Editors note: I wrote this story back in 2015, and I’m pleased to say that the passage of time has somewhat vindicated my opinion. Some brands, like Tudor, Oris and IWC, have been releasing new 36mm watches with unisex appeal, so the size seems to be catching on. And while the 47mm big boys of the industry are still there, they’re not as omnipresent as they were a decade ago. Is the swing back to smaller sizes a return to sanity, or just another trend? If you ever have the opportunity to try on a watch made before the ’50s, we’re willing to bet you’ll be astounded at how small it feels. Back then, anywhere between 30mm and 36mm was considered normal, while everything more than that tended to be described in auction catalogues as ‘oversized’. And often these smaller pieces languish, unsold, unloved and unworn. How did it come to this? For decades, men were as comfortable with petite models as they were their bulkier brothers, but things started changing in the ’90s. Spurred on by the rising popularity of brands such as Panerai and IWC, we witnessed the birth of the ‘Big Watch’ trend, as average diameters crept…
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