Mary Going, Founder of the bespoke suit company Saint Harridan, started an interesting Twitter conversation a few weeks back, prompting all of us to ask: Should our watches fit under our shirt cuffs? If not, why not? If so, why so? And, what if you like big, thick, bold watches? Then what????
So, we first headed to the “experts” over at GQ, and here is what they had to say:
“Your cuffs should at least half-cover the watch. While shirt collars come in half-inch increments, sleeves come in one-inch increments, so sometimes it’s hard to get them just right. If the next size longer seems too long, you might try custom shirts. They’re not much more expensive than off-the-rack, especially since you’re wearing these brands, anyway. Otherwise, it’s a fairly simple matter to have your shirtsleeves altered by a tailor. Many stores will do it for free. Some dandies actually wear their watch over their cuff, but to get away with this you have to be a mighty sharp dresser, have slim cuffs and wear a dressy watch.”
Example of wearing your watch OVER your cuff. Yay? Nay? Image via Pinterest.
Another example of rocking the watch over the cuff. Image via Pinterest.
Depending on the level of formality, you can also roll up the sleeves to show off your chunky watch, like Gabrielle Royal did here in her Seven Days of Dapper shoot:
Photo by TTK
Now, if you’re a purist and wouldn’t dare to wear your watch over your cuffs, many *menswear forums suggest that you get your shirts custom made and have one of your cuffs (the side you wear your watch on) sized larger to accommodate for your watch. Some shirt brands offer shirts with adjustable cuffs that can accommodate for wrist watches; however, whether this will work for chunky watches all depends on the size of your wrist and the size of your watch. Alternatively, one Twitter commenter suggested purchasing smaller, slimmer watches to wear with more formal ensembles.
007, always the classic purist. Image via Tumblr
Try custom for that. It’s the best solution for it.