Should the watch industry stop depicting a certain sizes as male or female?

Yes - it’s b******t.

Real men wear sub 30mm on 7 1/2” wrists. Our ancestors fought wars with sub 36mm strapped to their wrists. Why do you need something the size of a landmine on your wrist? 

maybe calling it male or female by size is a bit arbitrary. but I don't see anything wrong with labelling it male or female by style. People can choose to wear a mens or womens watch if they like regardless of how its labeled

Yes. It’s dumb. Not just to be feminist, but also because some of us dudes also like smaller watches sometimes. 

Also it creates a totally arbitrary and unnecessary method of categorization that begs for ignorant, monolithic modes of thinking. 

I hate totally arbitrary and unnecessary methods of categorization that beg for ignorant, monolithic modes of thinking.

I have no idea why companies still insist on the male/female labelling and I think we will see it disappear in the next few years. Surely we are beyond needing to confirm our masculinity/femininity by what we put on our wrist, and if we do...? Well a watch isn't going to fix your problems.

There is plenty of evidence on WC of smaller watches looking great on men (as chronotriggered has shown above), and plenty of ladies out there rocking 'mens' watches. 

The divide is pointless.

I fully agree with that. Just wanted to say though, if I'm wandering round the Vic centre and I see a girl with a Submariner on her wrist, this is going to be my reaction 

This! Yes! 👍

A Submariner?

A girl with a vintage Longines or similar is going to be a classier affair. Aim higher.

Unequivocally yes. 

I don't think it matters. Leave the labeling the way it is. There are people who wear things that are not geared towards their gender. I'm tired of this need to appease groups when this wasn't a thing a decade ago. It's literally not an issue except to a small few imho. If you like the watch wear it and move on. No one really cares either way so do you.

My best friend just bought a new 39MM gold fossil with a swarovski bezel and a really cool gold sunburst dial. Because of 'traditional' watch gender-assigning branding, I had to convince her it wasn't too large for her wrist if she liked the watch...which she did. I tried it on myself and was thinking I might snatch it from her when she's not looking. 

You are 100% correct but this is the middle of Nottingham we are referring to. One must remain somewhat realistic 

It’s funny how much that can change your view.  If they only knew! 😂👌🏾

I forget you are from “the North”. You really should move down South, the climate is better and we have these things called vegetables, they are really good for you.

Yes, because I’m always looking at so called famine sizes first; 36-max 39mm is my preferred size; even a 32mm Patek Ellipse is awesome abe I rocked it in the past 

one of the reasons I like small watches is that it makes people underestimate me. Muhammad Ali wore a small tank watch and he didn't care what people thought of it. My dad wore a 33mm watch and i'm not afraid of doing the same. Self confidence can set you free.

Touché! I feel the same way every time I special order a new supply of Mini Trojans 🥸

Global markets are not as "neuanced" as western markets. Plus this industry isn't much for change.

'Chrome M&M'! 😂

The years I sold jewelry, I often came across the most gorgeous rings marketed for women I wished I could wear. Really beautiful stuff. Kind of like Mozart and his wig looking like Marie Antoinette's. 

For what it's worth, that was a very stimulating and grandiose opening of Pandora's Box. Nothing wrong with a proper joust. It was like watching Roy Batty and Rick Deckard come to ultimate grips at the end of Blade Runner. Only I got to read it on WatchCrunch. Brilliant! 

Every one knows that watches are either "tinny" or "woody". Those are the proper distinctions.

29mm on the perfectly sized wrist (TM).

Think you are walking in to a minefield if you label anything in today's society. But wholeheartedly agree it's up to the wearer if it's for them. 

I think calling out "the watch industry" is a bit misleading, because that we are mostly talking about the trade. And is the "should" in the title hinting at a moral obligation, or as a commercial recommendation?

There is a pretty big gap between where female sizes end and male sizes begin, and I find this much more peculiar. Most women (in the west) buy male watches these days, because they find the designated female sizes are too small (26mm and less), never mind that the designs of for-female watches are often too girly.

The labelling of these watches by gender, at the trade level, is only mildly helpful for the consumer. But so can be the labelling by size. On amazon, I can choose between 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, etc. Well, 40 is around my sweet spot, so 30-39 and 40-49 would be the options to pick, but that barely narrows things down at all. On ebay I get more helpful ranges, but most watch listings didn't play ball, leaving this category as unspecified.

Well while we wait for Chrono and Grail to either get thrown out of the bar or go from this...

...to this....

... I think its interesting to think how the watch industry has already changed a great deal over the years. These ads from the past are a bit cringy nowadays:

(I have to admit I did chuckle at that one 😆)

...and my personal favourite, the watch brand trying to appeal to the niche market of watch loving serial killers....

Breitling also ran a series of very 'male focused' ads. I kept waiting for some kind of comedy moment at the end of it to make it make sense... but nope...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_PgDMJp8aNc&feature=youtu.be

Anyway, in complete contrast to everything I've been saying, I wonder if the watch industry continues to have designated male/female for the average Joe/Joanne Bloggs who just needs a gift for their significant other and doesn't want to go through a drawn out process of 'But what does 36mm mean? Will that be too big for him? What the hell is that measurement anyway??'

We sometimes forget that the watch enthusiast community only makes up a tiny proportion of watch buyers and companies will want to make it as easy as possible for everyone else to buy their product. Hopefully they will not take this easy way out forever.

(BTW, I love a bit of heated debate as long as its kept classy. Its not healthy for everyone to be Nicey MacNiceface all the time)

Well-executed 👍🏼

Sadly I think WC have now buried this thread, so no one will see my awesome reply 😆

This is the way of the platform. For the record, someone flagged a large number of my posts because I got an automated reprimand this morning. Someone tried to get me cancelled. Someone tried to cancel the user who dared to question, challenge, or seek clarification from someone who said, off the bat:

BUT, when you ask people to change their vernacular and start dropping “men’s” and ”women’s” I think it’s gone too far. 

Asking everyone else to change the way they speak?  Not for me…

If you drop men’s or women’s, it’s gone too far. 

Asking everyone to change the way they speak - it’s not for me.

You can wear what you want, but they insist things stay male and female, because otherwise it’s gone too far.

Too far…

Too…

Far…

And I’m the one that should be censored?

My Seiko thread seems to have vanished as well - it’s a picture of a vintage Seiko. Seems to have offended someone.

If anyone wonders if I contact WC or support - I do, but they will always side with the platform over the individual. Until they sort this I’m going off-platform - message me if you need me, I’ll respond. Probably not a great loss overall, I’ll purge content over time.

Enjoy your platform everyone - you deserve it.

I appreciate that the WC team have a difficult job in where to draw the line when a discussion gets passionate on both sides, but I think it's very sad that this important debate we've had here has now been hidden away. Makes the discussion pointless. 

I can understand that they want to promote the 'toxicity-free' image of WC, but real life isn't Disney Land. We're all adults here (I presume!) and this platform would be a pretty unstimulating place if we all just have to tow the line and are flagged for questioning each other.