shirt cuff width question

[DaveDr89]

Just got Flusser's book Dressing the Man, and RE shirt cuff length it states that "If the hand can slide through the cuff opening w/o first unfastening it, the cuff's circumference is too large." Wouldn't this make it too tight for ones watch?

 

[Dewey]

Depends on the watch.

The width or circumference of the shirt cuff is not as important as the overall length of the sleeve.

Flusser may be suggesting tighter cuffs as an easy way to make sure your shirt sleeves do not look too long when your arms dangle at your side.

 

[a tailor]

if you are wearing ready to wear shirts the cuffs do not fit your wrists/hands.
different brands will hang at different positions.
then your suit sleeves will not always show the same amount of linen.
when you adjust all the cuff buttons so that the cuff is at the same position on your hand then the same amount of linen will always show.

 

[Jay687]

Speaking of the watch... should it go underneath the cuff than? If so, a big watch would require a pretty large cuff. Too large I'd think, right? I mean, you are suppose to go by a finger or so underneath the cuff... a watch would be a few fingers.

 

[DaveDr89]

I think he was suggesting the tighter sleeves so that the length is mentained w/ arm movement. I plan to move the buttons on most of my RTW shirts, so I suppose tha perhaps on the watch side I should not move the buttons as much?

 

[j]

Have them adjusted/measured while wearing the watch. It's common for custom shirtmakers to allow a certain amount on one's watch hand, usually 1/4-1/2" of extra circumference.

 

[sonlegoman]

My shirtmaker, WW Chan and Sons says 1/8th of an inch horizontal of additional fabric is sufficient for a big watch. This is about 1/4th of an inch in circumference. You run the risk of having the cuff hang too low when you decide to wear another thinner watch or decide to go watchless (I don't know why you would decide to go watchless, but whatever).