What size watch fits my wrist?

Measure your wrist

1. Wrap a strip of paper or a soft tape measure around your wrist where you wear a watch, just above the wrist bone.
2. Mark where it overlaps and measure the length in centimetres. That is your wrist size, and it decides the strap length.
3. Lay a ruler across the top of your wrist and measure the flat part from side to side. That decides the case size.

Lug to lug is the number that matters

Lug to lug is the length of the watch from the tip of the top lugs to the tip of the bottom ones. If it is longer than the flat top of your wrist, the lugs hang over the edges and the watch looks too big, whatever its diameter.

That is why diameter alone misleads. The Seiko SKX007 is 42.5 mm across but only 46 mm lug to lug, so it wears smaller than the 41 mm Rolex Submariner at 48 mm.

Starting points

These are habits, not rules. Plenty of people wear a 36 mm watch on a large wrist and love it.

• Wrist under 16 cm: about 34 to 38 mm across, under 45 mm lug to lug.
• 16 to 18 cm: about 36 to 40 mm, up to about 47 mm lug to lug.
• 18 to 20 cm: about 39 to 43 mm, up to about 50 mm lug to lug.
• Over 20 cm: 42 mm and up.

What else changes how big it looks

• Thickness: over about 13 mm, a watch sits tall and catches on cuffs.
• Bezel: a wide dive bezel makes the dial look smaller; a thin-bezel dress watch looks larger than its size.
• Dial colour: a white or silver dial looks bigger than a black one of the same size.
• Strap: a bracelet or a thick strap adds visual weight. A thinner, tapering strap makes the watch look smaller.

See it to scale

The strap matcher draws your watch to scale on any strap, using the published diameter, lug width and lug to lug. Enter your wrist size and it suggests the strap length too.