Watch Wearing Mistakes You Should Avoid

Wearing a watch may seem like it’s a pretty straightforward thing, put the watch on your wrist and go about your day. While this is true, there are still a number of mistakes you can make.

While these are not set in stone and nothing will happen if you don’t “follow” them, they can help you get the most out of your watches, which is really all we want.

Wearing The Wrong Watch At The Wrong Time

Watches are just an extension of our clothes and in the same way we wear certain clothes for certain things, we have to do the same with our watches.

Think about the guy running on the treadmill at the gym in a nice pair of black leather business shoes, think about turning up to your sister’s wedding in a wetsuit. …you just don’t. These clothes don’t match the situation.

Watches are the same, but it’s maybe not as obvious and a little bit more subtle. It is also not helped by a lot of people only having just one watch they wear every day so they do not realise you can pair watches with clothing in this way. While a lot of watches will work in a number of situations, you should still try and pair your watch to match the occasion.

The best way to overcome this is to know what style of watch you have, and then you can determine if it will be a good fit for the occasion. However, as I said it can be quite subtle at times so just because a watch is one style, doesn’t mean it will only work in that one situation. A lot of watches will work in a number of different situations

A dive watch is of course for diving, but this does not mean you can only wear it while diving. This type of watch is often the go to informal/casual watch. However, we all know James Bond wears a dive watch with a tuxedo. This really shouldn’t work and if often frown upon, but he somehow gets away with it.

The same can be said for a dress watch, of course it will look great in a tuxedo but I am sure you could pull it off in a more casual setting. Although when you start wearing it to the beach it might to start really looking out of place, that lovely leather strap is not going to feel nice on a hot day, let alone the fact the watch is probably not very water resistant so you can’t jump into the sea with it.

Wearing The Wrong Strap On The Wrong Watch

This mistake can be made in a number of different ways and although it sounds like it’s the same as the point above it is actually very different.

Strap Type

Firstly you can pair the wrong type of strap with your watch. This can be very subjective as some people will argue that certain straps and watches will pair nicely, while others will say they do not.

The classic argument is putting a leather strap on a dive watch. While this can make it look more dressy, people will argue that leather should not be on a watch like this as it can’t handle water in the same way that the watch can.

Other examples would be paring a plastic watch (think Casio’s) with a leather strap, or putting a dress watch on a nato strap.

I think a lot of this will depend on the watch and the strap, but what might be frowned upon can often work in some situations.

(You can read more about – How To Pick A Strap For Your Watch)

Strap Colour

The other issue is matching the wrong colour strap to the watch. This can again be quite subjective as some people may say certain colours work while others will say it does not. Usually the problem arises when the colours are similar, but slightly off. You may have a blue bezel and want to have a matching blue strap, but the two colours are a few shades off, it often just doesn’t look right . 

This is also a huge problem for me when a metal bracelet is used and it just doesn’t quite match with the colour of the watch. One may be slightly more polished than the other or just a dark shade. I really don’t think you should pair two metals that are not an exact match; it just makes the watch look cheap in my opinion.

Wearing The Wrong Size Watch

Wearing a watch that isn’t the right size for your wrist can just look terrible. This can be difficult as watch brands have been following fashion trends and making watches a little bigger in recent years. You then also have the issue of a lot of watches being sold online so you can’t really try it on your wrist until you’ve bought it and its shows up at your house.

You really need to know the size of your wrist and you need to try a number of watches on to get a feel for what size works best.

This can be tricky because although two watches may have similar sizes on paper, they may wear very differently on your wrist. This can be due to the height of the watch, the thickness of the bezel, the lug to lug distance and it can often just be a visual illusion due to how the dial is laid out. This is why it is best to try a watch on before you buy it.

As a general rule you don’t want the lugs to over hang your wrist as this can just make it look way to large for you.

While going to large is normally the problem, you can also wear a watch that is too small for your wrist. I think this mistake is easier to notice and is therefore avoided as the watch will just look comically small and like a child’s watch on your wrist. Most people can feel this is wrong. Personally I like to keep my watches under 40mm. My wrist is just under 7 inches and I just prefer a slightly smaller watch, they just seem to not stand out, they just blend into my wrist while looking proportionally right.

(you can read more about – Can You Wear A Dress Watch With Casual Clothes?)

Too Tight/Too Loose

Luckily this is pretty uncommon. Most people manage to wear their watch correctly. A little bit of tightness or slack is not a problem. The issue comes when it is too extreme. Every now and again you will see someone wearing a watch so loose it will probably come off if they swing their arm to fast. Ideally your watch should feel snug and you should be able to squeeze a finger under the strap. This should give you enough space for your wrist to expand in warmer weather. 

Some people also like to argue over the position of your watch on the wrist. Some like it very close to the bone and others do not. This is really personal preference and you should do whatever feels most comfortable.

Wearing The Wrong Colour Watch For Your Complexion

This can get a little subjective and luckily most watches will work with anyone. However, some colours just don’t work well with certain skin complexions. Personally I believe gold does not work well with my extremely fair skin. Other people may say it looks great, but for me I don’t like how it looks. You need to just try a few watches and see what works and what doesn’t. You may find everything can look okay, but perhaps some colours do not match your style.

You may also find some dial colours do not work with you, although this will be more how they work with your outfit and style, rather than your complexion.

Break the Rules

Although I have tried to explain some mistake to avoid, the reality is you can do whatever you want. If you like how it looks, go for it.

Just because I say that the strap doesn’t look right and colour is not a good match doesn’t mean I am correct. If you think it looks good just go for it. How your watch looks should only matter to you.

These are really only guidelines to help you work out what usually works well, but there is always exceptions to this and if you feel you can do it differently, do so.

(You can read more about – Is It Okay To Wear A Watch On The Right Hand?)

Conclusion

Wearing a watch is not hard and they will usually look very good on your wrist. If you follow the simple guidelines you should always end up with a classic look that most people will agree works well. Once you know the basic you can then decide if you want to step outside these and do your own thing.

So long as you are happy and you like the look of your watch on your wrist, then that is all that matters. Don’t worry about anyone else and enjoy what you have.

(You can also read more about – Common Watch Collecting Mistakes To Avoid)