Let’s talk about the heavy duty of heavy duty watches. These are the big boys, 44mm and bigger.
These watches are actually pretty easy to wear. They are a bit shocking if you are used to the ‘standard’ men’s watches, which are usually around 40mm. These are heavier, more substantial, and make more of a statement. I’m here to tell you DO NOT be afraid. You can do it. The first luxury watch I bought was the Panerai PAM 112, measuring in at a heafty 44mm. I have pretty small wrists, so while it did look big, I immediately fell in love with it. I wore a G-Shock in high school, so wearing a bigger watch wasn’t totally new to me.
Now, wearing it has become somewhat selective. Obviously I only wear my Panerai in dressier situations. It’s very rare that I wear it with anything but a dress shirt. Of all my luxury watches, I get more comments about my Panerai. The guys that wear Panerai watches are a part of a club. The same can be said for most heavy duty watches.
When you are considering your next luxury watch, don’t sleep on the big boys. They can handle it. And so can you. Here are a few that have my eye:
1. Panerai Radiomir PAM376: The first ‘heavy duty’ watch that most think about. Extra points for the California-style face.
2. Rolex Sea Dweller Deepsea: The upgrade to the GMT or Sub. Tiger tends to wear his quite a bit…especially when hoisting trophies or sporting a green jacket:
3. Breitling Avenger II Seawolf: A unique look with the yellow face, but tough as nails. The rubber band is a nice touch – especially around the water.
4. IWC Portofino: If you lean towards a dressier watch, go with a simple, understated face. Portofinos are super nice.
5. Rolex Yacht Master II: These have a pretty cool 80’s vibe that I really dig. You don’t see a lot of these out in the wild, which makes them cooler than they already are:
6. IWC Big Pilot: Pilot watches don’t get enough credit. Super cool style with a unique look. IWC does it right:
7. Breitling Superocean Heritage: A cool “dressy” diver watch. The mesh metal band gives it a unique, elegant look:
What say you? Are you a big watch guy?
I’m glad to see IWC being represented. I’ve been wearing my MkXII 3421 on alligator strap these past few days and love it’s size. I max out at 40mm case width except for the Omega Speedmaster Professional (and I have an Omega Speedmaster X-33 that never gets out of the box) so I’m partial to the 38-36mm style.
Nice watches!
Super nice watches featured…maybe a bit steep for us “workin class dogs”…Are there any opinions here regarding Shinola watches?
Save your money. Shinolas are Timex-quality watches with jazzed up faces and straps. Just get a Timex, or get an apple watch and download whatever brand symbol you like to be the static face. Boom – prestige and individuality!
It’s the stuff that you can’t see that makes the watches above valuable – The mechanisms inside that provide ability to measure one or more quantities based on kinetic energy alone.
Avoid Shinola. All marketing. Literally use a $10 quartz movement. Exponentially better watches out there for the same money or less. If you’re really set on a Shinola, they make the Filson branded watches (owned by the same company) and you can find them at TJ Maxx for a few hundred bucks.
One company i really like for a lower priced, large sized quality watches is Magrette out of New Zealand. Automatic movement and solid build quality. Kind of a Panerai vibe for similar prices to Shinola with significantly higher quality.
Buy a Fenix 5 (6 is pretty much the same watch but with better maps). Change the watch face from time to time. The thing is a solid machine and holds a charge for a long time.
Skip Shinola. Get a Seiko, or if you can bump up a couple hundred dollars more, a Hamilton, which has a Swiss automatic movement. Both are significantly better quality and values than Shinola.
+1 on Hamilton. Have a couple which I actually wear more than my fancy watches. Especially like the field watches with NATO straps.
Avoid. Aesthetics are good imo, but most of their watches are very pricey to have quartz movements. They do have a few automatics, but at a $1000, you can buy a lot of really good watches. Look at Seiko, Orient (owned by Seiko), Hamilton, etc for good watches at a budget.
Love the watch posts. I personally like Panerai but the manual wind and some models with the wire bars are issues to me. I also have had a Breitling and they do NOT retain the value so buy second hand or just avoid them. The only “heavy hitters” in my rotation are Luminox Beaters and a Tudor Black Bay Bronze at 43mm. Other than that all my other watches range from 39mm-40mm.
1, 6, 2, 7, 4, 5, 3.
These watches are too large and flashy for my taste but that Panerai is stunning.