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How’s this for a tease? Next week, I’m going to be rolling out the second-annual GQ Watch Survey, recapping 2023’s most exciting brands and watches based on responses from a wide-ranging panel. But in the early returns it’s clear that there is one trend that infected the consciousness of the Watch Illuminati more than any other. In 2023, we were all excited about the industry’s great downsizing.
This trend stood out to me because no other question in my survey generated such unanimous consensus. This was especially surprising given how open-ended the directive was: “Name a trend in the watch world you’re loving.” Collectors couldn’t agree on which brand had the best year, or what the best piece of 2023 was, but watches getting smaller was something apparently everyone can delight in. (To clarify, I’m talking about watches smaller than 40 millimeters—typically between 34 and 39mm).
I honestly never understood the big watch thing. Ever since I started writing about watches many moons ago, my grail has been the petite Cartier Tank, which hugs the wrist as delicately as a butterfly. It’s light, it’s beautiful, and it doesn’t have the presence of a Hummer. “Most of us aren’t Arnold Schwarzenegger,” said Nick Ferrell, of DC Vintage Watches, referencing the huge man who helped popularize huge watches in the first place. And yet the prevailing trend among casual and hardcore collectors alike was big honking sports watches.
The change can be seen across the industry. The collector known as @Bazamu (the 2022 COTY!) directs us to look at a watch like the Tudor Black Bay 54, which made its debut during Watches & Wonders in March. “Smaller sizes are coming back,” he wrote. The piece’s 37 millimeter size is in perfect step with what vintage collectors are looking for. Even new watches that don’t boast slimmed-down silhouettes aspire to be small. When I met with Max Büsser last week, he walked me through all the hoops he jumped through to get his new HM11 down to 42 millimeters—basically microscopic for a brand like MB&F, which specializes in beefy watches.
