Are small men's watches done? - Page 2

This

but give it 10 years, small watches will be back.

and your watches value shouldnt depreciate much anymore

I hang out on a lot of watch forums and I can guarantee you that small watches are not a thing of the past.  Some specialty "tool" watches are >40mm, simply because they serve a specific purpose (Fliegers, Dive watches, etc).  But a 46mm blinged out quartz watch with a movement spacer inside the case that holds a circuit board the size of a dime is never going to be cool to anyone who knows watches.

 

Wear what you feel comfortable with, but you will be less likely to get laughed at wearing a watch that is a little too small than you will wearing some obnoxiously large watch and looking like a toolbag.

I'm a big fan of the 40mm point. It depends on your wrist size. People will smaller wrists looks best (in my opinion) wearing smaller watches and people with larger wrists, larger watches.

I'm actually neither a boor nor fratboy douchebag. And I don't judge people by their watches. Just by what they say and do..

No - I think it's the opposite if anything.  Hopefully really big watches will become a thing of the past.

 

My ideal range is 34mm-42mm.

Well, some people are bigger than others. If you're a Cornfed giant or got battleship guns a Panerai probably looks great on you. If you're Tony Randall, no.

I think the litmus test is whether your shirt cuff fits over it, and if you can see a little "shoulder" of strap or bracelet on the top of your wrist.

I would gladly wear this 36mm beauty each and every day as my one and only watch. Unfortunately, it's not in the current budget.

The things you choose to represent yourself outwardly are often a pretty good indicator of your personality. Even if you're not a douchebag or a boor (though self reporting on that is pretty inaccurate), your watch is hideously ugly.

Oh, and you do judge people on their outward appearance. Everyone does, it's hardwired into our brains. Your first and strongest opinion forms a few milliseconds after you look at a person, a rather useful trait evolutionarily. I try to get my brain to process things like watches that people choose for themselves rather than things like height and beauty that they can't. Be conscientious of what your mind is doing unconsciously, and you can modify those behavior and manipulate the impressions others have of you. I choose to have a bias against people who choose to wear giant things that other people can't help but see in a transparent attempt to make the people who do see them impressed with the purchase, and thus the wearer. Damn right I'm going to favor those who wear a watch that may be expensive, but is tastefully styled in a way that doesn't expect every person within a 50 yard radius to be staring at it and its wearer.

A gold tank watch is probably going to be my next watch, though it's not an urgent need. And I don't expect that I'll ever feel the need for a ridiculously expensive automatic. Nothing an auto can do that a decent quartz can't, and since my primary focus with a watch is to tell time, not to act as a piece of jewelry. I won't wear an ugly watch, but I don't feel the art for the sake of art flaunting wealth attitude that many buyers of multi thousand dollar watches seem to exhibit.

I've never heard it put this way before and I kind of like it.

I think when Panerai and a couple of others were the only large watches, they had a certain cache. They were large clean modern but classic designs and expensive. Now that everyone and their dog is making large watches, some of that cache is over. My opinion is in the current climate both large and small have a place. What probably doesn't have a place is flashy shiny knock offs. Whenever I see someone wearing a big Invicta, rightly or wrongly my opinion of that person drops a few notches.

I have been wearing a 36mm Tissot T660 for more than 10 years now. It's as down-to-earth as it gets, with an analog quartz movement of awesome accuracy and a case that is the image of inconspiciousness. I've never worn anything that it looked out of place with, from swimwear to a midnight blue suit. :) And I've never, ever had the urge to put anything larger on my wrist.

 

EDIT: Though, I'm tempted to grab a Glycine Airman 18 (which is, similarly, 38mm, the smallest of the Airman range) with a white or paper yellow color scheme, for the mechanical military time movement and the two timezones. :D

I see the trend moving back to medium (42mm) and smaller (36mm) vintage watches.

Twotone, agree fully on the Patek (though I prefer white gold, and sadly, also not in my budget).

OP, as someone with small wrists, I tend to err on the side of getting smaller watches. My standard day-to-day watch (normally worn with a dress shirt, sometimes jacket and/or tie) is a simple and thin 35mm Longines with a black leather band. For a more casual watch worn with a polo I'd consider something a bit bigger, but prefer to keep it to a maximum of 40 inches. With dress shirts, I prefer smaller watches that fit underneath the shirt cuff. This matters less in a casual setting, but I don't want a giant watch calling attention to my wrists.

I don't see why a watch market for midgets couldn't succeed.