more possible with larger watches. My largest (by a very slight margin) just lacks a sufficient curve to sit on my wrist comfortably.

At some point, though, the sizing gets crazy. I'm not going to wear a 55mm watch. I'm just not. I think you're saying that things break down well before that in terms of comfort and I'm here to say a) no. and b) I really, REALLLLLY don't want to go back to the days when 42mm was considered gigantic and rare. 42mm is proportional on me. 36mm? Well if that's the fashion in 2025, I'll just wear vintage 2015 watches forever because I never want to go back to those days again.
 
#28 ·
Oops, I mentioned "clown look" not because I think so myself, but because I've seen it described as such on the forum before. Didn't mean to denigrate the look. I don't have a problem with the big watch look.

Yes, sizing is tricky, a continuing project for me! I wore the leather strap watch a bit today, and it does feel a bit better because of the lighter weight and possibly because the leather strap has a bit more "give" to it if I strap it in tighter?

Good point about titanium. I very well might get a titanium watch in the future. I didn't appreciate titanium before, whereas I knew my Grandfather likes lighter watches. (I bought him a titanium Seiko solar, and he really likes it.) I didn't know why before, but through experience, I'm learning why.

Good point about proportional sizing. I neglected to think about watches for taller/bigger guys!
 
#29 ·
Big watches are here to stay along with big hats and big boots. Chances are no one here has just one watch, one hat or one pair of shoes. You pick the ones you want to wear based on what you are doing. If you are the type that sits indoors at a desk all day you will dress for the conditions. If you have a more active job, you will also dress for the activities and the conditions you will be working in. As far as lack of comfort, we don't wear our work clothes and heavy boots in the house. When conditions permit, we change into whats most appropriate for the environment we are in.

Whats more important is wearing what you want, when you want, wherever you want.

Ya see, I have a deal with several watch manufacturers. They make big watches, and I buy them. It's a pretty good deal :)
 
#31 · (Edited)
People come in all sizes, so should watches. A 45mm dive watch on, say, a 5'6" 145lbs guy might make it look like he's wearing clown shoes, but on a 6'3" 220lbs guy it might look just right.
I'm 6'2" 230 lbs, a 36mm watch on me looks like I've strapped on my wife watch by mistake.
 
#32 ·
Lack of comfort haveing an effect on style, huh -

let's look at a few examples --

women be wearing, and complaining about them for many, many years. A visit to a shoe store will prove that they still sell tons every day.

Tight jeans - and this always affect women

and periodically men too. (Ouch!)

Dailey Double - neck tie and Double Breasted suit. (Extra discomfort points for us men in Texas)

So I think we will keep wearing big watches as long as we believe we look good doing so.
 
#34 ·
Whether a watch is comfortable on the wrist for long or short term has less to do with size but the design of the watch, weight distribution and material used. If it is not comfortable you are wearing a watch that is not the right design for your wrist. Unfortunately the comfort factor does not come to light until we wear the watch for some time. I have a 47mm and a 41.5mm, the 41.5mm is the uncomfortable one in this case.
 
#40 · (Edited)
These "big watch" threads are a joke! Get over it - Big watches are here to stay.

There won't ever be a "downfall" of large watches. Most manufacture's make watches in a range of sizes from 36mm to 44mm+

If you're talking about 48mm+, yes, I think those are "clownish", but I couldn't care less if people wear them. I use to love bigger watches, but my taste changed. But I'm also glad that there were options when I liked bigger watches.

Even Rolex is catering to the "bigger watch" by making their Datejust, Day/Date, Oyster's, etc. etc that use to be 36mm, jumping up to 40mm and 41mm. Although the newer GMTs and Subs still have 40mm dials, the case is much thicker and larger, making them look heftier and giving them more weight (which looks much better IMO), than their vintage equivalent and Rolex still couldn't resist "big dials" and came out with the 44mm DSSD and Yachtmaster II.

You can easily lighten the weight of the watch by using titanium, leather straps, etc. etc.

I think it's actually the "cheaper" watches that can't be made big and light.

As the market expands, manufacture's expand their selection, not decrease the selection. Take a look at what most manufacture's did at Basel offering the same watch but now in different colours (ie. Omega Dark side of the moon, white side of the moon, etc. etc.).

There is a big enough market to support making larger watches, and just because they may not be to your liking, there are plenty of people that will continue to buy them.
 
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