In Men’s Watches, the Last Frontier: Ladies’ Watches

It is also, in Piaget’s classification, a women’s watch. In the world of watches, this phenomenon—a male celebrity materializing in public with a traffic-halting “ladies” watch—is becoming more common. 

In January, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny sat courtside at a Los Angeles Lakers game with a shimmery postage-stsize, gem-set, “ladies’” Patek Philippe timepiece from the 1990s visible on his wrist. At the Met Gala in May, “Succession” acteur Jeremy Strong flaunted a Richard Mille RM 07-04, a women’s sport watch with a tender turquoise bezel. Around that time, Timothée Chalamet, the mop-topped “Dune” main man, posted an Instagram selfie with what appeared to be a dainty Cartier timepiece curled around his wrist.

Among the watch-erati, there is debate as to how far past the red carpet the trend reaches. “I don’t really see it with more than like, 1% of the collector population,” said Mike Nouveau, a New York-based vintage watch dealer who runs a popular timepiece-centric TikTok account. Most men, he says, remain down-the-mill dabblers: They’ll procure a conservative midsize Rolex Datejust and call it a day. 

But, as he sees it, there are two varieties of watch-curious male collectors open to women’s watches: younger buyers, less concrete in their thinking about gender; and horological enthusiasts that like a compelling watch of any flavor. 

Nouveau lands in that latter category. During our interview, he wore his first watch—a conventional stainless-steel Rolex—but his latest acquisition is a vintage, Midas-touched “Reflet” model from French jeweler Boucheron. On Nouveau’s tattooed wrist, the tidy gold watch really looks more like a bracelet. 

Eugene Tutunikov, CEO of SwissWatchExpo, one of the largest U.S. retailers of preowned watches, attests that an increasing number of men search for accessory watches with “gem sets, diamonds and rubies.” 

“For a lot of men, it’s their way to express their creativity and being different if they don’t wear any other types of jewelry,” he said. Tutunikov pointed to watches on his platform like a sapphire-dialed, gold-banded $10,990 Piaget and a rectangular diamond-capped $19,990 Vacheron Constantin

To be sure, rappers and celebrities have long worn extravagant diamond encrusted watches, though they were often larger in proportion and customized by aftermarket jewelers.

Since around the time of the auction of Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona for nearly $18 million in 2017, horological hoarders have increasingly chased previously underappreciated watches. 

“Being a collector, you’re always looking for something new, you’re always looking for something unique to talk about,” said Dean Madory, a medical student and watch enthusiast in Corona, Calif. On his wish list is a Cartier Serpenti, a snake-shaped timepiece that curls itself, seductively, around the wrist. For a man, wearing such a lissome timepiece is an advanced chess move, something most collectors aren’t contemplating yet.

It is no accident then that, according to Tutunikov, the early-adopter men shopping for women’s watches tend to be younger ones who “really want vintage pieces to pair with their streetwear.” It could be said that the watch market is crossing the threshold of its sneakers moment: The more endangered or unexpected the timepiece, the better.

Even if the mass market is not leaping for emeralds and sapphires, dealers report that broadly, men are drifting toward watches of a smaller, traditionally female scale. “It’s almost like a backlash against the giant Panerais and 51mm Rolex dive watches,” said New York City watch dealer Patrick Parrish. When he started selling vintage watches a couple of years ago, his first sale was a women’s size “tiny, tiny dive watch” to a male friend. (Dutiful watch devotees will note that dress watches circa the ’60s and ’70s were comparatively elfin in size.)

There can be an economic incentive for men to contemplate women’s watches: Women tended to “treat their watches better” than men did, said Parrish, so there are more well-conditioned women’s watches available on the market. With a larger supply, women’s timepieces can be less wallet-gouging.

“A cool benefit of people starting to get into ladies watches is that they’re actually way cheaper,” said Madory. For example, on the vintage market, a smaller-faced Rolex can run thousands less than a similar “men’s-size” watch.

Tutunikov had one idea for watch brands to increase market share. While women have long been amenable to wearing an oversize men’s Rolex, he said when men look at a watch and he tells them it’s a women’s timepiece, they are suddenly uncomfortable buying it. “I guarantee you we would be selling more ladies’ watches to men if they were labeled unisex,” he said.

Write to Jacob Gallagher at [email protected]