I dont know

Deep Thought

Well I got my Stowa Flieger and its lovely...

But am having issues with the size of it... 40mm

Looks like my first watch a a child...the Visodate is the same but its a formal type think so ok with that

Really struggling with it..maybe should have bought the Flyer TESTAF

Eoin

Move it on - life's too short! You've got a subtle watch in the Tissot that will go well with a suit and sit under a shirt cuff. If you don't need your Flieger for that, then why force yourself to try and like it?

Deep Thought

have stuck it on the for sale thread...

I keep looking at it, hoping but...........

bogmanfan

I'm always surprised to read people saying they have a 36mm Datejust and a 48mm Super Avenger, and say they wear both regularly. For me, all of my watches have to be around the same size. I find it quite hard to switch between a 40mm and a 46mm. The smaller one always looks terrible for the first few days.

I think the key is consistency though, so find whatever size suits your wrist, and stick with it. All my watches are now 45 to 46mm, as that's the size I find works best on me.

Deep Thought

bogmanfan wrote: »

I'm always surprised to read people saying they have a 36mm Datejust and a 48mm Super Avenger, and say they wear both regularly. For me, all of my watches have to be around the same size. I find it quite hard to switch between a 40mm and a 46mm. The smaller one always looks terrible for the first few days.

I think the key is consistency though, so find whatever size suits your wrist, and stick with it. All my watches are now 45 to 46mm, as that's the size I find works best on me.

Yep, am finding that,

44 - 46 seems to be best for me. My last 2 were 44mm and 45mm and both were comfy

I thought I'd try one as it would open up a lot more options but alas

Eoin

bogmanfan wrote: »

I'm always surprised to read people saying they have a 36mm Datejust and a 48mm Super Avenger, and say they wear both regularly. For me, all of my watches have to be around the same size. I find it quite hard to switch between a 40mm and a 46mm. The smaller one always looks terrible for the first few days.

I think the key is consistency though, so find whatever size suits your wrist, and stick with it. All my watches are now 45 to 46mm, as that's the size I find works best on me.

I am the same, ~44mm is about right for me and most of my watches are around that size. But I understand why people might want a small subtle watch to wear with a suit and something different that they wear casually. Especially the types on certain watch forums (not here) whose monocle would drop out at the thought of someone being so uncouth as to wear a submariner (gasp!) with a suit.

<edit> Some styles just suit a different size too - I think I'd be OK with a 40mm Grand Seiko, but not a 40mm sub.</edit>

Deep Thought wrote: »

I thought I'd try one as it would open up a lot more options but alas

I find that square / cushion / rectangular cases can wear a little bigger than round ones, so that's a way to go smaller.

Deep Thought

I know....some people, even the rod up their behind also has a rod up its behind:P

Eoin

As an aside, they're typically the same people who think that anything over xxmm is "brash" over oversized, without taking into account lug-to-lug measurements, wrist size etc. It's like saying that anything over 32" jeans will be too baggy on anyone.

Deep Thought

Eoin wrote: »

I find that square / cushion / rectangular cases can wear a little bigger than round ones, so that's a way to go smaller.

Was looking at the Precista PR 20, defo look at square, rectangular ones

bogmanfan

The watch size argument is crazy. There is no perfect size for everybody. Wrist sizes vary just the same way foot sizes vary. Saying that a 40mm watch will fit everybody is just as foolish as saying a pair of size 9 shoes will fit everybody.

Deep Thought

so, what dictates the size of the watch...the Movement ?

Why cant smaller movements be put into larger cases?

bogmanfan

A small movement can fit into a large case by using a spacer. However it can look odd if the date Or any subdials are too near the centre of the dial. I think Omega have it right with the Planet Ocean by offering it in 3 different sizes so one of them is bound to suit everyone.

Eoin

The movement will obviously dictate the minimum width of the watch (and the depth too - presumably the rotor on an auto will add some height).

But if the Valjoux 7750 movement found in my 46mm watch can also be used in a massive range of other watches - some a fair bit smaller - then it's just a fashion decision to go larger.

For a modern quartz - does it need to be in anything over, say, a 36mm case? Probably not. I'd imagine there's a fair amount of free space in those cases.

Anyhow - don't beat yourself up over the size. You tried it, and it's not for you. You don't need this watch to be subtle (and in fact, a Flieger is traditionally larger anyway, right?), so go with something you'll like. 800 quid is too much money to be tied up in a watch you're not 100% happy with.

Wibbs

Eoin wrote: »

and in fact, a Flieger is traditionally larger anyway, right?

The originals were 56mm and 65 lug to lug so yep. unwearable mind you. Pilots watches were the first consistently "oversized" wristwatches*. 38mm to 50mm from the 20's onward at a time when 30mm and under was the size of a "man's" watch. Indeed companies regularly advertised how compact they could make a gents watch. The first Rolex Oysters can come as a shock to someone who never held one in the hand. 30mm. Pilot's watches were large for legibility, but also because a bigger balance meant a much more accurate watch could be produced. Many of them had pocketwatch movements inside, like the original Flieger B-Uhrs, which in decent nick can be easily fettled to modern COSC chronometer standards.

so go with something you'll like. 800 quid is too much money to be tied up in a watch you're not 100% happy with.

+1000



*funny enough the Americans tended to go for smaller pilots watches. The WW2 era Longines weems is tiny, like 28mm tiny.

Deep Thought

I would have love to seen chap in Super-fortress, ack ack everywhere, ducking and diving from ME110s and own guns a blazing looking at his iddy biddy dial

Menas

Most of my watches are oldies and thus small. I like them that way, small and subtle. Got a 44-45mm flieger recently and I love it but it is taking some getting used to....both size and weight.
As said earlier the size of watch you are comfortable with generally comes down to wrist size, what you are used to and taste.
Don't like that Stowa? Move it on.

Mredsnapper

I tend to find that 38-43mm suits me best but horses for courses.

7.25"+ wrist depending on the weather.

Wibbs

Deep Thought wrote:

I would have love to seen chap in Super-fortress, ack ack everywhere, ducking and diving from ME110s and own guns a blazing looking at his iddy biddy dial

Over the years of looking at old photos of WW2 folks in different militaries on different sides, funny enough the "tool watch" is low enough in evidence. Wrist wise anyway. Allied bomber navigators seem to actually use pocketwatches and stopwatches, with mostly "civilian" type watches on their wrists. Though the German guys have more B-Uhr's in evidence alright. Allied fighter guys have a mishmash of mostly civilian type watches, while the German fighter lads have various chronographs(privately bought, mostly Tutimas and Glashuttes). Stuka lads seem to favour "tank" style civilian watches.

Just my humble, but I would say quite a lot of the "military pilot watch" stuff is later hype by companies cashing in on "heritage". Land based army dudes do seem to wear more issued pieces though. Just my take again, but I reckon that it was an economic/class thing. The air forces and navies were more likely to have more well off people involved who already had watches/could buy their own, whereas the ground based guys were more likely to have less well off even poor men in their ranks so ended up with more issued pieces?

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Most of my watches are oldies and thus small. I like them that way, small and subtle. Got a 44-45mm flieger recently and I love it but it is taking some getting used to....both size and weight.
As said earlier the size of watch you are comfortable with generally comes down to wrist size, what you are used to and taste.

+1 wrist size and personal preference. I've a small wrist, 6 odd inches, slightly awkward shape with it, more D shaped in cross section, rather than O shaped. Straps and bracelets can be a right pain, especially the former, hence Nato's and nato types were and are a boon for me*. Though TBH more and more I'm coming to appreciate my undernourished wrist. I can get away with more of a size range than most normal blokes. My smallest regular wearer is 31mm(Alpina KM) and my largest is IIRC 43mm(Heuer Bund) and neither look too odd on me, though my sweet spot would be 39-40mm. Then again as others have pointed out the design is key, lug shape and especially case thickness makes a big diff. I have a couple of 36mm's that kinda wear "bigger" than the 43mm Bund because they're thicker, more bulky and the lugs don't curve as much. EG my Bulova Accuquartz centenary at 38MM wears much more bulky than the Bund(and is more likely to clatter into doorframes and such).

Don't like that Stowa? Move it on.

QFT. That's really what it all boils down to.



*even there I usually only have 1-3 holes left for adjustment which will give you some idea of my scrawniness.

Menas

This song is for you DT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk

Mredsnapper

There is no need for that sort of carry on DT.

@Admin's can we add something to the charter banning Frozen songs

Anjobe

Come on mredsnapper, you've got let it go, let it go...

peasant

It's all relative ...a lot depends on the shape of the watch and size of the dial

compare 38 mm to 45 mm





not as much in it as you'd think ...the diameter alone is just a number

Wibbs

+1 P. Dial size is another big factor. Your first example has a much narrower bezel and by my gammy eye looks about the same size in dial as your second example, which has a much meatier bezel. The lugs on the first are longer and I'd not be shocked to find lug to lug length was only a MM or two in the difference.