A Man’s Guide to Wristwatches: How to Choose a Watch

This post is for you if you’ve been considering wearing a watch or if you already do but know very little about the device you wear on your wrist. We’ll cover the fundamentals of everything you’ve always wanted to know about selecting and wearing this timeless item, from balancing the benefits and drawbacks of various mechanism types to providing dossiers on the many kinds of men’s watches.

Watch Movements

One term that will frequently come up as you become acquainted with timepieces is “movement.” Movement includes both the act of a watch’s hands sweeping across its face and the inner workings that enable it to do so. The movement of a watch is essential to how it functions and tells time; think of it as the “heart” of the device.

There are three different kinds of watch movements: quartz, automatic, and mechanical. We go over how they vary as well as their advantages and disadvantages below.

Mechanical

A mechanical watch’s movement is driven by a hand-wound mainspring, which is a coil of metal. After the mainspring is coiled, it unwinds gradually and uniformly, which causes the second hand to glide smoothly across the watch’s display. Most mainsprings have a length of 9 to 13 inches. The power reserve and interval between windings of your mechanical watch both increase with the length of the mainspring.

Every mechanical action is not made equally. The accuracy and smoothness of a watch are determined by the level of craftsmanship and attention to detail that goes into it.

Due to its ancient heritage and the complex engineering and labor required to create them, mechanical movement watches are considered the finest timepieces by many enthusiasts. For many fans, having a mechanical watch is a means to show off their admiration for workmanship, elegance, and history in addition to being a useful tool for telling time.

Automatic

Automatic watches function similarly to mechanical watches, using complex gears and a mainspring to move the watch hands. The main difference between the two is that the user does not need to wind the watch by hand in order to maintain it in working order. Rather, as you wear the watch, your daily movements wind up the mainspring. Thus, the term “automated movement.” Another name for them is “self-winding” watches.

How does a watch with an automated mechanism wind itself? The “rotor,” a tiny weight inside the watch, rotates with your wrist movements throughout the day. It winds the mainspring when it moves and is attached to it. In order to keep the watch from becoming overwound while you’re wearing it, automatic watches additionally have a slipping clutch mechanism.

You should place your automatic watch in a watch winder if you’re not wearing it. It is a little mechanism that keeps the watch wound by rotating it in a circular motion when it is being stored. Doing this is especially crucial if your watch includes functions like a date or calendar display. As an illustration, suppose you have an automatic watch with a calendar on it and you decide to take a few days off from wearing it. The watch will run out of battery and become stuck on the time and date it stopped ticking if it isn’t stored in a winder. You’ll need to reset both watches if you intend to wear them again.

Quartz

Your current watch is most likely a quartz watch if you’re like most regular Joes. That’s because of something. Quartz timepieces are very reasonably priced and very accurate.

Powered by a tiny battery, a quartz movement eliminates the need for a coiled mainspring. A tiny quartz crystal is charged by the battery and vibrates 32,768 times per second as a result. A circuit measures the vibrations and translates them into a pulse that moves the watch’s second hand. Quartz watches feature a recognizable “tick tick tick” movement because the second hand is driven by electric pulses. Compared to an automatic or mechanical watch, it isn’t as smooth.

Quartz movements are significantly more precise and resilient than mechanical or automatic watches because they run on electricity instead of having many moving components. Because of this, the majority of “sport” and “field” watches have quartz movements.

Cheap quartz movements are also available. You can acquire a watch that is excellent at keeping time for $4. Of course, you’ll have to pay extra for anything with a little more style.

Dossiers for Men’s Watch Style

Though there are many useful men’s wristwatches available, such as tactical digital watches with a ton of functions and rubber sport watches you’d wear while running a 5K, we’re going to concentrate on wristwatches you’d wear to dress up an outfit. While utilitarian timepieces have their place in a man’s life, they don’t look very nice in an office setting or with a suit.

There are essentially five categories of fashionable men’s wristwatches: dress, field, diver, aviator, and racing. For every one, we have dossiers assembled.

Choosing the Ideal Watch Based on Your Hand Size

The way a watch fits your wrist and hand is one thing to take into account while making your selection. It will stick out and appear gaudy if it is too large for your wrist; if it is too little, it will give the impression that you are wearing a woman’s watch.

As a general guideline, you should choose a watch with a case diameter of 38?42 mm broad if your wrist circumference is 6?7 inches. 44?46 mm broad casings are a good choice if your wrist measures more over 7 inches.

Trying on and eyeballing a watch is the best approach to determine if it is proportionate to your wrist and hand. Consult your loved ones for their opinions.

Watches are statement pieces, of course. So be free to adopt the enormous, rap-mogul watch if that’s your preference. Just keep in mind that you’re telling the world that you value ostentatious consumption if you do this.