Comparing Larger Watches On Wrist

By now you know it’s no secret that I like larger watches. My bias towards bigger timepieces comes from getting into the hobby in the early 2000s. My first two watches were Omega Seamasters both well over 40 mm, so it is engrained in my mind that my watches should all be over 40 mm.

For this article I thought it would be fun to look at a few watches from 40 mm up to 48 mm and see how they look on my wrist. A little bit of context for the article, my wrist is 7.25 inches (~ 18.5 cm) and I’m 6’2 and weigh around 220 lbs. Of course if my wrist was 6 inches or 8.5 inches the watches would look remarkably different.

To kick things off, let’s start with a size and industry standard. I’m sure most people have seen a 40 mm Rolex steel sports model up close and can gauge size well off of a watch like this. The Rolex I picked to put on my wrist is my wife’s Yacht-Master 16622. I’ve always thought 40 mm Rolexes looked small on my wrist, but in all honesty it doesn’t look too bad. I feel the watch sits well on the wrist and doesn’t really favor on side or another of my wrist. For smaller watches, I can’t stand when a watch starts to sit too far to one side of the wrist and isn’t centered. It would be fun to have a larger Rolex on hand like a Deepsea and see how it looks compared to the Yacht-Master. I do feel the more aggressive larger bezel font of the Yacht-Master makes the watch look a little bigger. The platinum dial also makes the watch look bigger, so I’m not sure if a black dialed Submariner would look a lot smaller. Either way, it’s a good first start and gives you a benchmark to further compare.



Next up we move the case size up 2 mm to 42 mm. For our 42 mm case we have the IWC GST Aquatimer 2000 in titanium. It’s weird, even though the case size of the Aquatimer is larger than the Yacht-Master, it really doesn’t wear any bigger. Looking at the picture I can see that the case does tend to wear higher on my wrist, making the watch look off balance. The lug design of the GST range really flares out and the bracelet and strap both bulge off of the wrist. On wrist the watch seems like it is not very wide at all, but is very long with the flared lugs. While trying all of these watches on back to back, the Aquatimer felt like the smallest watch on the wrist. While feeling the smallest, the flared out strap does seem to stick over my wrist the most, even more so than the real monsters coming up.



We now move up another 2 mm to 44 mm and have a trio of 44 mm watches to look at. The interesting thing about these 44 mm watches is how different they all wear on the wrist. First up we have the 44 mm Breitling Superocean Heritage II in steel and rose gold. This is a watch we have for sale and I haven’t really worn it at all. Looking at the pictures, I have to say that the Superocean looks to fit my wrist best out of the watches in this article, which was a real surprise. The lugs seem to fit my wrist almost perfectly and the watch sits flat and on the center of my wrist. The ceramic bezel and black dial also look really in proportion. Compared to the Yacht-Master you can see that that Superocean’s case fits my wrist a little fuller and looks a lot more natural than the Aquatimer.



Up next is the Panerai Luminor Marine 1950 PAM00351 in titanium. I really love this watch and for being a big watch it is super lightweight since it’s made out of titanium. This watch is also in our inventory and not a personal watch, so it hasn’t had much if any wrist time. Looking at the pictures, it seems like the Luminor does not sit centered on my wrist and sits a bit high. Also with the bezel of the Superocean extending into the lug area, the Breitling looks bigger and more proportionate on my wrist. The lugs on the Luminor just start at the end of the case and make the watch look smaller. This might be why 44 mm Luminors are popular with people that have smaller wrists. The lug design really looks like there is no flare and the strap could be worn straight down. On my wrist the strap does have a bit of wrist to get around though. In this case, I prefer the fit of the Breitling. I wish I had a 47 mm Panerai Submersible here to compare the fit versus a standard 44 mm Luminor.



The final 44 mm watch is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Juan Pablo Montoya in titanium. This watch is my grail watch and I’d never say a bad thing about it… even if the crown currently doesn’t screw down and is about to be sent of for service… The old 44 mm Royal Oak Offshores are considered by many to just wear way too large. The main culprit for this belief is the case design and also the flared lugs. At only 44 mm wide, the Offshores are over 50 mm in length. The lug design also flares out and does not go straight down. In all honesty the Montoya wears closer to the 48 mm Hublot King Power Oceanographic that is coming up soon. On my wrist, I feel the Montoya’s case covers my wrist perfectly and doesn’t have any gaps either. I’ve always felt the old Offshore’s fit my wrist better than any other watch and also love the folding clasp which many can’t stand. Even though the Breitling looks great on wrist with its more traditional lugs and strap design, I do prefer the Offshore’s fit personally. I’d say my least favorite fit of the three 44 mm watches is the Panerai.



We now move 1 mm up to 45 mm. The 45 mm watch on my wrist is the IWC Pilot’s Watch Worldtimer. The case of the Worldtimer looks smaller on wrist than the Montoya or the Luminor, but you can see that the lugs do completely cover my wrist. With the traditional strap, the watch could actually fit a smaller wrist than mine just fine having the ability to go straight down. The Worldtimer does look proportionate on my wrist and is centered, which I love. While technically larger in diameter than the Montoya, the Worldtimer wears much smaller.



We are now at the final diameter, having now jumped up 3 mm to 48 mm. The first 48 mm watch we’re going to put on wrist is my IWC Big Pilot Top Gun Perpetual Calendar. Although tied for the largest watch in this article, the Big Pilot is one of the lightest being crafted out of ceramic and titanium. I feel that the traditional case and lug design of this Big Pilot allows the watch to actually fit on my wrist. The strap goes nearly straight down on my wrist and the watch sits extremely centered. I don’t feel like there is any overhang of the lugs on my wrist or any empty space. This is probably how the 45 mm Pilot’s Worldtimer would look on a 6.5 to 7 inch wrist. Even the large onion crown doesn’t dig into my wrist at all. I feel that the heavier steel Big Pilot’s crowns would dig into my wrist since those watches were much more top heavy than this ceramic model.



We now have the final watch for this article. Measuring in at 48 mm in diameter and nearly 22 mm in height we have the Hublot King Power Oceanographic 4000 in full carbon fiber. This watch is designed more in the style of the Royal Oak Offsore and has an integrated bracelet, but unlike the Offshore the lugs do not flare out much and point mostly down. If the lugs on the Oceanographic flared out, I’d cave and admit the watch is just too big for my wrist, but in reality the watch just barely fits my wrist. I’d say the bigger elephant in the room here is the height of the watch. I’ve only had this watch during winter time, so it often gets caught on my cuff. I feel that in summer, the watch will be great with a t-shirt. Compared to the 4 mm smaller Montoya, the Oceanographic only wears slightly larger.



Looking at these eight 40 mm plus watches back to back was an interesting look at what watch sizes I can pull off. I feel that the 40 mm Rolex is about as small as I’d ever go with the watch being a little smaller than my wrist, but still sitting nice and centered. I also feel that 48 mm is about the max upper limit of what I can pull off. The traditional lug design of the Big Pilot works a little better than the integrated design of the Oceanographic, but I’m able to pull off both in my opinion. The 44 mm case size seems to be the sweet spot for my wrist size though. My personal collection does seem to skew a bit larger though with the two 48 mm watches and the one large wearing 44 mm.

Hopefully this was an interesting article that shows that case size dimensions don’t always show how a watch will wear on wrist. Lug design and how a strap or bracelet comes off of a case have a lot more to do with true size than case millimeters. The best examples being the IWC GST Aquatimer 2000's super flared lugs with a smaller case size and the Montoya’s 44 mm wearing closer to a 48 mm watch.