Why a Dress Watch Is Still the Ideal Accessory for a Special Occasion

While creativity is often a wondrous thing, it can also be woefully misdirected. Your children’s names and the number plate of your car, for example, are not suitable outlets to let your artistic imagination run wild. Similarly, if you’re dressing up for a black-tie event, it’s really not the time for creative self-expression.

That’s because, at its heart, black tie is all about classic simplicity. Despite its snooty overtones, this dress code is ultimately egalitarian in spirit because of the level playing field it creates – it’s hard to stand out from the crowd when every other man is also wearing a similar bowtie and tuxedo. As a result, what you wear becomes less important and instead forms the blank canvas to allow your personality to shine through.

That, at least, was the idea, until the emergence of “Hollywood black tie”, a trend that wilfully ignores the sartorial rulebook. The best definition of this phenomenon came from Nick Foulkes writing in The Financial Times. “What started as a misguided attempt at individuality on the part of actors, rock stars, tech billionaires and others who considered themselves too cool for bow ties has degenerated into the polychromatic sartorial free-for-all that is the modern red carpet.”

This development has implications for the watch world, too. Traditionally, the wrist-bound sidekick for formalwear events always used to be the classic dress watch. Specific ideas of what constitutes a dress watch may vary, but the general understanding denotes a time-only piece with a clean dial, a leather strap and a small case whose slender dimensions will nestle effortlessly beneath your shirt cuff. Real sticklers may even bemoan the inclusion of a date window or seconds hand.

But now the dress watch appears to no longer be the default option for such occasions and to chart its demise it’s useful to take the Oscars as a yardstick. That’s because as the world becomes increasingly casual and opportunities to dress up more limited, the Academy Awards is probably the most high-profile, formalwear event on the planet.

In recent years, however, many tuxedoed actors are ditching their dress watches in favour of sportier and more rugged options. Beefy pilot’s watches, chronographs and even diving watches have all been spotted on the red-carpet in increasing numbers. 

All of which is a shame in my book, because the timeless appeal of the dress watches still has so much to offer. There’s a good reason, for example, that the Cartier Tank has endured as a stone-cold classic, the linear angularity of the square case and Roman numerals balanced by the ornate flourish of the cabochon crown.  

Many people are also drawn to the smaller dimensions of a dress watch and the understated charm that tends to fly under the radar and only expose itself on closer inspection. The Piaget Altiplano Self-winding is a superior example of precisely these qualities. Its slinky rose-gold case measures just 3mm thick and offers true elegance and comfort on the wrist.

IWC may be best known for their all-action pilot’s watches, but the Portofino Automatic shows the brand can also excel with a dressier timepiece. The blue hands and alligator strap of this watch add interest, while the single mark of red above the 12 is symptomatic of the way that a dress watch often requires a second glance to drink in its finer details.

Those who hanker for some extra pizzazz may want to consider a piece like the Longines Master Collection Automatic.  This is a dress watch that offers a touch more flair in the form of its moonphase complication and diamond indices. Yet these extra details are still incorporated with modest restraint, a quality that’s characteristic of any fine dress watch.  

The Raymond Weil Toccata is a handsome piece that demonstrates another of the dress watch’s plus points. Without having to incorporate the functional bells and whistles of a diver or chronograph, they can often provide surprise value propositions that deliver comparative bang for your buck. 

Is a super refined dress watch the best choice for a go-anywhere, do anything timepiece? Possibly not, in that it won’t be the most robust or waterproof accomplice to withstand the multiple challenges of daily life. Yet the fact that a dress watch probably won’t be your everyday wearer is exactly what makes it more special, imbuing it with an elevated sense of occasion. The world may be becoming less fastidious, but a dress watch will always have its time and place.

Article written by our content contributor Luke Benedictus.