Finding the right watch can be an overwhelming search with so many different watches available on the market today. But one of the most important things to contemplate when looking is how the watch will feel while wearing it. This means considering how much or how little a watch weighs. An ideal watch weight is a little bit like the story of Goldie Locks and the Three Bears. For one person, a watch might be too heavy. For another person, a watch might be too light. But then there are the watches that are just right. It really comes down to personal preferences, the size of your wrist, and what you’re looking for when it comes to a good watch.
Unless you’re trying a ton of different watches on, it can sometimes be difficult to determine how a watch will feel on your wrist before buying it. That’s why we’ve put together our guide to watch weight and how to choose the right watch based on your weight preference.
How Much Does A Watch Weigh?
The average watch can vary greatly in the amount it weighs, but on average, it usually falls anywhere between 80 to 100 grams (that’s about 0.2 pounds). This is because a watch’s weight is largely determined by its size, type, materials, and the mechanics used to make it work.
Let’s dive into each of these areas to see how they can affect the weight of a watch.
What Affects The Weight Of A Watch?
Watches are crafted in many shapes and sizes, meaning they also come in a wide variety of weights. From a dainty, time-telling accessory to the chunky star of your whole outfit, the weight of watches can help you determine what kind of style and fit you’ll most prefer.
Watch Size
A big factor in a watch’s weight is just its pure size. The bigger the watch is, the more it will weigh. A watch’s size can vary based on watch case size, watch case thickness, lug distance and shape, and watch band thickness. Many watch case sizes can range from as small as 20mm to as large as 48mm while watch band sizes can be as slim as 8mm or as thick as 24mm.
Besides considering your preferences for size due to watch weight, there is also a sort of science for finding the proper watch size that will best fit your wrist. For more information, take a look at our watch sizing guide.
Watch Type
The type of watch will also affect watch weight. Simple time-telling mechanical or automatic watches tend to weigh less than a more complicated sport, chronograph, or dive watch. The more added features like sub-dials, date indicators, stopwatch functions, calendar apertures, etc. packed into a watch, the more a watch tends to increase in weight.
Watch Material
What a watch is made of is another big factor in how much it weighs. Watchmakers have experimented greatly over the years with different watch materials in part because of watch weight considerations. Heavier materials such as stainless steel, gold, and bronze result in a heavier watch while lighter materials such as plastics, resin, and titanium result in a lighter watch. See below for a breakdown of the most common watch crafting materials.
Lighter Watch Materials
Plastics
Resin
Titanium
Ceramic
Wood
Carbon Fiber
Rubber | Heavier Watch Materials
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Stainless Steel
Platinum
Tungsten
|
Watch Movement
And last but not least, the weight of a watch can vary depending on the inner workings of its movement mechanics. An average watch weight usually equals 30% of its case and 70% of its movement type. While all watch movement types can be relatively light and compact, quartz movements tend to be the slimmest, smallest, and flattest. This is because quartz parts don’t require as much space inside a watch case as the parts for an automatic or mechanic movement do.
While the weight of watches might not be the first thing to come to mind when choosing your next wrist companion, it can be a great deciding factor when it comes to the watch size, type, material, and movement you ultimately go with.
Shinola Watches By Weight
Whether you’re looking for a watch built for strength over speed or one built for everyday comfort, Shinola has a watch for you. We pride ourselves on our wide variety of watches so you can find a watch that is truly as unique as you. Because of this, the weight of watches we carry also varies.
For our lightweight lovers, we recommend The Pee-Wee, The Bike Lock, or The Detrola Watch Collections.
Though The Pee-Wee be little, she is fierce. For those of us who grew up without the metric system, our Pee-Wee’s 25mm size is roughly that of a quarter. Pee-Wee, yes. Puny, never. Crafted from durable but extremely lightweight TR90 resin, The Pee-Wee Watch packs a punch without any added weight. A lightweight option of both size and build, this collection proves that sometimes the biggest things come in small packages.
Shop The Pee-Wee Collection
Inspired by our bikes, The Bike Lock collection defines elegant minimalism. Featuring a compact high-accuracy, two-hand quartz movement and a variety of slim Italian leather straps, this lightweight watch tells a unique story without saying too much.
Shop The Bike Lock Collection
Without sacrificing size, The Detrola Watch collection offers a wide variety of lightweight TR90 resin-made watches. Coming in 25mm, 38mm, 40mm, and 43mm case sizes, you can make a statement and hold onto your everyday comfort. Mix and match watch bands for a watch amplifies you and your personality and also makes sure you’re on time.
Shop The Detrola Watch Collection
For our heavyweight champions, we recommend The Shinola Monster Automatic or The Runwell Sport Chrono Watch Collections.
Built for extreme power and whatever life throws at you, The Shinola Monster Automatic collection includes bronze, titanium, and stainless steel watches mechanized by a Swiss automatic movement. While heavier in size and stature than others, this watch collection will never let you down – not even if you’re 1,000 feet underwater.
Shop The Shinola Monster Automatic Collection
Built for durability and speed, this collection of 48mm stainless steel watches will keep you going places for decades. A balancing act between loaded but not overloaded, a high-accuracy quartz movement is combined with all the best features including a stopwatch function, dual calendar apertures, and three sub-dials. This performance-driven watch will have you in awe of its capabilities.
Shop The Runwell Sport Chrono Collection
You can shop watches of all styles, sizes, and weights to find the one, or two or three (we don’t judge), that checks off all your boxes.