Case thickness is more important than any other case dimension for wearability

#1 is lug to lug! Won’t wear anything over 48mm.

Thickness is #2 for me, I like to slip them under my shirt cuff.

Lug to

Lug definitely. It’s common sense that a 20mm thick watch will wear like trash and a 43.5 diameter measurement with a sub 45mm lug to lug measurement will wear like a 40mm. It’s the one measurement that dictates the true size of the watch case.

I never wore a watch and thought man that's too thick. So I either have no thick watches, or I have no taste😂

• Thickness matters, yes.

• So does the Lug to Lug.

• And the Case Diameter, of course.

• But I think the Dial Size is the dimension that most indicates how a watch wears on the wrist. It stands to reason as it's the part that indicates the time and the whole purpose of the watch.

It's all relative. If I had a skinny wrist, thickness would be higher up the list. Chronos will be thicker than dress watches. All dimensions and the specific watch combine to play a part in determining the right size.

I almost agree. The counterexample is any of the modern ultrathin models that are credit card thick but inexplicably have lengths and widths similar to a credit card as well. I'm thinking of that RM Ferrari thing, and, to slightly less extent, the Octo Forgethowitsspelledo. Wafer thinness stops mattering when wide as a plank.

One thing is for sure. Lug to lug rarely matters unless the watch is already too big. If the watch weren't already in danger of eclipsing the wrist, it has to be really, really bad design (ahem, Nomos, ahem) for anyone to even mention LTL.

A watch that is not a stupid case diameter will definitely be enhanced by lower thickness.

Depends on context.

Live in a tropical place and never wear long sleeves? Thickness isn't a big deal. My 15mm thick GSAR would be just as handy as my 10mm thin DS30.

Live in Antarctica/CFS Alert? Thickness will matter a lot because of all of the clothing layering.

Most of us live in climates somewhere between polar and tropical, so it comes down to how warm/cold, and how often you wear tight cuffs.

All that to say thickness matters, but it's relative to use and all of the other dimensions.

Oh, I'm pretty sure I disagree with this. I am pretty certain the single biggest factor in wear ability is weight.

Weight forgives virtually all sins with regards to height or even bad lug to lug because finding the perfect fit for a lighter watch is less important because it doesn't slide as much.

Why do people of all wrist sizes find G-shock and citizen nighthawks comfortable despite being very tall and often odd lug to lugs?

Resin and titanium forgive many faults.

I do love a good titanium case. Definitely valid

You have no thick watches. ;)

I have a big wrist so lug to lug isn’t an issue. But I will say that I didn’t buy a Black Bay Heritage 41mm diver because the thing is a skyscraper on my wrist. Bought a Seamaster instead.

Thickness is important, but to me the combination of thickness and case profile matters more. For example, a narrow mid-case design with a flat crystal (Yacht Master, Sub) can wear thinner than the measurement suggests. On the other hand, a tall mid-case and a top-hat crystal can appear thick and awkward at the same measurement.

If the lug to lug doesn't reach silly levels then yeah

Mr Porthole is correct. There is no single measurement that can describe the mass distribution of a watch. I'd argue the determining factor of comfort is the strap/bracelet and how it attaches. Things like thickness or length are one dimensional and taken at a single point (or pair of points rather), they cannot capture the essence of a three dimensional object. Many more things are detrimental to both "visual comfort" and ergonomics.

Is there a measurement that could describe how a watch wears, probably, but it would certainly be very complicated and probably involve integrals of curvature and mass to the point that it's really easier to just try it on rather than try and work those out for you. If you can't try it on, then usually the following applies: "If you think it might not wear well on you, then it probably won't."

I think Tudor must be the exception that proves this rule

I had a gmt that was reasonably thick but because it was so slab sided it felt much bigger than any other watch I’ve had including my Darth Tuna which is much thicker. It also felt quite a bit bigger than my sinn ux which was a 44mm watch but case side was a bit less and not much thinner overal. So the visual thickness of the gmt was more impactful than the actual overall thickness in feeling huge

I find dial size has a lot to do with how large a watch feels also

My aqua tera felt huge compaired to my seamaster even though it was 41 mm and the seamaster was 42. The dial was bigger than my 50mm tuna and it looked bigger too

So if two watches have same dial size and case width the amount of depth of the case size will have huge impact on how watch feels. So I kind of agree

There’s no one dimension that’s the most important. Wearability is a combination of several factors including but not limited to thickness, lug to lug, diameter, shape of lugs, end link design etc.

This! Factors can’t be considered separately…..but if you’re going to separate it out, I always think this:

case width = should I wear it? lug to lug = can I wear it? height = will I wear it?

Case width is a great indicator of how it’s going to look on you based on wrist, hand size etc, Lug to lug is a hard and fast yes or no (if it overhangs ❌) and height is daily wearability I.e “will I actually take this out of the watch box after the honeymoon period”

Not for me - it's all about the LTL, baby; if it's too long, you're in trouble.

Case height including or not including the crystal?! 😜

This watch follows no rules. It makes its own.

Lug to Lug is far more important. 39mm diameter with 50mm Lug to Lug is imposible to wear for me, but 41 with 46 L2L is ok

Lug to lug most important for me

Your bum, its lug to lug

There’s aesthetics and there’s wearability. Visually, appropriate dial size, thin case height and no overhang are important for me, while any factor that causes me to tighten the watch excessively to keep it from sliding ruins the wearing experience. I understand that some people think that a light watch feels like lower quality (because cheap quartz models are light), but for comfort I’ll take light over heavy any day.

Mostly, I'm just taking the piss, mind you 😁 But for me and how I look at case dimensions, I find that L2L and then case diameter can make a watch, but thickness can break it.

In the aesthetics, the case thickness is going to be what others view the most: you're *far* more likely to have a watch angled to the viewer vs being straight on, so others are going to notice case height far more often than noticing things like diameter. So a thicc boi is going to stand out like a sore thumb where a thinner case blends to the wrist (thickness here is relative to wrist size in terms of the aesthetic).

For wearability, thickness influences center of mass and therefore feel on the wrist. All things being equal, greater case thickness = greater case weight on wrist, as well as how that weight is displaced. As you move, that's an inertial mass on your body at a long lever arm, and that directly influences how a watch feels during activity, hence wearability. A bigger watch case can weight more given the same materials here too (as others have rightly pointed out: a Ti watch will wear differently even if the case is thick), but a wider but thin watch will displace its weight more uniformaly vs a smaller but thicker watch. That's going to feel different on wrist.

All dimensions are important here, of course, and as others have pointed out, the case construction therefore is extremely important regarding this. But I feel that as a single factor - case height - is a difficult issue to offset in the same way that, say, a longer L2L might be (bracelet vs strap, lug design, etc, will all impact how L2L actually fits on wrist).

But mostly I'm just full of shit here, anyway. We're obsessives here, by definition. Of course all of it matters 😜

After much thought and excruciating meditation on this matter I have decided that it is almost entirely subjective 😂

For me. 1. Diameter 2. Lug 2 lug dimension 3. Dial 4. Movement 5. Thickness

I would think the diameter of the bracelet/band is the main consideration when deciding wearability😂😂