Dressing Up Sports Watches

Do you do it? Should you only wear dress watches with suits? Does it only work when you have more casual fabrics/patterns/fits? Do sport watches go with sport coats? Does it depend on the watch?

Does it even matter in this day and age?

Reply
·

It matters not, except when wearing a tux. 

·

If it's good enough for 007, it's good enough for me :)

EDITOR'S PICK: Does the Seamaster make the Bond? Here are 4 of the best -  Time and Tide Watches

That being said... I never wear suits.

·

It does not really matter. People have been wearing nice metal bracelet sports watches with suits for decades. Ignore the fashion police. Set your own style based on what makes you happy. I wear a suit a few days per week still and give you permission to wear what you enjoy. Most of the time, it’s covered by two layers of fabric anyhow. Who is going to fuss at you? The guy wearing an Apple Watch with his suit?

·
Image

I think some pilot watches have a clean enough dial to dress up.

·

I say wear what makes you happy and that you feel comfortable wearing. I think the lines of what is a dress watch in 2022 have Blurred to the extent you could wear nearly anything. I think as it’s not the size of a sundial on your wrist and it doesn’t beep at you, nobody is gonna take notice otherwise. Good luck!🤙

·

I’m a big fan of this. I always think the strap can totally change the look of a watch, in some cases it’s like having multiple watches, and they can have very different personalities. A smart leather strap can really add sophistication to an otherwise rough and ready watch, and personally I think it says something good about someone who likes capabilities but also versatility in the things they use and do.

·
biglove

It matters not, except when wearing a tux. 

Would that be no watches with a tux or only dress watches with a tux? 😀

·
biglove

It matters not, except when wearing a tux. 

Absolutely. Daytime with a lounge suit anything that isn’t too thick to slide properly under the cuff. Most of my watches are ok just not the crazy citizen diver

Image
·
JJMM1983
Image

I think some pilot watches have a clean enough dial to dress up.

Just not an enormous WW2 style flieger 

·
Bobofet

It does not really matter. People have been wearing nice metal bracelet sports watches with suits for decades. Ignore the fashion police. Set your own style based on what makes you happy. I wear a suit a few days per week still and give you permission to wear what you enjoy. Most of the time, it’s covered by two layers of fabric anyhow. Who is going to fuss at you? The guy wearing an Apple Watch with his suit?

Haha I hear. But I do like more congruent outfits, and some days I just feel that the Mako's numeral indices popout way too much. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Not that anyone besides myself notices or cares 😂

·
JJMM1983
Image

I think some pilot watches have a clean enough dial to dress up.

Very nice, not sure if it's the lighting but the warmness of the colors help too IMO!

·
bevelwerks

I say wear what makes you happy and that you feel comfortable wearing. I think the lines of what is a dress watch in 2022 have Blurred to the extent you could wear nearly anything. I think as it’s not the size of a sundial on your wrist and it doesn’t beep at you, nobody is gonna take notice otherwise. Good luck!🤙

Most definitely! I mean even watch people have trouble coming up with the definition of a true dress watch anyway 😁. 

·
VintageNat

I’m a big fan of this. I always think the strap can totally change the look of a watch, in some cases it’s like having multiple watches, and they can have very different personalities. A smart leather strap can really add sophistication to an otherwise rough and ready watch, and personally I think it says something good about someone who likes capabilities but also versatility in the things they use and do.

I agree. I think the final point is something I admire and look up to in people as well.

·

It's not that you can't wear a sports watch, it's just that I think dress watches look better with business to formal attire. I'm wearing an SRPG27 at work today because I felt like it, but I have to admit than one of my dress watches would have completed the look rather nicely.

·

I'm a great believer in wearing what you like provided, as already stated by quite a few on this post, that it's not totally inappropriate. 

I'm also a great believer in the fact that, outside of our little watch nerd world, no one out there gives a damn what's on your wrist. You could wear a Casio Edifice or an insanely expensive Breguet and most people wouldn't know the difference. 

If you want to wear that lovely Hamilton with a suit, do it. If you bumped into me wearing it, the only comment you'd get is "nice watch!" 😊

·

Someday I'll buy a suit and try it out.

I used to work with a guy who wore a giant white GShock with a suit, but he was the VC, so nobody said anything...  It actually looked fine, just his fashion quirk, like kooky socks or whatever.

·
hbein2022

It's not that you can't wear a sports watch, it's just that I think dress watches look better with business to formal attire. I'm wearing an SRPG27 at work today because I felt like it, but I have to admit than one of my dress watches would have completed the look rather nicely.

This is my thought too! 

·

Would you say a roman numeral dial DJ (minus the Wimbledon) be more of a dress watch?

·
2manywatches

I'm a great believer in wearing what you like provided, as already stated by quite a few on this post, that it's not totally inappropriate. 

I'm also a great believer in the fact that, outside of our little watch nerd world, no one out there gives a damn what's on your wrist. You could wear a Casio Edifice or an insanely expensive Breguet and most people wouldn't know the difference. 

If you want to wear that lovely Hamilton with a suit, do it. If you bumped into me wearing it, the only comment you'd get is "nice watch!" 😊

Thank you! Honestly I don't mind seeing sports watches with suits on other people, but just for me personally it sometimes feel like the watch is incongruent with the rest of the outfit. Definitely the more dressy nature of the Hamilton makes me forget though!

·
ds760476

Someday I'll buy a suit and try it out.

I used to work with a guy who wore a giant white GShock with a suit, but he was the VC, so nobody said anything...  It actually looked fine, just his fashion quirk, like kooky socks or whatever.

That's pretty cool actually! Similar vein, Dr. Anthony Fauci wore his Time. Ironman with suits so... there's that.

·
Relvee

Absolutely. Daytime with a lounge suit anything that isn’t too thick to slide properly under the cuff. Most of my watches are ok just not the crazy citizen diver

Image

I'd change out of the suit just to wear this watch!

·

I'd have no problem wearing my Longines Spirit with a suit. However, I rarely wear a suit at all these days. 

I'd most likely wear any of my vintage dress watches to a suit, though. Still, in my previous job in retail, I sometimes wore my WW2 Luftwaffe-issued Doxa, and it looked alright.

Image

I've even committed the horrible crime against style - I wore this pil/milwatch on a NATO while wearing that checkered dress jacket, a white shirt and a black tie:

Image

For what it's worth, the Spirit on my "Goldfinger" NATO does just as well with a dress shirt:

Image

Presumably some time ago I'd have shrugged at these combos, but I don't think this way anymore. Besides, when even IWC Pilot watches are being worn to suits and no one even bats an eye, guess a real Flieger and Longines's modern creation paying tribute to the genre are well within the same category. I rest my case.