The Breitling Watch Source Forums

That's very true, and it does make you wonder whether we would see such movements if there hadn't been a trend for larger watches.

I think we are saying the same thing - I'm just not expressing it very well

Just to add to the previous posts, people are getting bigger and heavier, their
wrists are also expanding and bigger watches make
sense...

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Rolex DeepSea, GMT Master II TT, Pres 18038, DJ TT 16013
Breitling Chronomat 39mm (bullet+UTC), Starliner SS/MOP (wife)

back with ROLEX

It is unfortunately simply FASHION!

The same thing happened about 20 years ago with a thing called.... QUARTZ!!!

Thankfully that trend ended.... but not without Rolex and Patek making Quartz pieces.

In the same sense even Patek and Rolex are growing the size of their watches..... which in my opinion is getting out of hand!

A mens calatrava was 33mm for model 3919.... this has been replaced by 5119 - which is simply larger.

My 5107 is 37mm but this was a new watch released in year 2000! It is nice as a 37mm piece (excluding crown) however.... I would not want any bigger!

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I need more watches....

Which begs the question as to whether advancing tecnhology will allow these movements that require a bigger case now to be downsized into a smaller piece in the future Big watches don't suit everyone afterall and if you're a consumer and demand all those features but in a smaller unit - there may be a market there

I think a lot of the size changes are due to trends and demands; similar to clothing as has been indicated earlier. For those who value status, that has to be a big reason as well along with Bling!

I personally prefer a size that fits me well and a watch that I like, couldn't care about the rest

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Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"

But the evolution of anything could be called fashion. Things change over time. They evolve.

Houses were once nothing more than caves carved out of rock faces : does that mean that modern timber framed houses are simply a fashion-trend, or an evolution of the house?

As I (and Roff have said) big watches have been around for many many years - at least 40 to 50 years in fact. The optimum size is simply governed by the size of the human wrist. Too small and a watch can look feminine : too large and it can look clown-like. In my personal opinion a gents watch can happily be anywhere between and 38mm and 48mm (depending on the watch style) and still be considered "manly" and without stepping into "too big" territory. Obviously there is a little leeway on this depending on watch style, but that range is about average I'd say. I'm 100% confident that unless the average size of the human wrist changes dramatically, we'll still be seeing 99% of gents watches falling between 38 and 48mm for MANY years to come.

Personally I'm quite fortunate that I don't consider any mechanical watches to "look dated" per se - I look at them as "of their era". In that respect I can quite happily appreciate a Breitling 1806, or a Pupitre, and not think, "my god, how dated they look". I look at them as being a 70's watch with all the merits of a more modern watch. In this respect, even IF the average watch size changes again, I certainly won't be thinking that todays watches will look dated at all - they'll just look of their era.

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Driver8

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