The best small watches for men might just change the way you look at your wrist. Conventional wisdom dictates that the best way to find your ideal watch size is to measure the circumference of your wrist and proceed accordingly, just as you would with a pair of shoes or a belt. While that’s a good starting place, it’s not quite the whole story. Sure XXL watches do tend to look all the beefier on slender wrists, but (hot take incoming!) we’d posit that this has more to do with the ballooning proportions of timepieces than anyone’s anatomy. The fact is, smaller watches just look better.
To understand why, we need to go back to the days before rainbow Daytonas and seven-figure Richard Milles became some of the most coveted watches on the planet. From the early 1900s through the 1980s, small timepieces enjoyed a long and uninterrupted reign as the pinnacle of taste and style. And for good reason: Watchmakers had been working for generations to make their movements as small as possible without sacrificing accuracy, making slimness and lightness extremely desirable traits. That all began to change with the advent of diver’s watches in the 1950s (see: the Rolex Submariner), followed by automatic chronographs in the late ’60s (see: the Omega Speedmaster), and luxury sports watches (see: the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak) in the 1970s.
Fifty years on (and thanks to Instagram, a platform seemingly made for flexing oversized timepieces), the original Royal Oak’s 39mm case looks downright petite next to most men’s watches, which usually measure anywhere from 40mm-45mm—a size once considered unwearably large. Recently, though, as more people have discovered the charms (and diminutive proportions) of vintage watches, demand for smaller case sizes is on the rise. While large-and-in-charge cases remain the norm (for now) there are plenty of smaller options available if you know where to look. The elite selects below are the very best small watches for men on the market.
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5 Tiny Tickers with Superlative Style
The Best Small Watches Under $100
You’ll have a tough time finding anything in the sub-$100 category that would qualify as “heirloom grade,” but that doesn’t mean you can’t still score an iconic design.
Swatch
Clearly Gent Quartz Watch
This holdover from 1983, the year Swatch introduced its first collection, distills everything that’s great about the brand, from its quirky postmodern design to its ultra-affordable price.
Casio
LA670WA-1 Digital Watch
This version of another 1980s legend, the Casio A700W, puts all the functionality and vintage charm of its sibling into a downsized package that’ll look good on any size wrist (including that of at least one GQ editor.)
Armitron
Tilly Watch
There’s a special place in our hearts for ultra-affordable watches that punch far above their price, and this pint-sized Tank dupe is one of the genre’s greatest hits.
Timex
Easy Reader 35mm Watch
Much like pickup trucks and house prices, watch sizes have been subject to a slow but steady bloat over the last couple of decades. Somewhat miraculously, however, the perfectly balanced dimensions of this 1977 classic remain gloriously unchanged.
The Best Small Watches Under $250
In the lower echelons of the market, a little extra cash can get you a lot more watch. While sub-$100 watches are mostly plastic and battery-powered, $250 can get you into a stainless steel case and even the occasional automatic movement.
Praesidus
A-11 Jungle Field Watch 34mm Watch
The A-11 earned its place among the icons of 20th-century military gear—right alongside legends like the M65 field jacket and MA-1 bomber—through its service on the wrists of GIs in WWII. Men’s watches from the 1940s were small by today’s standards, but this ticker’s 34mm case still looks just right.
Timex
Marlin 34mm Watch
The modern Timex lineup truly has something for everyone, but this 1960s repro remains a best-seller thanks to its gloriously period-correct looks, including those funky midcentury numerals and a Goldilocks-sized case.
Seiko
5 Sports 36mm Watch
The Seiko 5 collection boasts a huge range of models at nigh-unbeatable prices, a distinction that has earned it the reputation as the biggest cheat code in affordable watches. What very few of them offer (and this one does) is an imminently wearable 36mm size.
Timex
Q Timex 1971 Velocity 36mm Watch
Timex is firmly into its vibes era these days, and that’s a win for anyone who loves funky vintage re-editions like this 1970s-style motorsports watch. Thanks to its very reasonable price, you might even have enough cash left over for a sweet pair of driving gloves, too.
The Best Small Watches Under $500
If you have $500 to spend on a watch, your options increase significantly. You now have access to a raft of respected mid-range brands, a range of high-end materials including sapphire crystals and high-end stainless steel, as well as some interesting movement options like Citizen’s light-powered Eco-Drive.
Marathon
34mm Desert Tan GPM Watch
When streetwear legend Brendon Babenzian took over J.Crew’s men’s department, one of his first moves was the introduction of a Marathon paratrooper’s watch not unlike this one. Need we say more?
Mondaine
Evo2 35mm Watch
Whether or not you’ve had the pleasure of riding the rails in Switzerland, there’s much to appreciate about the layout of this timepiece, which is inspired by the Swiss National Railway’s iconic station clocks. Unsurprisingly, its Bauhaus-inspired design will look just as cool on your wrist—particularly in this midsized 35mm variant.
Citizen
ProMaster Dive 36mm Watch
Everyone loves a dive watch, but too many of them end up looking downright chonky on the average wrist. Not this one. Plus, thanks to Citizen’s light-powered Eco-Drive tech, you don’t have to worry about changing the battery every few years.
Tissot
Everytime 34mm Watch
A great office watch blends seamlessly with your wardrobe of sport jackets and button-ups while adding just the teensiest bit of old-school sophistication to your look. If only finding the perfect navy blue suit was this easy.
The Best Small Watches Under $1,000
For most of us spending a grand on a watch isn’t nothing, but if you can swing it you’ll find better value and more options than anywhere else in the watch hierarchy—not to mention some of the slickest small tickers at any price.
Tissot
PRX Powermatic 80 35mm Watch
The PRX’s combination of ‘70s looks, top-notch quality, and (relatively) affordable pricing has made it the darling of the r/watches fam since its re-release a few years back. Of all the 60-odd versions now available, however, we’re confident this period-correct 35mm model is the one most worthy of your money.
Paulin
Modul D Quartz Watch
Along with single-malt scotch, tweed jackets, and Alan Cumming, you can count this Glasgow-based brand (and its selection of covetable mid-sized tickers) among Scotland’s choicest exports.
Baltic
MR Classic Salmon Watch
This French indie brand has earned a loyal following among watch Illuminati (including GQ’s in-house watch fanatic) for delivering five-figure looks for just a few hundred Euros. This salmon-hued 36mm dress watch is just one example among many.
Vaer
Atlas A3 36mm Watch
Pretty much every luxury brand makes some version of the perfect daily-driver watch, complete with a no-nonsense steel case, an understated dial, and a handsome bracelet. Vaer’s A3, however, just happens to do it for several thousand dollars less.
The Best Small Watches With No Price Limit
Did you recently come into a large inheritance? Has your humble startup been acquired by a company with a campus in Palo Alto? Or perhaps, like most of us, you just enjoy imagining what it would be like to shop for a watch without such mundane constraints as cost. If so, here are a few small-but-mighty tickers to whet your appetite.
Hermès
Cut Watch
The gang at 24 Faubourg Saint-Honoré don’t just excel at creating the world’s most coveted bags and saddles. Consider the Cut your introduction to the whimsical (but horologically serious) world of Hermès watches.
NOMOS
Campus Club Automatic Watch
The land of G-Wagens and bratwurst doesn’t mess around in the least when it comes to watches, and the NOMOS Club Campus is right up there with the best of them. At 36mm across the case and just over 8mm thick, this ticker’s proportions are on par with its elite looks.
Rolex
Datejust 36 Watch
The Rolex Datejust 36 enjoys a level of near-universal praise to rival Michael Caine movies, Oxford collar shirts, and pepperoni pizza. When you think about it that way, ten grand doesn’t seem so unreasonable.
Vacheron Constantin
222 34 Watch
Sure, buying this watch would mean owning a genuine piece of modern horological history, but more importantly it would give you something in common with Brad Pitt.
What to Look for in a Small Watch
If you have a slim wrist, or just prefer the look of a smaller watch (in which case, congratulations on your impeccable taste) your best play is to shop by the numbers. The easiest way to judge a watch’s wearability is to look at the case size (a.k.a. the overall diameter, not including the crown) but it’s also worth looking at the case thickness (which has an impact on how big a watch will look on your wrist), the type of bracelet it has (integrated bracelets tend to make a watch wear larger) and the lug-to-lug measurement (that’s the distance across the dial between the tips of the lugs that hold the strap in place).
What’s the ideal size? That’s debatable (and a great way to get a group of watch nerds fired up) but most folks would agree that a small men’s watch has a case diameter anywhere between 34mm and 38mm.
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