I haven’t worn a watch for probably at least 30 years, but I inherited this Rolex and it seems criminal to just drop it into a drawer, so I’m trying to get used to having it on my wrist. And since I’ve spent so many years in offices, I keep mistakenly calling it a Rolodex, which is a habit I need to break, but that’s another thread.
The band is a little loose. Not so loose that it spins around my wrist, but loose enough that it moves up and down along the wrist and just begins to climb up over the wrist joint. A male friend at work saw that and said I should get a link taken out, that it should be snug. “For that kind of money, it ought to fit right.”
One of my female co-workers heard this exchange and it led to one of those conversations among colleagues who have too much free time. She thought it was a perfect fit, just the right amount of looseness, and then claimed that women want their watch bands looser than men.
So what do you think? Do women wear watches like they wear bracelets? Do they like them a little loose and, er… jangly? I wonder if they actually want to retain some awareness that they’re wearing it? I am finding that it is kind of drawing attention to itself by slipping about as I move my arm around. It’s not uncomfortable and certainly not painful, but it doesn’t let me forget it’s there.
I haven’t decided yet for myself whether this is a good or bad thing for me personally. My “watch concept” is that it should be snug and comfortable and firmly in place – one place. Once or twice I’ve had to twist it slightly back to see the face and tell the time, and that just don’t seem right dammit! OTOH, it is a very flashy watch and maybe the whole point of wearing a watch like this IS to draw attention to it.
Do more women see watches as ornamental, while men see them as basically tools that need to be in their place to “work right”?
It depends on the kind of watch. If it’s one styled more like a man’s leather or metal-band watch (my hands and wrists are large so I tend to wear that kind; even if smaller-scale ones fit me, they tend to look ridiculous on my wrist), I like them snug so they don’t move around much. A watch made more like a bracelet is a type I tend to wear fitting more loosely. I view a watch as a piece of clothing. I feel just as undressed without my watch on as I do without a shirt on.
Female here, and I hate to have my watch move around. I wear mine above the pisiform bone (which I started to describe as the “wrist bone bump,” then said to myself, “Hey, this is the Dope! You gotta do better than that!”), if it’s a band that is flexible. A rigid cuff-type band I don’t wear up that high, but I still like them snug.
I’m a male and prefer snug watches. I tend not to wear them because the narrowest portion of my arm is not where the watch feels most comfortable to me and it inevitably works its way up there.
This doesn’t seem possible. Do you mean the pisiform (which would be on the palmar surface) or the styloid process (which is in about the same location on the opposite side).
Another woman checking in. I haven’t worn a watch in a couple of years, but in the days when I did, I liked them to fight tightly enough that I generally had a sharp tan line where my watch went.
I’m a guy who much prefers them loose. They need some room to move around a bit. Mostly because I’m allergic to my own sweat, and a tight band and watch-back sitting in the same spot all day will turn my wrist bumpy and cracky.
Female, and I almost always wear an expansion (read: Stretchy) type watch band, and I really prefer it just a tad bit loose. When I was heavier, they were always snug, and after losing weight I really, really got a lot of pleasure out of the band slipping around on my newly-slender wrists. And not having a mark on my wrist. I’m looking for a new watch to replace a bracelet-style watch that I loved, but the finish wore off prematurely.
Female, I prefer my watch loose. I could wear it snugger I suppose, but it feels odd if I do and tends to dig. Also, it gets all sweaty and icky under it, which just drives me nuts and I find myself taking it off all the time to rub the area it sits.
The only problem I have is I have large wrists (not fat, they’re slender but still on the big side) and women’s watches tend to fit snug so when I find one that isn’t it’s a pleasure.
I think generally, women are much more likely to wear their watches looser and more “bracelet style” than men are. Partly it’s because we’re more used to the “bracelet” concept, and partly it’s because our wrists are just smaller. Mine are tiny, and I usually have to take five or six links out of any watch I buy, just to keep it from falling right off my hand.
That said, I agree with your friend, have some links taken out, especially if you prefer a tighter fit. Most jewelers won’t even charge you for it.
Perhaps I chose an unreliable source. Here’s what it said:
The OED tells us that the pisiform bone is a “small pea-shaped bone of the upper row of the carpus,” and the diagram neatly shows this. We here have the bones of the upturned hand. Thus, the pisiform bone is the bone that “sticks up” just above the wrist and is on the outside of the lower arm as it hangs limply.
IMO it’s entirely personal preference and to some extent dictated by wrist circumference. I’ve seen men and women randomly go snug and loose. Women with slender wrists go loose more often simply because it’s difficult to size the band precisely on a tiny wrist. I have a gorgeous Rado Jubile I took in trade on a swap that’s been sitting in a drawer for a year because it’s missing so many links it would only fit very slender wristed woman or a young girl. I’m toying with the notion about making a present of it to the little daughter of one of my co-workers when she comes into the office with her dad next time and then letting her mom freak when she discovers how expensive the watch is.
The clasp is adjustable. One end of the bracelet had little pins on it, and they can be moved into the corresponding holes in the clasp for a tighter or looser fit. Unless it’s already in the tightest position, you shouldn’t have to remove a link. Any jeweler should be able to make the adjustment for you, and probably won’t charge you for it. If you do need to remove a link, don’t worry about it. People do it all the time.
Of course if your watch is a Submariner (What kind do you have, anyway?) you can get a NATO band like James Bond wore. A 20mm band will fit, but Mr. Connery wore an 18mm one on his. (Note the gap.)
I haven’t worn a watch in years, but when I last did I still bought kids’ watches with leather bands because I found women’s watch bands to be too loose, and my attempts to add new holes never worked out very well. I hate it when the face can move around.
I don’t have a fancy Rollodex just a Swatch but I can’t abide being without my watch so I wear it 24 hours a day (cause I have a memory like a sieve andd if I took it off it would forget to put it back on). Mine is buckled to the second to last hole. Tight enough not annoy me but loose enough that I usualy have to look to the underside of my wrist to see the time.
Female here. I have a tiny little wrist - maybe not as small as DianaG’s, but I always have to get links removed, too. My last watch was snug and stayed in the same place, and I liked that - this watch I like just loose enough so it can move but not rotate all the way around. You get used to the movement of the watch, honestly.
I want my watch to fit right, but right in my case is not snug. Can’t stand that – makes my wrist sweat. Need a little slide, but not enough so it’ll rotate.
I’m a 52-year-old male and I also inherited a Rolex. I had links taken out. I have small wrists for my size (5’10" 180 lbs) and always have to have links taken out of watches, or sometimes punch an extra hole in the ones with straps (I have a modest watch collection). Because of my interest in watches, I like to notice other people’s watches. I see a lot of guys with big showy bracelet watches that hang looser, and many more women that do this. But I don’t see this with leather-band watches.
ETA: It’s not expensive to get links taken out, and didn’t cost more to do it for a Rolex than for most cheap watches.
Unfortunately I inherited a Submariner without a band, and the asking price for a genuine Rolex replacement band from the local Rolex dealer is $4000, so I regretfully declined. I got a band pretty close to this for this model Submariner. Even at $60, the band probably costs more than I’ve ever spent on a whole watch. But no fancy workarounds from removing links. I guess Rolex links would be like a hundred bucks a pop.
just a Swatch but I can’t abide being without my watch so I wear it 24 hours a day (cause I have a memory like a sieve andd if I took it off it would forget to put it back on). Mine is buckled to the second to last hole. Tight enough not annoy me but loose enough that I usualy have to look to the underside of my wrist to see the time.