Whether you’re trying to impress on the first day of your new job or you just fancy a new board room ready timepiece to pair with your Savile Row three-piece, no business suit is complete without the right watch. And no, you can’t just wear your go-to dive watch like you’re going down the pub, and you definitely can’t wear and Apple Watch.
You want something slim enough to slip under shirtsleeve and elegant enough to match the clean lines of a well-fit jacket. You want something that works with the usual blues, greys and blacks of the business world but still looks good, not boring.
It’s a tricky balance, but one that these five watches manage perfectly. From entry-level first-time buys to grail watches worthy of a private jet, here are the best watches to pair with a business suit.
1. Orient Bambino
We can’t all be spending big money to wow the higher ups with wrist candy, but we can all afford a solid, handsome timepiece courtesy of Japanese brand Orient. While many of their watches are a little too ‘more is more’, the Bambino line is clean, versatile and makes for a fantastic first proper job watch.
The simplest, 40.5mm version with a steel blue dial will go with anything and at less than $400 / £300 hits aesthetically well above its pay grade.
The smaller, 36mm versions are great for smaller wrists, too. Just don’t be tempted by the gold version; fake gold doesn’t say anything good about you.
2. Longines Master Collection Automatic
The recently revamped Master Collection may have dropped Longines’ incredibly handsome worldtime model, but it’s kept the collection’s signature elegance. The combination of silver with bright pops of blued steel and a fine barleycorn guilloche are the kind of horological flourishes collectors appreciate at a typically solid price point, namely US$2650 / £2250.
At just 9.40mm high it’s perfect for slipping under a shirtsleeve, and even if it peeks out for a moment those blue numerals will catch an admiring glance or two.
That slimness is mainly down to the L888.5 calibre automatic movement, which nevertheless has a weekend-proof 72-hour power reserve. Once your time in the post room is up, this is a great next step on the business watch ladder.
3. Nomos Glashutte Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer
If your commute is as often to the airport as to the office, you need some way of keeping track of time back home – which means you need either a GMT or a Worldtimer.
Worldtimers are generally more useful for an international man of business but rarely have the minimalist elegance to pair with a sharp business suit. Enter the Neomatik Worldtimer. Nomos Glashuette’s German-made, quick-set worldtimer keeps the globe-trotting to the periphery of the blue sunburst dial for a clean, readable watch without an atlas in sight.
It does also have a 24-hour subdial in case the schedule is so tough you forget whether it’s day or night back home. All of this is packed into a 40mm case with 100m water resistance, just in case you can’t wait to change before heading to the hotel pool.
4. Cartier Tank Must de Cartier
A classic for a reason – not to mention a mainstay of first class lounges the world over – the Tank’s Art Deco style and clean lines have come to all but define rectangular watches.
The Must de Cartier version is among the more accessible without straying into the quartz and solar movements and retains everything collectors love about the collection: Roman numerals, a railway minute track around a silver flinqué inner dial and blued steel hands.
Get a spare leather strap to match to your shoes and belt (the lug width is an awkward 23mm, if you were wondering) and you’ll find yourself wearing it with every suit you own. And at 8.4mm tall, wearing the Tank Must de Cartier is effortless, no matter how closely tailored your shirts.
5. Vacheron Constantin Patrimony
Most board rooms will be full of Rolexes and Patek Philippes, but if you really want to flex impeccable taste in a more low-key way, there’s the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony.
It’s still from one of the big three watchmakers, but the sheer simplicity of it’s ultra-thin, manual-wind design makes even a Calatrava look fussy. Everything from the rose gold pearl hour markers and razor-sharp indexes to the 7.72mm profile whisper exceptionalism without the need to shout.
Yes, it has a solid caseback (ready for a commemorative engraving) but given the calibre 1440 manual-wind movement has the demanding Poinçon de Genève, you don’t need to see it to know it’s flawlessly finished. Yes, this is a grail watch, but once you’ve made it to the top, would you settle for less?
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