Big Watch Trend

What began in the 1990s as a trend toward incrementally larger watches has turned into a mad dash among watch companies to build the biggest timepieces. Inspired in part by the popularity of the upstart Panerai and IWC pilot watch, traditional watch companies like Patek Philippe, the Swiss watchmaker known for thin, elegant designs, recently came out with a 42-millimeter clunker. 

For decades, the trend was toward smaller watches. The thinner a watch casing, the thinking was, the finer the movement inside, and the more expensive the watch. But as makers of inexpensive watches learned to replicate and mass-produce intricate movements, it became difficult to discern fine watches from $19 knockoffs. 

Enthusiasts begin looking for larger watches in the 1990s first turned to vintage military watches, which led to the rediscovery of IWC Big Pilot Watch, and later Panerai.

This big watches is more than a trend when looking at watch sizes throughout the history of watchmaking, the average width of a case in the '40s was 32mm, then 36mm — today it is 38mm. This marks an evolution that stems quite simply from the evolution of physical appearance: people—men and women—tend to be taller and, naturally, have larger wrists.

Besides being taller, many of us are slightly fuller framed than our forebears, so a mega-wristwatch looks proportionate. Nonetheless, there is also a practical side to wearing these massive wristwatches. Those who are beginning to find small print difficult to see will have fewer problems telling the time with a jumbo timepiece. A number of these watches were originally designed for just that. Divers (Panerai) in murky water needed to see at a glance how long they've been under and pilots (International Watch Co., Breitling and Chronoswiss) couldn't take their eyes away from their flight path for more than an instant to check the time.

Within the watch community, few think the trend will end anytime soon. Regardless of design origins, monster watches are here to stay. The only question is how much larger they can become.