Oct. 22, 2025

What's the Right Watch Size for My Wrist?

    Marcus Siems @siemswatches
    Collectionneur, auteur, analyste de données

It's an ancient old question: What's the right watch size for me? The goldilocks area that makes a watch look present and well balanced. And for us as vintage watch lovers this is indeed one of the most central questions...

When is a watch too small, too big or just right for you?

Beyond their design, vintage timepieces also set themselves apart from most modern watches in their size. Few new releases come in under 38mm in diameter. Furthermore, from the extensive research on the matter by Mark Cho ([here]) we know that more than half of the watches actively collected and worn are sized between 38mm and 40mm ([Watch Size Preferences]). 

However, most vintage watches were made in the range from 32mm to 37mm ([Average Vintage Watch Sizes]). Consequently, there are many watch lovers who have little experience with vintage sizes and simply consider them "too small". But are they too small or just unfamiliar? In the end mere exposure shapes our preferences, too ([Familiarity Principle]).

What watch size might be a good fit for your wrist?

Importantly, I want to highlight that there is no "too small" but it arguably takes some getting used to when you haven't worn a watch with a 32mm diameter ever before. So our goal here is to guide you and help experiencing a wider range of watch sizes. 

One important aspect is of course the wrist circumference (measured above the outer knuckle on your wrist). Just for comparison: The average wrist size is 17.3cm (6.8in) and around 60% of (male watch collector's) wrists are between 16.5cm (6.5in) and 17.8cm (7in) ([Wrist Size Survey). Here, we took 5 vintage watches sized 28.5mm, 32.5mm, 35.5mm and 38mm (without crown) and took standardized photos on three different wrists sized small 15.75cm (6.2in), medium 17cm (6.7in), and large 18cm (7.1in).

The (purely visual) guide will feature three parts:

1) Does this watch fit me? (Comparing a single watch on different wrists)

2) What size I'm comfortable with? (Comparing different watches on a single wrist)

3) What else to look out for? (Optical illusions and wrist presence)

1) Does this watch fit me?

28.5

A small Omega Medicus (28.5mm).

32.5

A medium sized IWC Calatrava (32.5mm).

35.5

An average sized Omega Constellation (35.5mm).

35.5mm (large lug-to-lug)

An average sized Omega Scarab (35.5mm) with extending lugs.

38

A large Omega with Railroad dial (38mm).

2) What watch size I'm comfortable with?

wrist 15.75cm (6.2in)

Various watch sizes on a small 15.75cm (6.2in) wrist.

wrist 17cm (6.7in)

Various watch sizes on a medium 17cm (6.7in) wrist.

wrist 18cm (7.1in)

Various watch sizes on a large 18cm (7.1in) wrist.

3) What else affects wrist presence?

Of course there are many many more factors than just the watch diameter that can affect how large a piece will appear. That is often circumscribed as "wrist presence" and can be affected by lug-to-lug length, case material, height, bezel width, dial color, strap/bracelet choice and many more. To give you an initial intuition what else to look out for when you see a watch with a certain size we compared pieces with the same diameter but different bracelet (left) and increased lug-to-lug length (right).

How the same diameter can appear very different depending on strap vs. bracelet (left) or vs. a larger lug-to-lug length (right).

Tous les droits sur le texte et les graphiques sont réservés à l'auteur.