Our perception of the “perfect” watch size has certainly changed in recent years. For many decades, 34mm to 36mm was the standard for dress watches. It slid neatly under a cuff and was sensible enough for everyday wear or the office. However, as larger 40mm+ watches took the market by storm in the late 1990s and the fashion-forward Y2K era, 36mm and the like started falling into the small-watch category. 36mm isn’t inherently small, or just reserved for collectors with smaller wrists, either. Rather, we’d argue it’s a classic proportion that collectors of all wrist sizes are appreciating again.
36mm Doesn't Always Wear Small
Just because a watch measures 36mm doesn’t necessarily mean it will wear small on the wrist. Factors like case shape, lug-to-lug measurement, and even the crystal can affect how large a watch looks and feels. The 1970s-inspired MAEN Manhattan 37 pictured below, for example, wears larger than its 37mm dimensions suggest, partly due to the integrated bracelet design.
How Men's Watches Sizes Have Changed Over Time
A deep dive into early watchmaking deserves its own comprehensive article. But to understand how men’s attitudes toward watches, in general, have changed over time, we first need to cover a bit of history leading up to the resurgence of the 36mm and other small men’s watches.
The Cartier Santos, developed in 1904 and released commercially in 1911, is often credited as one of the earliest purpose-designed men's wristwatches. The famous square-shaped watch was developed by Louis Cartier himself for pilot and aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. Pocket watches were the norm for men back then, but they weren’t the best option for pilots who needed to keep both hands on the controls in the cockpit, and hence, the Santos was born. Thousands saw his daring in-air feats, and eventually men found themselves coveting a watch like Santos-Dumont's. What’s more, Companies like Omega and Longines were producing military wristwatches, or “trench watches,” for soldiers fighting in World War I around the same era as the Cartier Santos. When those men returned home, they kept wearing their wartime watches, dispelling the idea that wristwatches were too feminine for men and effectively making them more mainstream among the opposite gender.
Vulcain Cricket:
Watches from the 1940s are making a comeback in recent years, both for vintage watches and modern vintage-inspired pieces like the Vulcain Cricket, which was one of the earliest commercially successful mechanical alarm wristwatches when it was released in 1947. The faithful reissue pictured below features a 36mm case, a domed sapphire crystal, and a charming semi-matte eggshell dial with a similar logo and overall look to the original 1940s models.
Kuoe Royal Smith 90-006
Kuoe, based in Kyoto, Japan, is a younger brand that takes much of its inspiration from classic round watches from the 1940s and 1970s. The Royal Smith 90-006 is a modern interpretation of what mid-century watches looked like. Older-style markers grace the waffle-pattern dial, filled with beige Super-LumiNova. This example is a bit larger at 39 mm, but we have heard from other collectors that it wears much like a 36mm watch.
The 1950s helped shape the modern sports watch category as we know it today, with influential models like the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Rolex GMT-Master, and Breitling Navitimer debuting during the decade. While many were originally smaller than 40mm, they were still larger than most dress watches at the time out of necessity. Dive watches often benefited from larger, more legible dials and robust cases, while chronographs needed room for busier dials.
Nivada Grenchen Antarctic
The Nivada Grenchen Antarctic is one of many faithful reissues the Swiss brand has produced since its 2018 revival. Originally a product of the 1950s, it made history during Operation Deep Freeze, led by the U.S. Navy, as one of the first wristwatches to perform reliably in the harsh, sub-zero Antarctic environment. The modern revival below embodies the spirit of a true, mid-century explorer’s watch with a compact, 35mm waterproof case and a simple, easy-to-read dial.
In the late 1990s and at the turn of the millennium, we really started to see larger watches come into vogue, although watch sizes were already steadily growing after the sports watch boom of the 1950s. It's possible that the trend for larger watches was fueled by an expanding market for sports watches, each one more capable and impressive than the last. Or maybe we can chalk it up to a general shift in modern watch tastes. Either way, by the 2010s, larger watches had taken the market by storm.
Why Collectors Are Returning to Smaller Watches
How did 36mm watches fall back into favor, anyway? It depends on who you ask. Jason Sudeikis certainly wasn’t the first man in recent history to sport a smaller watch on his wrist, but his 2021 GQ spread first sparked many collectors’ curiosity, myself included, about the emerging trend. In it, he wore a small Cartier Tank that suited his wrist quite well. Since then, small watches seem to be popping up on men’s wrists everywhere online. Paul Mescal wore a tiny 1960s Cartier Petit Santos to the 2024 London premiere of Gladiator II, and, more recently, Travis Scott was photographed in St. Tropez with not one, but two mini Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watches stacked on his wrist. These men prove on the world stage that 36mm-and-under watches aren’t just for small wrists anymore.
Increased visibility in pop culture certainly plays a role, but so do other factors like a growing appreciation, in general, for vintage and vintage-inspired watches. The small-watch trend also suggests that some collectors are prioritizing comfortable watches over bold status symbols now that they have more options than ever before.
More Watches Worth Mentioning
MAEN Lunar Classic 36 & Classic 36 Watches
MAEN is a Dutch microbrand based in Stockholm that has made quite a name for itself with a distinctive vintage-inspired aesthetic and a sharp eye for detail. The multi-layered dial on the Lunar Classic 36 features a striking Moon Phase, which is only fitting considering the name MAEN translates in Old Dutch to Moon.
The Classic 36 has a similar silhouette to the Lunar Classic 36, but is distilled down to the basics with a clean, time-only dial.
Baltic Prismic
Baltic describes the 36mm Prismic as a “modern take on cocktail watches.” It lives up to that inspiration, outfitted with a striking array of colorful guilloche or stone dials like bloodstone, pink albite, and Pietersite.
The Baltic Prismic Bloodstone Dial.
Why 36mm Still Makes Sense
Just because smaller watches are fashionable again doesn’t mean 36mm is suddenly the perfect size for every wrist. It makes sense when case proportions, lug-to-lug measurements, and personal preferences align. Still, while larger watches are still very much a presence on the market, collectors seem to be embracing a wider range of case sizes than before the big-watch era. The real takeaway here isn’t necessarily that 36mm watches are making a comeback, but that they were never inherently too small to begin with. Rather, our perspective on what makes a watch the right size has changed.