How to Choose a Dress Watch for Wedding Season

There’s no better place to start than Jaeger-Lecoultre’s Master Ultra Thin collection: “[Its] classically understated aesthetic […] makes it undeniably sophisticated,” says Lionel Favre, the maison’s head of design. “It is the ultimate dress watch.” Built on its legacy of ultra-thin calibres, this stainless-steel date model has a beautifully crafted case inspired by the first ultra-thin pocket watch from 1907. The elongated hour markers and long, curved lugs create pure, clean lines, while the satin-finished Dauphine hands subtly catch the light. An ultimate dress watch indeed.

“I don’t wear a Tank watch to tell the time,” Andy Warhol once said. “In fact, I never wind it. I wear a Tank because it’s the watch to wear.” The appeal of Cartier’s iconic Tank is confirmed by the other famous gents who wore it, from Muhammad Ali to Mick Jagger and, more recently, Tyler, The Creator and Jacob Elordi. This large rose-gold model stays true to the original 1917 Tank designed by Louis Cartier himself. A masterpiece of Art Deco design, its striking geometric case is complemented by subtle pops of blue on the sword-shaped hands and the sapphire cabochon set in the crown. Over a century later, it’s still the watch to wear.

Whether you’re headed to a Mediterranean wedding or not, you can’t go wrong with IWC Schaffhausen’s Portofino. Channelling the style of the coastal Italian town, it’s defined by a sense of effortless simplicity. This stainless-steel chronograph gives the Portofino a sporty twist, thanks largely to its striking push buttons and functional day, date and seconds windows. Its black strap and dial will look especially smart with a matching tuxedo.

Panerai describes its new Radiomir Quaranta as “a homage to where it all began”. Launched back in the 1930s, it’s named for its patented luminescent material that lights up its hands, markers and indices. The signature cushion-shaped case is crafted from polished Goldtech, the brand’s durable 18-karat-gold alloy. Its high percentage of copper gives it a warm, reddish tone and protects against tarnishing over time. While originally designed as a dive watch, this new iteration can be considered much closer to a classic dress watch thanks the smaller size, elegant dial and alligator strap.

Arguably, a big day calls for a big watch. Blown up to a new larger size, this Black Bay 68 is named after the year Tudor developed its emblematic Snowflake hand, a detail still very much in place. Beyond aesthetics, it’s also been tested by the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS), one of the industry’s most demanding standards, covering precision, power reserve (in this case, 70 hours), and resistance to water and magnetic fields.