Rolex
In an increasingly casual world, the dress watch has become an old-world idea, one that has taken a recent back seat to the trendiness and longstanding versatility of sports (or simply sportier) watches. But whether you want to dress up for a special event or add a dash of class to an otherwise dressed-down lifestyle, the quiet world of the dress watch offers a great deal of charm and style in a package that might be worth reconsidering for day-to-day duty on your wrist.
The truth is, we're starting to see some of that sports-centric thinking turn around. Consider the continued growth of power in the independent space, where brands from Dufour to Roger Smith, Akrivia, and Journe highlight a place where dressier designs have found a lasting and deeply engaged audience. At a wider production scope, think of the rise in popularity seen for Cartier over the past several years. While they are far from new to the limelight (and deservedly so), it does seem like they are enjoying the attention of a more general and style-focused crowd. After all, the Tank's stylish longevity can challenge that of just about any steel sports watch, even a cross-over player with a cult following like the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso.
Over the years we've looked at everything from classic and mysterious Pateks to beautiful Langes, perfect VCs, and the simple elegance found when Credor creates a jaw-dropping dress watch that flies way under the radar. Dress watches come in all shapes and sizes and ultimately it comes down to how something simple but painstakingly specific hits your tastes for watches and your personal sense of style. For me, being a very casual guy – the kind that knows how many ties he owns but not the last time he wore any of them – I find it often comes down to the strap choice, especially for a gold watch. I say suede over gator. But I've always been a suede kind of guy.
If you want to find out what works for you, or simply explore the dressier side of life (and life with watches) the following stories lay out everything from resplendent in-house time-only watches to inexpensive elegance, 100-year-old design excellence, and even a bit of complication. So go ahead, find an excuse to be a bit more dressy and leave that steel sports watch on your nightstand for a day or two – it'll survive.
Featured Stories
There's something so purist about a time-only dress watch and in this classic Three On Three, Ben, Stephen, and Paul Boutros compare glittering examples from A. Lange & Söhne, Vacheron Constantin, and F.P. Journe. All three represent the essential core of what makes each brand so special and no words are spared when taking an in-depth look at the trio. If you want to develop a better understanding of the core appeal of a dress watch, this is a great place to start.
As a nod to the 100th birthday of the Cartier Tank (itself one layer in the bedrock of dress watch design), Stephen Pulvirent spent a week with a steel example of the modern Tank Américaine, digging into its history, market position, and general ethos. He came away entirely smitten and it's not hard to see why, the Américaine is everything you want from a dress watch, but with a huge connection to the past that renders a special charm on the wrist.
Look, while dress watches are commonly seen as fancy (a swear word in my mind) and often expensive, that isn't a hard-set rule. The simplicity of a minimal dress watch allows just about any brand with a movement to try its hand at the form. If you want to dress up while keeping your budget down, don't skip the Hamilton Intra-Matic in 38mm that Jack wrote about for this outing of The Value Proposition. It's a great size, a lovely look (they make several dial colorways), and the sub-$1,000 pricing is hard to beat.
Over the years, we've featured some incredible dress watches within the collections profiled on Talking Watches, but what I like about René Beyer's bonkers collection is how he manages a seamless outlay of watches that span from decidedly non-dressy – like a Breitling Super Constellation or a Mondaine Swiss Railway – to the very dressy. This includes a Patek 866500, a 3450 QP (Beyer signed, naturally), and even one of my all-time favorite watches, a Patek Philippe 2597. It's an example of how dress watches are not an exclusive avenue in terms of watch interest, but rather a specific flavor that can naturally fit within a broader taste for watches of all kinds.
This is my selfish pick for the weekend, as it's a story that I wrote about the early days of Patek Philippe's Travel Time complications. As I mentioned just above, I love the ref. 2597, specifically the series 2 examples that feature a pair of hour hands, one for home and one for a new time zone. The 2597 is among my favorite dress watches (though I understand that a complication can be tough for some dress watch purists) and the functionality would later inform one of my favorite modern travel watches, the Patek Philippe 5164A. If you like the idea of a dressy travel watch with a seriously elegant complication, take a look.
I figured I'd throw in a sixth story because I have trouble thinking about my favorite dress watches and not quickly dreaming of a subtle but beautifully finished Grand Seiko. I've been in love with their dressier designs since I first got to try on an SBGW252, so I dug up this look at a very dressy two-watch collection featuring a lovely pairing of a limited edition Grand Seiko SBGW033 and the A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin 37mm. I'm not sure I'd want the challenge of picking between the two...
I can only lament that the need for me to wear a dress watch rarely arises, so I can't justify this, but it's absolutely gorgeous.
– DonFe (H commenter)Want add a little dress appeal to your wrist? Check out the Hodinkee Shop dress watch collection here.
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