All types of watches and models for every occasion.

In this article we will discuss the different styles and types of watches as well as which are the most suitable for each occasion and the different types of mechanisms and operations. Illustrated with photographs of each variety of watch.

Wristwatch.

Click on the images to see them better.

Types of watches for each style of dress.

Watches to wear with frac or chaqué.

For these grand gala suits you should not wear a wrist watch, but it must be free. The label requires the use of a pocket watch. It is convenient to combine the color of the watch along with the rest of accessories such as tie pin or cufflinks.

Viceroy pocket watch.

Watches to wear with tie suit.

The label recommends light colored dial watches like white, cream or pale yellow. The details should be minimal to give a feeling of clarity, without a window for a datario or other combinations and always with a foot strap of the same color as the shoes, the usual thing therefore is that it is black or dark brown. Very important is that its thickness is thin to be able to hide under the sleeve of the shirt, so that mechanical gauges are still appreciated.

Dress longines with caliber 6902.

Can you wear a Diver or a chrono with a suit and tie? Theoretically not, but there are Divers and some chronicles so elegant that they don't clash. We will talk about them later in the section of Diving and Chronograph watches.

Suit without cobarta or sport.

Here more casual watches come in, such as chronographs from various spheres or diving chronographs (Divers). You can choose leather strap, rubber (aquatic environments) or armis (steel bracelet). There are models of these types that because of their elegance are able to combine with a tie suit without any objection, such as the legendary Rolex Submariner (We have dedicated a chapter to this model in the book " Design icons for men .: Gadgets, accessories and complements ") Another example of Diver for casual clothes is the Seiko SKX009K1_LRG.

Diko Seiko SKX009K1_LRG watch

T-shirts, jeans or shorts.

Here, carefree or colorful models prevail, which match their straps with clothing. The armis may be cooler to wear than a leather strap, but they give more feeling of heaviness with minimal clothing. The rubber or perlón straps combine well with light watches.

Orient FQC0S00CB0

Extreme activities.

Here it should be noted that a Casio G-Shock watch will not clash for any occasion, although the size of any of these copies must be taken into account. For diving, Divers watches are obviously better, but these have been displaced for professional use by dive computers.

                        Cressi Newton Titanium dive computer

Types of watches by design

Analogs

They are those that indicate the hours by the movement of their hands. The short indicates the hours from 1 to 12 (there are also 24 hours) and the long indicates the minutes, each number from 1 to 12 indicates jumps of 5 minutes until reaching 60). There is a fine hand that indicates the seconds, moving the quartz watches and smaller segments mechanically, almost as if it were a continuous movement, which makes them more pleasing to the eye.

Sturmanskie analog clock.

Digital

These are the clocks that indicate the time with numbers. They are usually associated with cheap watches and tend to be less colorful. They have the advantage that since they lack moving parts, they are very resistant.

Digital watch, Casio F 91 W

Ana Digi

Watches that combine hands with a digital part.

Tissot Racing-Touch

Divers

Diving watches were designed with the specific purpose of helping to control the time of divers but today they are commonly used. You must necessarily have a rotating bezel that allows you to put the 0 on the hand of the minute hand, count the time it takes to dive. They also stand out for a sealing capacity that allows them to at least dive to 100 meters (the most basic), 200 meters or even 300 or more and lumen to be used in the darkness of the depths. Diving watches can have a "gross" aesthetic that gives them a professional or a more elegant look, without being less effective. They can wear armis or rubber strap, NATOS of fabric or perlón and although the leather straps do not feel aesthetically bad, it is not suitable for a scuba watch,

Divers are extremely popular among watch fans and elegant-style models are completely acceptable for both casual dress style and to go with a suit without or with a tie.

Two examples of elegant Divers that look good with any outfit, Rolex Submariner and Citizen BN0190

Rolex Submariner

Citizen BN0190

Chronographs

Actually, the chronograph is a function, to be able to time times, but it has given rise to a type of clocks with subspheres. In addition to the crown to set it in time, they must have two buttons, one to start the measurement and stop it and another to set the counter to zero.
The central second hand, that is, the trotting needle, serves to time the seconds and the fractions of a second. The "normal" seconds are shown in a sub-sphere with a small needle, called the off-center seconds or small seconds. Typically, this type of clocks has two additional sub-spheres designed to count the minutes and hours. Sometimes we can find chronographs with only two sub-spheres that can only measure intervals of 30 or 60 minutes maximum.

Rolex Daytona

Classic model type "Paul Newman, with tachymeter.

Of doctor.

It is a chronograph, it distinguishes its pulsometer capacity, so it has a graduated scale on the outside of the dial, usually 15 pulsations. They generally have the white dial and Arabic numerals. The hands are blue or black.

Longines Pulsometer Chronograph doctor's watch.

GMT watches

It is a watch that indicates a double time use through a fourth hand (apart from the hour, minute and second) that refers to an outer dial or bezel with 24-hour format. We can then see the normal time that interests us and synchronize the fourth needle with the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or the place that interests us. For example, if we live in Madrid but we want to know what time it is in New York because we work with the bag of that city.

Citizen bj7100-23x GMT

Racing

They are sports watches that by their style remind the motor world. They can be carbon parts in the sphere or motifs of frills, etc. These watches are chronograph and sometimes tachometers can arrive.

Tissot Racing-Touch

Military

The typical military-type watch is analog, it has a dark dial, well-visible Arabic numerals and lumen to be used in the dark. You also have to have the possibility of stopping the second hand so that the soldiers could synchronize their watches in detail with those of their companions. They can carry complications as damage and admit both leather straps and metal armis. An example is the Hamilton Khaki King . ´

Hamilton Khaki King

Today the military often use digital watches in combat for their greater resistance to shocks, with military digital watches being a style for civil moments.

Flyer, flyer or flieger.

They are watches designed for combat pilots. They always have the black dial and Arabic numerals, as well as the white hands. There are some models that have a double dial, with the numbers of the hours in a small central circle and those corresponding to the largest minutes and an outer circle. They have to stand out for their good visibility, so they do not carry any complications as damage. They can only wear leather straps.

Laco Flieger Aachen 42

Minimalist

White dial or at least without gradations of color. Their aesthetics are simple and do not carry numbers, but the hours are marked by fine lines or do not even indicate them. In case they carry numbers (which should not) they must be small and fine. The hands must be thin and do not carry lumen. They are fine with thin, unadorned leather straps. Lately, "Bauhaus" watches have become popular in this type, which, due to their clean design, are reminiscent of those advocated by this German school from the interwar period.

Bering

Skeleton

Watches that have their transparent dial and allow to see their mechanism. There are watches that have the equally transparent back cover, but those are not considered skeleton. Skeleton or skeleton watches are often difficult to read.

D 1 Milano.

Nurse

Analog clocks with Arabic numerals that are made to be turned upside down hung from a front pocket of a nurse's uniform. Its function is to be able to use it without disturbing the nurse's wrists. When inverted (12 o'clock is in the 6 o'clock position), they are read when the nurse takes it by hand and dumps her head.

Festina nurse watch.

Fashion brands watches.

All watches are grouped here with a fashion brand engraved on their dial. Fashion brands do not make watches but instead put their name on products made by factories, usually from the Far East, which they would not sell under their own name. They are generally very low quality products sold at a gold price. They can be beautiful watches and combine well with clothing, but their price is usually disproportionate to its quality.

Types of watches by operation or movement.

Mechanical watches

They are those that work by means of a dock that is given energy "giving rope". They are traditional watches. They are not as precious as quartz. A first-line mechanical watch may have an error of + -2 seconds per day but it is normal for that margin of error to rise as the price of the clock falls. They have the great advantage of being alien to electric power and if they are taken care of well, they last a lifetime. They are repairable, for an expert, of course. If it stops being wound, they stop in two or three days depending on the model.

Mechanical watch mechanism

Automatic watches

This type of watches, automatic or automatic mechanics, are an evolution of mechanics and their great difference is that they have a piece that turns, automatically winding the mechanism without the owner having to worry. The most expensive watches today are automatic. They have the same characteristics of margin of error and durability as mechanics, although they tend to be more delicate. Always keep in mind that both mechanical and automatic are more delicate than their quartz parts. The most expensive brands such as Philip Patek, Hamilton, Rolex Etc., are specialists in mechanical watches.

Mecano-Quartz watches.

It is a misleading term. They are battery watches (quartz) but that transmits energy to a mechanical movement. They are usually included in the group of quartz.

Kinetic watches.

The kinetic quartz watches but whose electrical energy comes from the movement of an internal part exactly like the automatic ones. There are few manufacturers of this technology, where Seiko stands out and have a reputation for being delicate, because if they do not move constantly, the accumulator is discharged and that is bad for its durability.

Solar clocks or Eco-Drive.

They are quartz watches but whose electrical energy comes from the light they give to their spheres. They therefore have the resistance and accuracy of a quartz and in theory they can last a lifetime with the same accumulator, which is the piece that receives the energy. In case the battery breaks down, it can be changed, but we would be with the same problem as with the quartz, get batteries. If a solar clock stops receiving light but has the battery fully charged, it can last up to six months without receiving power in theory. It is not good to let the battery discharge completely, but to avoid it, it is enough to leave it somewhere that gives the light, better that of the sun, but the electric one is also valid. Citizen is the brand that has been most involved in this type with its Eco-Drive, followed remotely by Seiko and Casio with their solar movements.

Quartz Watches

The usual clocks are watches that work with batteries (batteries) and are named for using a piece of quartz in its mechanism for its pizoelectric properties. They can be both analog (hands) and digital (numbers). The hands can also be used to orient with the sun and are more beautiful but not everyone can read them. This type of mechanism is the one that gives more precision with an error of a few seconds per month, which obviously accumulate. A battery can last years, much more in digital since they have no moving parts. They are resistant to sudden movements, but on the contrary, when the battery runs out, it has to be quickly removed or replaced by another, because the chemical batteries continue to react, deteriorate and can damage the mechanism. The big problem is that if there is no battery replacement, the watch becomes unusable. Also, not all are easy to open and change the battery. On the other hand, this type of mechanism is very difficult to repair if necessary.

Casio G-Shock DW5000 digital quartz watch.

Watches such as the Lotus, Viceroy or Festina brands, despite being analog, today (not in the past) are always quartz.

What type of watch mechanism is the best?

It will always depend on our needs and tastes. Quartz are more precise and automatic are more romantic. Watch lovers prefer mechanical and automatic watches because they consider them authentic watchmaking while quartz for some are just bracelets that give time. In general, a good watch is that it works well and is suitable for the needs of each and for some this may be the highest precision and for others the beauty of a jogging needle (second hand) with the almost continuous movement that only mechanics can get.
We have tried wrist watches. Obviously there are other types of clocks, such as wall clocks, but they are outside the object of this blog focused on gadgets and male accessories.

From several of these watches you can find more information in the book on this website.

https://www.amazon.es/Iconos-dise%C3%B1o-para-hombre-B-complementos/dp/1655216538/