Last fall when Patek Philippe unveiled its square Cubitus watch, based on the beloved Nautilus, there was a lot of chatter in the watch world over its polarizing design. But one key feature didn’t draw much comment: Its case, measured diagonally, was 45 millimeters.
Despite the social media frenzy around vintage-inspired 30-something-millimeter timepieces, large watches haven’t gone away. Brands such as IWC Schaffhausen, Hublot, Parmigiani Fleurier, Oris, Rolex and others have continued to release them in both sport and dress options. And many of the embargoed designs scheduled for introduction at the Watches and Wonders Geneva show in April are large, too.
“Core consumers, not the watch-collecting community, are just not going to buy into the smaller sizes,” said David Hurley, the deputy chief executive of the Watches of Switzerland Group retail chain, “especially since they are only buying one or two watches in their lifetime.”
Eugene Tutunikov, the chief executive of the online pre-owned dealership SwissWatchExpo, agreed: “Most consumers have to convince themselves that they are OK buying a smaller watch. It’s usually an internal struggle for them, because the smaller watches are the exception.”
Just checking Instagram or TikTok wouldn’t give you that impression at all. For example, in October the former Miami Heat basketball star Dwyane Wade wore a 28-millimeter round Tiffany Eternity watch in rose gold to unveil a statue of himself in Miami.
“I think the whole trend of people saying small watches are in is because it’s very memorable when you see a celebrity, especially a larger man, wearing a small watch,” Mr. Tutunikov said. “It really sticks out, so you remember the exceptions, even though the rule is still large.”
Over Time
Of course, there actually is no watch industry rule for what constitutes a small, medium, large or extra-large timepiece, and perceptions of those terms have changed over the years.
In the 1970s and ’80s, watch cases generally were in the mid- to high-30 millimeters, so a large watch would have been 37 to 38 millimeters (about 1.5 inches).
Then came the ’90s and the Sylvester Stallone effect, with the star championing a 44-millimeter Panerai Luminor (more than 1.7 inches) and setting the stage for designs as large as 50 millimeters (almost 2 inches).
Watch retailers say that most of their sales these days are in the 38- to 42-millimeter range — “More than 59 percent of the men’s watches we sell are 40 to 41 millimeters in size,” Mr. Hurley said — while 36- to 38-millimeter designs serve the unisex demand.
Even when it comes to women’s purchases, Mr. Hurley said, larger is selling better. “There was a point in history, maybe in 2017, when 28 millimeters to 31 millimeters was about 72 percent of our women’s business,” he noted. “But now that is down to 35 percent of the business and the growth has actually gone into the above-32 millimeters, up to 38-millimeter sizes, as women want bigger watches.”
According to Rolf Studer, the co-chief executive of Oris, the sweet spot today is 39 to 43 millimeters.
“We were scaling down a bit in size, say from 43.5 to 41.5 millimeters, but we realized that not everybody wanted that small of a watch,” he said. “That’s why we brought back, for example, the Aquis at 45 millimeters and the Big Crown ProPilot at 44 millimeters.”
More Room
From the watch industry’s standpoint, larger watches also offer more room for creativity.
The dial of a 36- to 38-millimeter watch usually showcases just the hour, minute and second hands, and possibly a simple date window.
And a brand can’t fit as many movement parts into a 38-millimeter case as it could into a 42- or 43-millimeter one. (Consider the 44.4-millimeter IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar, introduced last year, which offered a moon phase accuracy of 45 million years as well as Gregorian and solar calendars and other functions.)
“The oversized case sizes of the early 2000s allowed us to create incredible movements,” Maximilian Büsser of MB&F said. “You could pack 400 or 500 components into a bigger case and still be highly reliable because you aren’t sacrificing on tolerances.”
Even though most of MB&F’s watches are on the large side — including the 53-millimeter HM7 Aquapod — Mr. Büsser said the brand had been offering slightly smaller cases, with 42 to 44 millimeters now its best-selling range.
“I think that every trend is a reaction to a previous trend,” he said. “We had gotten very big and very crazy in the industry, so now we are shrinking sizes to be more wearable.”
Of particular note is the brand’s Horological Machine 11 Architect, a highly complex 42-millimeter timepiece based on architectural design unveiled in 2023. “It was one of the biggest challenges I fixed myself to; I wanted a maximum of 42 millimeters,” Mr. Büsser said. “I wanted the challenge. But usually, we need to make sure the pieces are wearable first; then look at size.”
Function and wearability are the focuses at Richard Mille, according to Alexandre Mille, the brand’s global commercial director.
“The movement dictates the rest of the shape and size of the watch,” he said. “There will be some intention in terms of design and comfort, but if the movement brings a function we want, we don’t worry about size.”
Half of the brand’s watches exceed 40 millimeters, he noted, which is the reason that the brand puts extreme emphasis on lightweight materials and extra-flat cases. “We try to make the lightest watch possible, like we did with the RM 27-05,” he said, noting that the watch weighs about 11.5 grams without the strap, or slightly less than the weight of a AAA battery.
“It holds a record in terms of lightness and thinness, so the size, length and width doesn’t matter,” he added. “It is important to offer innovation.”
Shared Influences
Sometimes a partner in a collaboration can influence a watch’s size.
When Panerai makes timepieces for the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli sailing team, “the sport is very rugged and these sailors need a 47-millimeter watch at a minimum,” said Jean-Marc Pontroué, the chief executive of Panerai. “The same is true with the Navy SEALs we work with. These guys want a big watch on their wrists; they don’t consider anything smaller than 44 millimeters serious, so we are very influenced by these people.
“Then we try to offer slightly smaller sizes, maybe 44 or 42 millimeter, depending on the collection, for the rest of the world.”
Similarly, IWC Schaffhausen, which works with the Navy Fighter Weapons School, popularly known as the elite “Top Gun” squadron, makes mostly large-size pilot watches for the fliers.
“When you look to the Big Pilot watches, especially the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun editions, there is a conscious ruggedness about them, much like wearing an instrument,” said Christoph Grainger-Herr, IWC’s chief executive.
He noted that most of the brand’s pilot watches are 44.5 millimeters. “But then we try to scale down from the larger sizes of that collection to the smaller 40- or 39-millimeter sizes for the Pilot’s automatic or the Spitfire to offer diversity in size to answer the call for today’s customers.
“But,” Mr. Grainger-Herr added, “size is always a matter of personal taste.”
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