Feature: 8 Best Dress Watches

The dress watch is perhaps the hardest watch to master. It has to be simple, it has to have no complications—small seconds and a date window at a push—and it has to be small, certainly in diameter, but more importantly, thickness. Automatic movements are acceptable, but manual-wind is better, keeping the case nice and slim.

This leaves very little for a watchmaker to hide behind, only the quality of the watchmaking itself left to do the talking.

So how do the very best brands in the world do it? Here are eight that lead by example.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin 1292520

Jaeger-LeCoultre may be best known for its distinctive Reverso, itself a watch on the dressier end of the spectrum (despite its origins as a sports watch), but it also makes more conventional dress watches like this Master Ultra Thin.

Its rose-gold case is only 4.05mm thick thanks to the calibre 849, a Jaeger-LeCoultre movement that itself is only 1.85mm thick. The white dial is as minimalist as this brand gets, with its stick hour markers, and it even dispenses with a seconds hand.

Making ultra-thin movements is nothing new for Jaeger-LeCoultre. In fact, the partnership of Edmond Jaeger and Jacques-David LeCoultre happened over a bet to make an ultra-thin movement. This is a company that operated to such degrees of minute accuracy, it had to invent an instrument capable of measuring a micron in order to do so.

The crazy thing is that this calibre 849 isn’t even the thinnest movement Jaeger-LeCoultre made. That bet resulted in Jacques-David LeCoultre creating the calibre 145, which measured in at a scant 1.38mm thick. It’s this kind of unmatchable talent that secured movement supply deals with three of the other watchmakers in this feature, and also why the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin deserves its spot alongside them.

Vacheron Constantin Patrimony 81180/000G-9117

At 40mm in diameter and 6.79mm thick, this Vacheron Constantin Patrimony may seem lardy compared to the Jaeger-LeCoultre, but that’s a bit unfair. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s basic Ultra Thin with the self-winding calibre 896/1 is a comparatively beefy 7.58mm, so with some mental recalibration, this Patrimony’s 6.79mm is actually very good, sitting somewhere in the middle of this selection.

And that’s not the only stat that’s bigger than the Jaeger-LeCoultre—you’ll pay a lot more for this over the Master Ultra Thin, but then you’re getting details like the applied logo and markers, and even more impressively, the engraved minute dots.

But the big difference—aside from the jump to a top-three–tier watchmaker—is in the back, where it can’t be seen. In the tradition of the simple, thin dress watch, there’s no transparent caseback here, but underneath is Vacheron Constantin’s calibre 1400, which bears the prestigious Geneva Seal.

This commendation from the City of Geneva is worth the entry price alone, a certification that demonstrates the calibre 1400’s resilience to the most rigorous of scrutineering. The testing takes two solid weeks and covers every single component in painstaking detail.

Patek Philippe Calatrava 5196R

Patek Philippe’s Calatrava 5196R is not the thinnest watch here and nor is the calibre 215 PS inside it the thinnest movement. In fact, at 7.68mm thick, it’s heading for double the Jaeger-LeCoultre. It’s also one of the most expensive watches here, and it bucks the trend by slapping a small-seconds complication on the dial too. Quality is no more impressive than most of the others here either.

So why should the Patek Philippe Calatrava be a contender? Well, because it’s the one that wrote the rule book, set the trend. Back in the days of pocket watches, a high-end manufacturer wouldn’t be seen dead with its name on a wristwatch, and Patek Philippe changed that.

Granted, it was financial hardship that dictated the decision for the Stern family, Patek Philippe’s then-new owners, who in 1932 commissioned designer David Penney to create something new and exciting and never-before-seen. In the aftermath of the lavish and ornate pocket watch, the results were shocking. Small, svelte, reserved, the Calatrava was everything high watchmaking was not and it promptly became the brand’s flagship model.

These days, of course, the Calatrava is the quintessential dress watch, and this 5196R in rose gold is about as close as you can get to the 1932 original.

Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Extra-Thin 15180OR.OO.A088CR.01

The inclusion of Audemars Piguet in a collection like this shouldn’t be unexpected. It’s one of the so-called Holy Trinity, and despite its reputation for being a one-watch brand, demonstrates serious credibility on the watchmaking front both in its history and with this Jules Audemars Extra-Thin.

What is something of a surprise, however, is the appearance of Jaeger-LeCoultre for a second time. Yes, this rose-gold model is equipped with a Jaeger-LeCoultre calibre 920 movement, which significantly bumps up its price.

At 2.45mm thick, it’s thinner than the other movements here except the other Jaeger-LeCoultre—and, despite that, it’s automatic. It’s also the only movement ever shared by all three top watchmakers, notably in the Royal Oak, the Nautilus and the 222, which influenced the Overseas.

But the really impressive part about what Audemars Piguet calls the calibre AP 2120 is its engineering, which you actually get to see through the clear caseback. Thanks to the slenderness of the movement, the case is still one of the thinnest here, and that’s despite the overengineering that Jaeger-LeCoultre is so famous for.

Examples of that? The rotor weight, rather than cantilevering its mass out over the movement, is supported at its edge by four ruby rollers that run on a low-friction beryllium-copper rail.

A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin 201.027

Can this Bauhaus-inspired German watch compete with its Swiss counterparts on matters of the heart as well as the head? It’s hard to believe, given present company, that the A. Lange & Söhne is the most delicate watch here. Not so much in a physical sense, I’m sure it could probably stop a bullet—more in its design. The lugs are small and slender, the bezel a wisp around the dial, which itself is set with markers barely a hair’s width. It’s as fresh as a glass of cold water.

The calibre L093.1 sings a similar tune, clear of fuss and clutter, leaving the landscape free for the watchmaking to tell the story. From the long, curving click spring to the screwed gold chatons, every aspect of the movement’s execution is dedicated to watchmaking excellence.

Even the engraved balance cock, uniquely accomplished by hand, demonstrates technical perfection in the construction of this microscopic engine.

Rolex Cellini 50509

The Rolex Cellini is a model that’s maybe a tad more under-the-radar compared to other Rolex watches out there—you know the ones—but that doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of some fanfare.

Even the name itself has an impressive history. It was named after Benvenuto Cellini, an influential Renaissance-era goldsmith and sculptor from Italy whose works can still be seen in the Louvre and elsewhere.

This self-winding model boasts a slick black and white-gold aesthetic with a pared-down, time-only dial and an elegant etched bezel. It also comes in a rose-gold case if white gold is too understated for you. The case itself is 39mm, hitting that 37-40mm sweet spot that seems to suit almost everyone.

At 11.2mm thick, this doesn’t slip quite so easily under a shirt cuff as some of the others, but that’s because its Calibre 3132 is an automatic movement that takes up more case space.

Rolex discontinued the Cellini collection in 2023 and unveiled a brand-new line of dress watches, named 1908 after the year the company began using the name Rolex (it was previously called Wilsdorf & Davis after its founders).

Like the Cellini line, the 1908 models come in precious metals rather than steel and feature guilloche motif dials and exhibition casebacks. It’s uncertain whether the Cellini line will ever make a return but it’s good to know that Rolex is still committed to having a dress watch collection.

Omega De Ville Prestige 4617.31.02

The long-running De Ville series is, along with the Constellation, Omega’s most refined family of watches, offering a huge variety of dressy alternatives to the sporty Speedmaster and Seamaster lines.

It has traditionally included some of Omega’s most technically accomplished watches, including tourbillons and even split-second chronographs. But if you want something more in keeping with the classic, no-frills dress watch, it delivers on that front too.

This De Ville Prestige features a simple silver and white concentric dial with applied gold Roman numerals and hands. It also features a discreet date window at three o’clock, which doesn’t distract from its simple elegance.

It’s 18k yellow-gold case measures a versatile 36.5mm in diameter, so it won’t look out of place on anyone’s wrist, be they man or woman, ballerina or boxer.

Better still, it’s powered by the automatic Omega calibre 2500, featuring the brand’s co-axial escapement, which produces less friction than standard escapements and therefore requires less lubrication. In theory this means it will need less servicing through the years.

Its closed caseback means you won’t be able to admire this movement, but it does mean you can engrave it with a message, should you wish—something many people do with watches bought as gifts.

Blancpain Villeret, 1151-1418-55

Founded in 1735, Blancpain is the world’s oldest watch brand and takes great pride in its commitment to mechanical watchmaking, once declaring that it has never made a quartz-powered timepiece.

The very best of its watchmaking traditions are on display in the elegant Villeret collection, home to the brand’s most classic designs. This yellow-gold neo-vintage model from the 1990s bears more than a passing resemblance to the Omega above. It has similar applied gold Roman numerals on a white dial, a date window at 3 o’clock and a closed case back. However, the case is a lot smaller in diameter at 33mm, and it’s also a lot thinner, even though it has an automatic movement.

While, strictly speaking, the quintessential dress watch should be manual-wind, some wearers treat the necessary daily winding less as a pleasure, more of a chore. If that’s the case, this is the watch for them.

Of course, Blancpain is now best known for its legendary Fifty Fathoms dive watch, but back in the 1990s when the brand was still finding its feet again after years of dormancy, the focus was on dress watches like this, especially moonphase watches. But here, Blancpain strips the dress watch right down, leaving only a few decorative flourishes and a barely-there date window.

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