The Return of the Dress Watch

Sometimes I like to start an article with something that doesn’t make any sense. So, here’s one for you: for the last few years, during a period many of us spent much of our lives either in lockdown or at least working from home, sales of dress watches have been rising dramatically.

That’s right, watches designed specifically to be worn on the most formal of occasions are becoming increasingly popular…at a time when we’ve barely been able to leave the house.

It’s a weird one, but worth looking into.

What is a Dress Watch?

The first thing to get out of the way is, what actually constitutes a dress watch? Fortunately, that’s a pretty easy one. While they come in various types, dress watches tend to all follow a certain set of characteristics.

To begin with, they are exemplified by an understated elegance. These are pieces meant to slip under the shirtsleeve of a well-tailored suit; to be noticed but not draw too much attention. So, they have slim profiles for the most part and, in many aficionados eyes, should not really stray above the 36mm diameter barrier. Those same connoisseurs consider a leather strap the only option, although a more refined metal bracelet such as a Milanese might be acceptable at a push.

As for cases, gold and platinum are traditional, but stainless steel has long been an acceptable option too.

Additionally, a dress watch should be kept fairly unassuming styling-wise, with clean dials and simple hour markers and, unlike with other genres, a conspicuous lack of complications. Many of the most successful dress watches are modest three, or even two-handed, time-only models.

The Resurgence of Dress Watches

So why now? What has caused this sudden revival of the dress watch?

Paradoxically, it may all be due to the residual effects of the lockdown.

There’s no doubt the pandemic changed many things about the world, not least the way we work. Although the situation is now getting back to normal (whatever that means), for many people, physically going into their place of employment is a far less frequent occurrence than before. It might be that on those occasions, after months or even years of working from the sofa with a laptop on our knee, we are making more of an effort. Even for us dedicated slobs—and I say this as someone currently writing this in his pajamas—it does us good to actually dress up a bit.

Another possible explanation could be people delving further back into various brands’ vintage catalogs. The earliest wristwatches were mostly all dress pieces, with tool and sports watches a mid-20^th century invention. Collectors who have already amassed decent assemblies of divers, chronographs and aviator’s models may now be on the hunt for a more sophisticated example to round things out. It is often said a dress watch is the first and the last piece bought in a collection, and with a good proportion of fans getting into horology after receiving a handed down heirloom, usually a dress model, this upsurge in their popularity could just be those people coming full circle.

Or it might just all be practicality. You have an infinitely better chance of walking into the likes of a Patek boutique and coming out with a Calatrava than you do one of their hyper-popular, decade-long waiting list sports models like a Nautilus or an Aquanaut. And on the preowned market, they are orders of magnitude cheaper too.

Who is Buying Them?

Perhaps the answer as to why dress watches are so in-demand at the moment can be found in who is buying them.

You might associate such a watch with the older generation, those for whom dressing formally would be much more expected than today, especially at work. I know my own collection started with my grandfather’s old Omega Constellation, and I don’t think I ever saw him in anything other than a suit and tie.

Today however, it has been found that plenty of younger people are in the market for dress watches, and they have far wider options in what they wear. Now, you are much more likely to see a dress piece paired with t-shirt and jeans than ever before, opening up a greater raft of possibilities.

Our Favorite Dress Watches

One thing the dress watch realm is not short on is choice.

Just about every manufacture produces at least some, and usually entire series’. So let’s take a look at some of the very best.

Patek Philippe Calatrava

Quite possibly the first dress watch, the original Calatrava, the reference 96, debuted in 1932. That was the year Jean and Charles Henri Stern, the former dial makers for Patek, Philippe & Cie, took control of the financially brittle company.

To balance the books, they needed a big seller at a time when the Great Depression had vastly reduced the wealth and changed the tastes of the general public.

To that end, they reverted to the stripped back styling of the Bauhaus movement to create an austerely beautiful and studiedly uncomplicated piece which was affordable to more people than the highly complicated pocket watches on which the manufacture had built its reputation.

Today, Patek’s Calatrava collection is still among the brand’s more humble creations, but in references such as the ref. 5227J, you can still see the perfectly proportioned origins of that initial piece.

Quite simply stunning, the Calatrava is still the ultimate dress watch.

Cartier Tank

As if to underline the resurgence of the dress watch, Cartier, a manufacture that makes pretty much nothing else, has outsold Omega, most famous for their tool watches, since 2020. That has reversed a trend of decades and left Cartier in second position in the sales league table, behind only Rolex.

In fairness, we could have chosen to focus on any number of the brand’s models, all of which drip with that unmistakable Cartier flair.

But while the Santos flirts with the line between dress and sports watch (according to some, and I’m not going to argue), the Tank is up there at a Calatrava-esque level of taste and refinement.

Beloved by many of the 20^th and 21^st century’s most venerated style icons, you would be hard pressed to name any other watch more sophisticated and cultured than the Cartier Tank.

As legend has it, the basic design was modelled after the Renault F-17 tank Louis Cartier encountered during WWI; those famous branchards and chemin de fer style minute track around the dial inspired by the treads and the case, originally square, by the tank’s main body.

As with the Patek, the Cartier Tank has stayed faithful to the original, retaining, on most models, the signature cabochon on the winding crown, the blued steel hands and the warped and elongated Roman numerals.

Today, you can take your pick from manually-wound or automatic pieces, and even a selection of quartz-powered models. But whatever goes on on the inside, the Tank is always unfalteringly refined.

Rolex Perpetual 1908

Relatively speaking, Rolex have never had much luck with dress watches.

Models like the Day-Date and Datejust have long served the purpose, but even they are styled too flexibly to really fit the description.

The Cellini collection was the brand’s main attempt for many years, but we saw the manufacture finally part ways with the underperforming range in 2023. In its place, they have brought out the Perpetual 1908.

These, although not a million miles away from the Cellini in many respects, are somehow much more like it.

The fledgling family contains just four models so far, two each in yellow and white gold with either a black or white dial and all 39mm. Each has a running seconds sub dial and 3/9/12 Arabic numerals interspersed between thin batons. The handset features a sword-shaped minute hand and an observatory style hour hand with a Breguet-like circle below the tip.

Encircling it all is a double bezel, half domed and half fluted, with the outer edge given the guilloche hobnailing made famous by a certain Patek Phillipe dress watch we’ve already mentioned.

But what took many by surprise was something not found on any Rolex for just about the entirety of their existence. Turn the 1908 over and you will discover you can see the new Cal. 7140 working away through a sapphire case back. Rolex has never really shown off their calibers, but between these and the new generation platinum Daytona released at the same time, they seem to have overcome their shyness.

This renewed love affair with dress watches is something of a surprise, and it will be interesting to see the knock-on effects. All watch brands are driven by demand, and we could well be in for a whole new wave of elegantly proportioned, minimalist beauties in the coming years.

They may never quite achieve the same popularity as tool watches, but there are going to be some interesting times ahead.

Featured Photo: Pixabay (cc) Archive.