The right size is the one that lives on your wrist without asking for attention. It sits flat. It does not slide around when you turn your hand over. It looks proportional to the bone underneath it.
Our watches run from 28 mm to 39 mm. Here is how to find yours.
First, measure your wrist
Wrap a soft tape measure — or a strip of paper you can mark and lay flat afterwards — around the widest part of your wrist, just below the wrist bone. Read it in centimetres.
Then match it to a case
Under 14 cm — a slim wrist
Look at 28 mm to 30 mm. The 1925, an Art Deco tonneau at 28 mm, is the smallest thing we make and sits naturally where a larger case would overhang. The 1947 and the 1978 at 30 mm are the next step up.
14 to 17 cm — most people
Look at 32 mm to 36 mm. This is the broadest part of the catalogue and covers most of the 1930s through 1970s designs — the 1936, the 1956, the 1962, the 1965, the 1974. The 2003 at 36 mm sits at the top of this band and wears bold.
Over 17 cm — a fuller wrist
Look at 38 mm and up. The 1968 and the 1969 are our widest at 38 mm, and the 1951 tank runs 35–39 mm across with a 44 mm lug-to-lug span, so it covers more wrist than the number suggests.
A word about proportion
Watches used to be smaller. A 32 mm dress watch in 1947 was standard for a man, and nobody thought it small. We design at the proportions of the era rather than the proportions of modern sportswear, because that is the entire point of the thing.
If you have been wearing 42 mm and up, ours will feel small on day one. Give it three days. The eye adjusts faster than you would expect, and then the 44 mm on your friend's wrist starts looking like a wall clock.
Straps
Every strap we fit uses standard spring bars, so any aftermarket leather or NATO strap of the right width will go straight on. To find your width, measure the gap between the lugs where the strap meets the case — or hand it to any watchmaker, who will know by looking.
Still not sure
Email support@bypatina.co with your wrist measurement in millimetres and, if you like, a photo of your wrist next to a ruler. We will tell you which years fit you and which ones will not. We would rather spend five minutes on that than have you send something back.