Sometimes bigger is not necessarily better

    Sometimes, a large size is not necessarily a good thing. Take watches, for example; in recent years, large-dial watches have become popular, especially men's watches with diameters of at least 45mm and above, almost reaching the scale of pocket watches. Women are not to be outdone, with 40mm diameter watches being worn on their wrists. Of course, big is not suitable for everyone, and besides, is it really comfortable to wear something that large?

　　Early watches favoured smallness as beauty

　　In the early days, wristwatches gradually evolved from pocket watches, and after the Second World War, they gradually replaced pocket watches due to changes in people's stable lifestyles. The early prototype of the wristwatch was the ladies' watch. At the beginning of the 19 century, Breguet had made bracelet watches for the Queen of Naples, and Patek Philippe had also made bracelet watches for Hungarian royalty. These were set and made according to the standards of “ functional jewellery ” , and the smaller they were, the more impressive they were. Why? Because space had to be made for setting diamonds and jewellery.

　　It was precisely because of the aesthetic of early watches that the subsequent rise of watches followed this tradition of smallness as beauty. 20mm diameter women's watches were everywhere, and men's watches were also around 33mm in size. Such sizes seem somewhat incredible today, but at the time, it was probably to avoid the misunderstanding of “ wearing a pocket watch head on the wrist ” . The watchmakers of the time took pride in creating extremely small mechanical movements.

　　The ever-growing watch dial

　　With the continuous changes in people's lifestyles, as well as aesthetics and watch development, small dials were considered elegant. However, until the quartz crisis in the eighties, the technical advantage of small movements was gone, and mechanical structures became a new selling point. Consequently, watch brands simply moved towards larger sizes so that people could see their various details more clearly.

　　And now,Audemars Piguet Royal Oaksizes start from 38mm. However, watches of different sizes also display different tastes and styles, and choosing big or small is entirely a matter of personal preference.