There is only one useful indicator of a man's self-image: his wristwatch. Once that jacket sleeve creeps up, the sole piece of acceptable jewelry beyond a wedding ring reveals the wearer's sense of taste and occasion.
Watch sellers employ a logical Italian dictum: a well-dressed man owns at least three timepieces. The day watch is most important: it is the watch that suits your occupation. If you're in finance, sobriety is all your watch must offer beyond the time. If you work in the media or the arts, you can be more eccentric. If your occupation involves specific tasks—from ambulance driver, to insurance broker, to 747 pilot—then, just as with iPhone apps, "there are watches for that."
For watch No. 2, you have more scope. This is your dress-down timepiece, worn everywhere from the beach to the ski slopes or for pottering around in the garden. Whether a sub-£50 Swatch, or a close-to-unbreakable Rolex, it will mean you don't have to worry about a quick dive in the pool or a round of golf. This is your casual watch.
Last is the dress watch. If you find yourself wearing black tie more than once a year, or if film premieres, opera visits or smart restaurant bookings keep appearing in your diary, your day watch may lack occasion. For this final part of the trilogy, you may go one of two ways: a classical, slim, time-only gold dress watch—or blatant bling. The presence of diamonds on your watch will accomplish this for you.
Where to start? One's first watch is often a gift—anything from a Timex on up—received at graduation, confirmation, first job or Bar Mitzvah. It will never be exactly what you want, but you will wear and cherish it from your teens until your first pay check. Then you will be seduced by TAG Heuer, Omega or Rolex, depending on your budget. It will be your first "real" watch.
Buying well is the key, and it's not as tricky as you might think. As master watchmaker Peter Roberts observed: "There really are no bad watches out there, because they all have to perform the same basic function and perform it well: tell the time. Manufacturing standards are impossibly high. So you should buy according to your budget and your taste."
Ken Kessler wrote the above in the Wall Street Journal back in March 2010 when J was just about experiencing teenhood. Now 5 years later, with many years of the trusty Casio digital watch (the defacto official watch of all schoolboys), he has asked for his first watch. A Luminox watch that tells the time, date and day. It's a military style watch and one eminently suited for a boy finishing college and entering military service. With it's guaranteed luminosity for half a century, I expect it will light his path for a long time to come.
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