How tight should a watch be worn? This is a question that has puzzled people for a long time. There are so many factors to consider when it comes to wristwatch band tension as well – everything from the type of watch to the person’s wrist size.
A watch should be tight enough that you can fit a finger between the watch and your wrist. You also want to check and ensure that you feel comfortable, and your wrist can move freely. Your watch should not slide more than an inch up or down your wrist when you move your arm.
In this article, we will discuss how tight should a watch be worn, reasons to wear our watches tight (or loose), and how we can quickly tell if we are wearing our watches right.
Reasons to Wear Your Watch Tight
There are a few reasons why you might want to have a tighter watch band:
- Comfort. If your watch is too loose, it will constantly spin on your wrist and eventually end up face down, which can scratch the crystal or damage the movement.
- A tight watch allows it to slide in and out easily from your long-sleeve shirt, particularly if you have to suit up to go to work.
- A tighter watch band will help keep the watch in place on your wrist and prevent it from slipping off. This is especially important if you are doing active activities such as swimming or exercising.
- A loose watch can slide around on your wrist and it can become uncomfortable after a while.
- A loose watch could also cause the bracelet links to move around too much, increasing wear and the possibility of failure.
Reasons to Wear Your Watch Loose
- Certain watch bands, when worn too tightly, might not be able to handle the pressure. For example, the spring bars inside a bracelet, or the buckle and clasp in a leather strap might break under too much pressure.
- Wearing watches too tight might restrict blood flow to your hand, causing numbness, and a cold feeling.
- Wearing your watch too tight might also leave marks on your skin.
- Watches too tight could be trapping moisture between the watch and skin, which could cause itchiness and even rashes.
- Wearing your watch too tight might also apply too much pressure onto the watch case. Its shape might change slightly, and impact the movement inside. If the watch case if made of plastic, this is more likely to happen.
How Should A Watch Fit?
Let’s establish the ‘end result’ that we want when wearing watches.
We want the watch to sit flat on the top of our wrist, above the wrist bone.
It should not turn or slide around too much when we move our arms.
At the same time, it should be fitting enough that the watch will be secure on our wrist, yet not too tight to the point of it restricting blood flow.
Therefore…
How Tight Should A Watch Be Worn?
The average person should wear their watch so that it is snug but not too tight.
A good rule to follow is that you should be able to fit a finger between the watch and your wrist.
If you can’t, then the watch is too tight. If you can fit more than one finger, then the watch is too loose.
You also want to check and ensure that your wrist can move freely. The watch should not restrict your movement. If it’s too tight, it can be very uncomfortable.
Another rule to follow is that your watch should not slide more than an inch up or down your wrist when you move your arm.
Consider Flexible Watch Bands
Some watch bands allow you to adjust the tightness much better. For example, leather or NATO straps with multiple holes, or parachute watch straps.
Want it tighter? move up one hole, or just pull the hook tighter if you are wearing a parachute strap.
For full adjustment and control, The French Troop Parachute Watch Strap from OnTheLevel would be a perfect solution. It uses an elastic band, with hooks to secure the watch.
This allows you to almost instantly reposition and adjust your watch tightness to closely your wrist.
However, if flexibility is what you are looking for, that means certain watch bands might not suit your needs, for example, metal bracelets.
They are still adjustable, but it would require much more work. A DIY-er would still be able to adjust the links himself with a screwdriver, hammer, and pin.
However, the likelihood of damaging or scratching the bracelet is also high.
It might be a better idea to just visit a watchmaker instead – they have the right tool to adjust your bracelet to your needs much faster, with much less risk of damaging it too.
The Bottom Line
How tight should you wear your watch hinges on many factors.
But the main points are to make sure you feel comfortable, and that the watchband has the right pressure applied to it to avoid excessive wear.
Allowing flexibility on the tightness might be helpful. Watchbands such as those with pin and buckle, or parachute straps are good examples.
It’s also important to keep in mind that not all watches are created equal. Some have thicker bands than others and is robust enough to handle extra pressure from being worn tightly.