How has your taste in watches evolved over time?

At the beginning I preferred sporty and colorful watches on bracelet now i always go for watches with subtle colors, watches that have unique and small details and ı prefer straps

I liked more busy dials, 15 years ago my grail was Breitling Navitimer. Maybe bigger size too.

Now i like more modest dials and prefer 37-40mm size.

My first serious watch was a 60s Omega Seamaster with a beads of rice OEM bracelet, wore that watch through middle school, high school, university 5 years working in my profession until I bought a 36mm Rolex Datejust, during that time investigated vintage in a very intense manner, also started to source high horology until the agent who sold AP, Brequet, Blancpain took delivery of his late 80s Breitling watches, robust, strong watches that required a decent size wrist to carry off, I was hooked. Decades later I still support the brand, prefer bigger case sizes suits my wrist better but own a few 39mm watches from Grand Seiko, a Tudor Ranger. Loved the idea of the first BB58 but it was too small, on permanent loan to one of my daughters. I am not ignorant of current trends but I am not going to start buying smaller sized shoes because contemporary fashion dictates that, watch case size has been a constant for me during the past decades. When I first started in the hobby, watches without some sort of complication such as chronograph or moonphase etcetera were considered rudimentary intended for daily use not collectible.

my taste evolved in starting to dislike Chronographs....I´ve sold them all, including the Speedmaster......otherwise my taste didin´t really change

I believe that buying smaller vintage dress watches is a sign of maturing as an enthusiast.

I'm definitely not biased at all...

Always liked smaller watches with small seconds. Probably always will.

I guess I started to find them too busy...too much going on the dial....I prefer a clean dial now, I don´t even need a date to be honest (with the exception of the datejust off course)

Don’t know that I’m moving consistently in a particular direction, but as I’ve learned more I appreciate a wider variety.

Before I considered it “collecting,” I tended toward thin minimalist watches for my 6.5 in (165mm) wrist; hence the five Skagens I acquired and wore serially. Once I entered nicer mechanical territory, size went up. Now that I’ve found a few inexpensive vintage pieces to learn watchmaking, I enjoy the 34-36mm case sizes, too.

(TL;DR - Watch size is trend-based. I went a bit astray of the topic here… 😉) The whole “Is this too small?” thing seems a matter of trends, to me. How a watch fits is more overall design rather than just case diameter. (My largest diameter watch has shorted lug-to-lug and fits very well.)

The idea of too big/small is relative to some dimension. If you began wearing watches in the mid-to-late 20th century, then modern watches got big. To younger folks with modern watches, mid-century watches seem tiny. All depends on where you started.

I like exactly the same kind of watches I liked 50 years ago as a child.

I’ve come around on what would be called boring watches. I like stranger stuff too oftentimes but I’ve come to appreciate more simple and plain designs. When I began collecting I was a lot more interested in colors that black and plain steel. Now my favorite in my stable is the plainest black dial steel watch I could find.

Started with divers, rarely wear them now

42mm was good, now 34-38mm

Realized quality is king

Found micro brands

In my youth my dream was to drive something like a Ferrari or Bentley and wear expensive watches and now I’m about value for my dollar and I don’t care if nobody’s impressed.

Not a huge amount of change for me in terms of I still wear all the watches I’ve bought over the last 8 years. However, I do think I am more keen on field watches than I used to be. But I’ve not actually bought any other than the Explorer which I had liked anyway.

I think it might be the Explorer and moving back to the country which has sparked it in recent months

At first I was buying with my head. I watched YouTubers and read reviews. I focused on depth ratings, power reserves, and other tech specs. Now I buy watches based on my emotional reaction to it. I won’t buy it unless it makes me want to piss my pants with a desire to wear it.

My tastes have definitely changed. I've realised I don't like many things I thought I would. Divers, chronos, field watches, colourful dials, bracelets etc

(Hot takes i kmow but whilst aesthetically I love them they just don't fit my wardrobe/lifestyle)

39mm seems to be my sweetspot. I also realised I don't want to own multiple watches, when at first I was planning on having loads, I'm comfortable at 5, nor do I want anything too expensive. At first I wanted only mechanical, now I like a mix

I Don't have much to contribute to this conversation. But that watch has is beautiful.

Started off looking big watches as they stood out on the wrist. Then it went to 40mm and below. And now I wear big watches like 48-50mm provided the L2L doesn’t exceed my wrist and I have a 6.75” wrist, I’m fine with it. I still wear small watches like 36mm. I like watches the way the size were intended to be.

My enthusiasm for watches started as an offshoot of my interest in clothing. I needed something to wear with suits, something for denim/workwear, something sporty for the summer, and so forth. My first purchases were good quality, if aesthetically kind of aimless, vintage Japanese and Swiss pieces on eBay. Then I got deep into Soviet-era watches.

But eventually I got tired of all the research and attempts to verify vintage stuff, and just started buying new. Since then my collection has mostly been focused on field/outdoors watches and GMTs. However, over the past year or so I've noticed an uptick in divers, as well as a shift towards more refined and vintage-influenced pieces.

I like diameters of 38-40mm now whereas when I started out, I gravitated towards 42-43mm.

Then like every other aspect of my life I am safe from the perils of maturity.

I have not changed one iota, I love the watches that make me think of being a child in the early 70's. Especially the ones that make me think of Jacques Cousteau. Have since the beginning. Doubt at this late date my tastes will ever change.

Ohhhhh boy, has it changed. I used to love Rolex. Owned three. Flexed them whenever and wherever possible.

But....

I'm older now. Maybe a little wiser, but definitely on a fixed budget. I no longer feel the need to flex ANYTHING material. The only thing important to me now is my family, my animals, and financial security. So I sold those Rolexes for what I consider STUPID money. I replaced the watches with two Steinharts and an inexpensive quartz Tissot. Then I put tens of thousands of dollars in the bank. 😎👍

I honestly love the Steinies. Both of them are accurate within COSC specs! And they are rugged, handsome, reliable pieces that make me smile every time I look at em.

I would say yes - when I knew nothing about the history of watches, I would lean into fashion watches or ones with bigger diameter. But as I got more acknowledged, I started wearing smaller vintage pieces ranging from 29mm (A mido Multifort) to biggest being 34mm (my new Junghans cal. J83). Otherwise, I still wear my Seiko 5’s which are both 37mm but I feel that they’re around the limit for me. I have nothing against bigger watches, it’s just that I find small watches more comfortable to wear and proportionate for my wrist and overall figure :)

I went a bit gun ho at first I started getting all these nice watches to find out some were over size a lot was just a fazed fad. But I have matured and keeping a tight collection. I went from two watches to 21!

Started with a Diver in the 70s that belonged to my Dad who was a Mil diver. I progressed to a Diver in the 80s, carried on with a Diver as I followed in my Dads flippers. Into the 90s I moved onto a Diver, as we moved into a new millennium I gave it a lot of thought and expanded into divers. Through the noughties up to 2 days ago, with my last purchase, this being a Diver 😂😂😂👍