You Bear-a WATCH Out! You Bear-a not cry! Asian Bear is coming to town...

There are very few fashion accessories that a man can wear and still maintain his masculinity, and that’s a fact. I totally agree because if you want to have a macho and manly appearance, we can’t be decked up like a Christmas tree, can we? Unlike our female counterparts, men’s accessories are only limited to belts, ties, cufflinks, bags, hats, scarves (more choices for the metrosexuals), necklaces, bracelets and watches. However, the threshold and acceptable level of how many and what type of accessories a guy can wear has increased and definitely evolved especially since the turn of the century.

Watch as an ultimate men's accesories (pic from google search)

To be honest, I am not an accessory person. Most times I find men’s accessories excessive and unnecessary. Well, that’s my personal opinion, but with the exception of the watch.  I really like watches. I guess growing up in the mid 70s to 80s, my mind had been ingrained by the general consensus with the notion that a masculine man shouldn’t be wearing fancy accessories and hence the only one accessory that I could explore and experiment was the watch.

Most of us have one, don't we? (pic from www.theverge.com)

Since the creation of the Smartphone, the original idea and reason for wearing a watch (which is to tell time) has been eroded so much so that an increasing number of men are now without a watch. Yeah, I agree with that cause even though I still love my watches and wear each religiously everyday, to be honest, I don’t actually look at it for the time anymore. Normally, I just fish out my phone and look at the time. Saying such, I feel that the watch is one important fashion accessory that completes our whole dressing. In addition, the kind of watch a man wears, can actually tell what man-type he belongs to, his interests as well as his fashion style.

 

What sort of men you are? (pic from www.grasiemercedes.com)

So what kind of watches suits the masculine, big, and bear-like person? Well of course choosing the right watch depends on the occasion that you’ll be wearing it as well. Hence, to simplify the matter, I have categorized to four different occasions: Work, Casual/Parties, Sports activities and Formal occasions. Except for formal occasions, I normally wear similar kind of watches to work, casual and party outings, and sports activities (I guess it also depends on your profession). I’m not a formal occasion sort of person hence in this post, I will skip this yeah. There are a few pointers to watch out for when looking for a suitable watch for the bear-like men out there and they are:

Macho man, the Rock wearing a big and chunky watch. (pic from http://professionalwatches.com)

Point 1. Size

Regardless of what the occasion is, I realized that bigger size men have to wear bigger and chunkier watches, duh! Isn’t that obvious! But wait there’s more. While too small a watch will probably enhance a womanish appearance, too large a size will make your wrist look small and will have the same effect too hence ‘feminizing’ your entire look and you obviously don’t want that! So the point is here that you have to strike a balance of not having a size that’s too small nor too large. So what is the right size then? It should be between at minimum, three quarter to a maximum of a full wrist size. Of course some critics may not agree with me as it does not apply to formal watches, but I don’t really care cause I don’t wear formal watches anyway!

Way too SMALL and feminine (pic from forums.watchuseek.com)

Feminizing your appearance with too HUGE a watch!

Point 2. Material

My favourite material is steel although some of the plastic/rubber ones look quite good too. Steel bracelet will definitely enhance your masculinity while the rubber strap will give you a sportier look. Also, if you have lots of money to spare, the precious metals i.e. gold or platinum will be fantastic too! One material that you should avoid for the larger wrists’ is the leather strap. This is seen in many formal watches and as much as I like the leather feel on my skin unfortunately most often it doesn’t look good on bigger size men. There is exception to this of course. If the leather strap is given a “testosterone injection” meaning that it is created much bigger in thickness and size where the balance of the watch and strap is adjusted to perfection, this will actually work for the larger men.

 

Baltimore Ravens Coach, John Harbaugh wearing a steel bracelet Rolex Submariner (pic from  http://www.crownandcaliber.com)

Rubber/Plastic watch are fun, sporty and cool!

"Testosterone injected" Leather Strap (pic from www.watchesonnet.com)

Point 3. Colours

Well I always think that a military green or gunmetal grey is very masculine. In addition, darker shades of blue or black are nice too but sometimes can be a bit boring and dull. To avoid that, you can choose a ‘busier’ dial i.e. chronograph, should you choose the latter shades. As for vivid colours like orange, red, purple, etc, I guess if it suits your personality, then go for it! But please remember that as long as it’s not embellished with fussy diamantes and jewels, a pop of colour can be fun and sporty! Make sure you follow the first rule of fashion: less is more. The trick here is that if you have a dull colour watch, you can afford to have a fancier dial while the more vivid the colour is, the less complicated the design of the watch should be.

Add a pop of colour but with simpler dial!

Point 4. Digital vs. Analog

Well, if you ask me, both are fine as long as the design suits your personality. Although I personally prefer the analog watches, there’re some really cool and masculine digital watches from G-Shock that I really like. If you prefer something that has a little sophistication to your outlook, then the analog watch is for you while wearing the digital watch will give you a much sportier look. Besides, wearing a watch nowadays is not really to tell time but more as a fashion piece, hence the analog will be a better option for the more trendy guys as it has more design choices compared to the digital ones.

 

Arnold wearing a digital watch (pic from mygshock.com)

Point 5. Shape

I personally think that round watches are the nicest on the wrist although I have no objection to those who favour the rectangular or square ones. The shape that you should totally avoid is the OVAL and IRREGULAR shape ones. Please note that in my personal opinion, these shapes are made for women only although no offense to the fashion forward people, you may be able to carry the look well! But to the beefcakes out there, I generally advise you to stick to the round and rectangular shapes instead.

 

Masculine rectangular watch with thick leather strap

All the NO-NOs for a masculine look!!! Usher wearing an over-the-top OVAL shaped embellished with diamonds watch coupled with THIN leather strap (pic from www.luxist.com)

For those of you who are not that adventurous in dressing up and probably still experimenting on how to accessorize yourself to look better, I suggest to start with the watch. This is definitely one accessory that you can wear comfortably without being afraid of looking too metrosexual. Remember, go with bigger size and start with safer colours so that you’ll enjoy the process of accessorizing while still maintaining the macho demeanour in you!

 

My favourite gun metal Nixon watch

Finally, please note that I am not a spokesperson for any watch companies and not paid to endorse any particular brand. Whatever I posted here is just my personal opinion, what I am interested in and what I think is suitable for bigger size men.

Till the next post, this is Jimen signing out! Be happy always! Cheers.