Are All Luxury Watches Also Dress Watches?

We’ve addressed what’s a dress watch, and how to pair it in the previous episode. Today, we’re gonna address the misnomer that luxury watches are synonymous with dress watches. And we’re gonna use the Rolex brand as the example of a luxury watch brand… I know… I know… There is a whole spectrum of other premium watch brands out there, more luxurious than Rolex… But let’s face it, most people will only recognise Rolex as a luxury watch brand, so we’re going with it.

Close-up of a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date, a typical luxury watch. — Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date (Reference Number 1500), arguably one of the “cheapest” vintage Rolex watch. This is the “Plain Jane” version, in stainless steel, and without any precious metals nor stones.
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What Exactly Is A Luxury Watch?

Various dictionaries describe “luxury” as an extravagance, something desirable and expensive, but not a necessity. So when we put it into the horological context, it means an expensive watch… A very expensive watch… Whether constructed or decorated with extensive precious materials, or has a historical horological significance. A luxury watch is a status symbol, signalling your wealth to the world, without you uttering a single word.

Close up of a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust, with dual tone Jubilee bracelet in gold and steel, gold fluted bezel, gold dial, and square-cut diamonds as hour markers. These details emphasises the meaning of luxury. — Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust (Reference number 116233). Unlike the Plain Jane Datejust, this variant comes in dual-tone Jubilee bracelet in gold and steel, and gold fluted bezel. It also sports a gold dial, and square-cut diamonds for hour markers. Nothing signifies luxury like diamonds and gold.
Image by Laurenz Heymann of Unsplash

For the sake of this article, I consider all watches worth USD1,000 and above as luxury watches. And the example above, comes in way, waaaaay above the cut-off value. But are all luxury watches also dress watches?… The short answer is no… To visualise this better, let’s pair the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date with some classic menswear ensembles.

Pairing The Luxury Watch With Classic Menswear

(1) Business Formal

Solid charcoal grey suit, solid white shirt, solid burgundy tie, and solid white pocket square. — Two-piece, solid charcoal grey suit, with a solid white shirt, solid burgundy tie, and solid white pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of solid black plain toe Oxford dress shoes. — Solid black, plain-toe Oxfords, are as conservative as you can go.
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A conservative YES – Whilst not described as a typical dress watch, the Oyster Date is admittedly kinda “dressy” looking. Price aside, it’s not even in the same dressiness ballpark as the (much cheaper) Sea-Gull M186S from the previous episode.

(2) Business Semi-Formal

Solid olive green suit, solid blue shirt with white contrasting collar and cuffs. Burgundy tie with small repeating patterns, and pocket square. — Two-piece, solid olive green suit, with sporty, slanted hip pockets, and a ticket pocket above the right hip pocket. A pale blue shirt with contrasting collar and cuffs, small-patterned burgundy tie and coordinating pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of whole cut in ox blood, with wingtip patterned brogue. Another type of typical dress shoes. — Whole cut in ox blood, with burnished toes, and wingtip patterned brogue.
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Another conservative YES – And again, similar to the reason above for the business formal ensemble.

(3) Business Informal

Solid navy, double breasted blazer, with 6 X 2 gold buttons. Solid blue shirt with navy and yellow regimental striped tie, solid grey trousers, and pocket square. — Double breasted navy blazer with 6 X 2 gold buttons. Solid pale blue shirt with navy and yellow regimental striped tie. Solid medium grey trousers, and a contrasting pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of brown double monk-straps. A less dressy dress shoes. — Brown, double monk-straps, to exude a more playful vibe.
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YES – The dressed down vibes of the Oyster Date feels more at home with this ensemble.

(4) Business Casual

Grey sport jacket in mini-Glen check weave, a solid pink OCBD shirt with block stripe knit tie in autumn colours, and a pair of solid burgundy chinos. — Grey sport jacket in mini-Glen check weave. Solid pink OCBD shirt with a knit tie in autumn colours. Solid burgundy chinos, and a contrasting pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of brown penny loafers. One of the least dressy dress shoes. — Brown penny loafers, a typical “less dressy” dress shoes.
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A definite YES – This is where the Oyster Date feels most at home. Arguably, it’s more of an all-rounder, go-anywhere-do-anything watch than a stereotypical dress watch.

(5) Dressy Casual

Unstructured, charcoal brown flannel sport jacket, denim OCBD shirt, and khaki chinos. — Charcoal brown, unstructured sport jacket with an open collared denim OCBD shirt. Khaki chinos, and a contrasting pocket square.
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Close up of a pair of khaki canvas derbies. — Derby shoes in tan canvas stretch what it means to be “dress” shoes.
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Another definite YES – The Oyster Date is a great pairing with dressy casual as it is with business casual.

(6) Just Casual

Denim trucker jacket, solid white t-shirt, and solid olive green jeans. — Denim trucker jacket, solid white t-shirt, and olive green jeans.
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Close up of a pair of white trainers. — White trainers, with a thin red and black stripe. A stereotypical pair of casual footwear.
Image by Daniel Storek of Unsplash

MAYBE – The Oyster Date starts to overstay its welcome with this ensemble. Unless, of course, you pair it with equally luxury branded street wear and luxury branded trainers. Remember the Supreme Brick saga?… As a whole, it projects nothing more than blatantly announcing “I’m a trendy New Money who can afford luxury brands!…”

Luxury Watches Are Not Necessarily Dressy

Whilst most people associate luxury watches with “dressing up”, there are equally luxury tool watches too. Remember the gold Rolex Submariner (Reference number 126618LB) from the previous episode?… The one that burns your retina with its whole gold case and bracelet?… Yeah, that’s essentially nothing more than a souped-up tool watch. Underneath all that bling, it’s still a dive watch (i.e. a tool/sport watch).

Wrist shot of an Oyster Date, with white shirt and olive green suit jacket. This offers a comparison to whether a luxury watch matches a typical business formal outfit better than a dress watch. — The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date paired with a white shirt and olive green suit jacket.
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No doubt about it, you can pair the Oyster Date with business suits. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best match for one. If you ask me, I’d still opine a traditional dress watch is a better match.

Wrist shot of a Sea-Gull M186S, with white shirt and olive green suit jacket. This offers a comparison to whether a dress watch matches a typical business formal outfit better than a luxury watch. — The Sea-Gull M186S paired with a white shirt and olive green suit jacket.
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Still unconvinced?… Let’s take a look at the whole ensemble… Or at least the upper half of the whole ensemble.

Half-body shot of an Oyster Date, with white shirt and three-piece olive green suit jacket. This offers a comparison to whether a luxury watch matches a typical business formal outfit better than a dress watch. — Here’s the Oyster Date paired with a three-piece olive green suit, with a solid white shirt and burgundy tie.
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Half-body shot of a Sea-Gull M186S, with white shirt and three-piece olive green suit jacket. This offers a comparison to whether a dress watch matches a typical business formal outfit better than a luxury watch. — And here’s the Sea-Gull M186S paired with the same suit.
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There you have it – Not all luxury watches are dressy. And whilst we’re at it, not all dress watches are luxurious either.

Disclaimer – This Is Not A Sponsored Article

Neither Rolex SA nor Tianjin Seagull Watch Group sponsored this article (though I secretly wished they did). The same goes for their respective distributors and/or retailers too. And as before, I won’t object to any offers of sponsorships (hint-hint)…

But that’s not all folks… We’ll explore an all-rounder watch in the next episode. A go-anywhere-do-anything watch, with a slight nod to the outdoorsy, field watch look. A watch that can give this Oyster Date a run for its money… Except for its purchase price, that is… In the meantime, do consider buying me a coffee. Caffeine fuels all the research for this article… Lots of caffeine… And don’t forget to drop your comments below, even if it’s just to say “Hi” to me.