Home
Wrist-Power – 7 Best Watches for Work
Share:
Many have managed to eradicate the word “office” from their working life after COVID. But for those who still have to attend boring morning hubs, the dreaded performance reviews, and monthly meetings, there is still a need to make co-workers envious of the watch you wear on your wrist. The second most important thing, of course, is that it needs to be practical and stylish.
Don’t get me wrong, you don’t want your work watch to make your colleagues feel too intimidated to even speak to you or ask you to join them for drinks at the bar later. Moreover, you want a watch that’s going to convey authority and status, so much so that they won’t yawn when you’re delivering a presentation, or get their phone out under the table when you have the floor and want to come forward with a new business idea.
Indeed, a watch can sometimes communicate what you struggle to convey in your everyday life. They can be worn as an extension of your personality. Basically, a good watch will set the tenor for how your colleagues see you in and outside of work, so finding the perfect work watch is more important than you think.
What Should You Look for in a Watch for Work?
Of course, watches come in all shapes and sizes and serve different purposes depending on your needs in a timepiece and your line of work. But for the purpose of this guide, we’ll keep things simple and look at the popular office watch.
The office watch category is a fairly broad one, since these models tend to sit under the “dress watch” umbrella. A good office watch should be void of any unnecessary clutter and should be elegant. Its dial should be easy to read and direct, just like the demeanour you want to convey in and around your working environment. Indeed, you want to show your colleagues you know what you’re talking about when it comes to a quality timepiece.
Pared back and straightforward is the way to go with this kind of work watch. The classier the timepiece, the longer you’ll want to wear it and the harder you’ll fall for it. Office work can be quite a solitary endeavour, and you’ll be spending a lot of time with your watch. Really, the most important person to impress first and foremost is yourself. You’ll find yourself glancing at your timepiece for more reasons than just reading the time. You’ll want to admire it for its craftsmanship and finishing, and generally enjoy it as part of your EDC (everyday carry).
A classic and elegant office watch will garner a fan club in no time. You want a watch that’s going to do the talking for you. Your watch should reinforce the reason for the pay rise you need or the long-awaited promotion. Above all, it needs to tell your work family you have excellent taste in luxury timepieces.
To summarise, there are several factors to consider before purchasing your ultimate work watch. You need to think about your work attire, such as whether to opt for a leather strap or a bracelet. You also need to think about case materials and what other metals you wear with your daily work attire. Lastly, any additional complications to a three-handed watch should be carefully considered and shouldn’t hinder the simplicity and practicality of a straightforward office tool.
Should you need some inspiration, take a look at this selection of office watches we’ve chosen in this guide. They cover various prices, styles, materials, and dial colours, so there’s a little something for everyone.
Junghans Max Bill
An office watch is always going to be different from your weekender watch. The bottom rule for finding a good office watch, however, is to dress to impress without being too flashy. No watch adheres to this brief better than a Max Bill watch from Junghans. These watches are wearable forms of art, embodying the clean, understated simplicity of the Bauhaus movement. This elegant typography whispers rather than shouts, avoiding any flashiness and ostentatiousness. This Junghans Max Bill watch is a statement of sophistication and has remained visually unchanged since its inception in the 1960s.
Wearing a Junghans Max Bill watch for the office is about valuing and appreciating the appeal of German craftsmanship. This model is perfect for pairing with tan leather shoes in the office, since it features a light brown leather strap to complement its silver dial.
The details on this Max Bill dial are simple and discreet. The double-digit markers on the outer scale depict five-minute intervals on the minute track, while the hours lie on an inner scale. The central second hand is needle-fine and complements a set of slim hour and minute hands, all of which are protected under a lens of sapphire crystal.
Keeping the cost of the watch down, this Max Bill watch is powered by a quartz movement and sits inside a 50-meter water-resistant steel case measuring a diameter of 38mm – a compact size for those with smaller wrists.
Nomos Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer
The latest Club Sport Neomatik watches released by Nomos sport some really unusual colour combinations, but the office calls for something altogether more subdued and disciplined. The ref 791 has a silver brushed dial that makes pairing it with work attire super easy, yet the odd splash of colour doesn’t hurt either. The model features blue and red accents on the 24-hour sub-dial at 3 o’clock to differentiate day and night hours, while a deep blue city disc enables the easy tracking of time wherever you are in the world. Indeed, this is the ultimate work watch for those who often travel for business.
The Nomos Glashutte Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer watch measures a Goldilocks size of 40mm and comes fitted on an integrated steel bracelet that can handle any activity. With an ergonomically developed push piece at 2 o’clock for adjusting the time zones, you can always be sure to keep aligned with family life back home, choosing the perfect time to call home and speak to the children before bedtime. When doing so, you’re treated to superb nighttime legibility, thanks to generously inlaid blue-emission Super-LumiNova on the Arabic numerals to denote the hours.
Above all, what makes this Nomos watch so perfect for taking you from the office to the airport is its slim profile, even though it houses a quality automatic movement inside. Sitting at only 9.9mm in height, it slips under the sleeve of a shirt perfectly.
Longines Spirit
To those who aren’t part of the watch-collecting sphere, a watch is just a watch. But to someone who appreciates fine watches, subtle beauty, and quiet luxury are wonderful things. The Longines Spirit is the exact reason why watches for the office are still such a necessity today.
This Longines Spirit watch oozes understated pilot watch “cool”, yet it still looks simple and stylish enough to wear with a casual jeans and jumper ensemble on the weekend or some relaxed-smart office clothing. It’s also one of the most affordable watches for the office on this list. It looks almost Terra Nova-like, though the Longines Spirit was reaching heights of success several years before the birth of Bremont’s popular field watch.
The Longines Spirit watch is crafted from lightweight titanium. It boasts soft lines and smooth, flowing curves that align nicely with the Arabic numerals in the hour track, coated in a Super-LumiNova material, which is beige in colour to give it an aged patina. The second hand is tipped in a vibrant red colour, giving the Spirit watch a sporty vibe.
If you’re looking for a watch that you don’t have to wear in the office exclusively, the Longines Spirit watch is perfect. The five stars above the 6 o’clock location on the model’s matte black dial represent the chronometer status of the fitted Calibre L888.4 fitted within. The engine beats at 25,200 vibrations per hour and delivers a power reserve of 72 hours for those occasions where you may want to alternate the watch with something more refined for evening wear, or sportier for the weekend.
Breguet Classique 5177 Grand Feu Blue Enamel
If you’re meeting people for the very first time, I can’t think of a watch that gives a better first impression than the Breguet Classique. And yes, the proof is in the name. This really is a classic watch through and through.
It’s more than at home in a professional setting, paying homage to the neoclassical tones that Abraham-Louis Breguet once favoured. This Classique watch has a clean and legible dial with delicate Arabic numeral hour markers in the traditional Breguet font and, of course, the distinctive Breguet handset. These features, along with the date feature at 3 o’clock, are all dressed against a deep blue dial framed by a slim bezel.
A sapphire caseback exposes the delicate finishes and traditional decoration of an in-house movement designed and constructed by the skilled hands of a Breguet artisan. Capturing the enviable heritage of Breguet, the Classique 5177 watch features a Grand Feu enamel dial – a high-grade fired display that incorporates ceramic on the metal base before any enamel is even applied. The result is a glossy glass-like pool of blue upon which the hands and indexes can take centre stage.
Inside this elegant 38mm office watch crafted from 18ct white gold, complete with fluted caseband, is the Calibre 777Q movement with côtes de Genève, perlage, bevelling and mirror-polished screws, all on display. Even the bridges are gilded, offering a stunning glimpse into Breguet’s most painstaking processes. The watch is finished on a deep blue alligator leather strap to match the tone of the dial and secures to the wrist with a white gold folding deployant buckle.
Czapek Antarctique Flying Diamonds 40.5
Ideally, when searching for the best watch for work, you want a timepiece that’s going to keep you entertained for 9 or 10 hours of the day. Not because it’s digitally programmed with tons of touchscreen technology and apps, but because it’s a traditional instrument that looks so good and classic on the wrist. Czapek continues to be the connoisseur’s pick for these very reasons.
These are not cheap watches by any stretch of the imagination, but what they represent is complete, unadulterated quality through and through. The dial of the Czapek Antarctique Flying Diamond is super special, featuring a glossy aventurine glass dial that evokes the cosmos within its surface. Almost galactic and with a subtly futuristic edge, this watch has layers and layers of depth to get lost in.
Though sporty in architecture (the watch features a tapering tonneau stainless steel case and robust C-link stainless steel bracelet), it’s most definitely a watch for wearing to more formal occasions, so if your work wardrobe includes a full office suit, this is a superb choice.
Czapek has worked with specialists at GT Cadrans to create the tapering diamond indices that add light and brilliance to this dial. Each one is able to interact with the light in a unique way, begging light to enter their crisply carved facets for an exceptional play on light and texture. The baguette-cut diamonds amount to 0.585ct and sit on the inside of a polished bezel. Even if you aren’t usually a fan of iced-out watches, you can undoubtedly appreciate Czapek’s subtle approach to panache and splendour in this watch.
The Antarctique Flying Diamonds watch is also 40.5mm in size, 120-meter water resistant, and features a micro-adjustment system that lets you open the first link for added comfort.
H. Moser & Cie Pioneer Centre Seconds Cosmic Green
Dress for success, always. And do it with a watch from a brand like Moser & Cie. This independent, family-run watch manufacturer is a special jewel in the treasure trove of luxury watch brands on the market, since it focuses solely on in-house manufacturing and technical ingenuity.
H. Moser & Cie designs and produces all its own movements, even the more complex mechanisms like the hairsprings, applying its own hand finishes and traditional techniques to its movements as decoration. The brand is also known for its concept watches, some of which exercise radical minimalism, featuring no logos, indices, or markings. This H. Moser & Cie watch, however, is perfect for slipping under the cuff of a smart office shirt and jacket.
Its captivating green fume dial is a unique blend of modern and classic. Leaf-shaped hands glide over the surface of the transitioning shades of the dial, while faceted indexes sit against the display’s lacquered surface, treated with luminous material.
Explore the
Biggest Pre-Owned Collection of Luxury Watches
The Moser & Cie Pioneer Center Seconds Cosmic Green watch was designed to impress. Its rubber strap is an unusual choice for a dress watch, but that’s the whole point. This is not just a dress watch. This 120-meter water-resistant Pioneer watch is an all-terrain companion that can handle the rigors of daily life with its rugged steel case and sapphire crystal front.
For added allure and interest, this Moser & Cie watch is adorned with a skeletonised oscillating weight that reveals itself through an open-heart detail on the dial, serving as a constant reminder that the beauty of the Pioneer watch is more than surface deep.
Grand Seiko SBGA415 “Taisetsu”
Hand-crafted dials are the soul of a Grand Seiko watch. Each timepiece tells a story, making them much more than a timekeeping instrument and perfect as a talking point in the office. Each dial undergoes a series of meticulous steps to achieve its unique finish, like this Grand Seiko SBGA415 “Taisetsu”.
“Taisetsu” refers to Japan’s 24 Sekki, meaning seasons, and is executed in a subtle shade of grey to mimic the feeling of freshly fallen snow that blankets the landscape surrounding Grand Seiko’s workshops, where each innovation comes to life. Light travels over the surface of this dial uniquely, interacting with pockets of texture and shadow, while underneath the display is a hybrid movement.
The Calibre 9R65 is a Spring Drive movement, the brand’s most technically impressive movement ever. It combines the best of both worlds – the accuracy of the quartz and the mechanical complexity of an automatic, providing power to the watch with an astonishing accuracy of +1 second per day. The beautiful Grand Seiko SBGA415 “Taisetsu” has a power reserve indicator between 7 and 8 o’clock, a blue-coated seconds hand, and a date window at 3 o’clock, not to mention superior Zaratsu polishing on its lightweight titanium case.
In essence, a Grand Seiko doesn’t rely on flashiness; it captivates with its meticulous hand-applied techniques, connecting to nature with its unmatched level of finishing and appealing price point. A perfect watch for smart work attire.
Conclusion
Finding the perfect watch for work isn’t about the brand, the price tag, or the complication. All the recommendations I’ve shared in this guide are sure to get you through your 9-5 day with a smile. They all represent superb craftsmanship and uncompromised performance. From affordable quartz-powered watches to sumptuous gold cases and exposed mechanics through openworked dials – this list covers a little something for everything.
All these watches make for the perfect type of companions for completing your spreadsheets late at night or fitting in a quick power lunch. At the end of the day, your time at work shouldn’t just be about counting down the hours until you leave. Moreover, an elegant work watch will remind you to enjoy the smaller things to pass the time a little more easily. The great cosmic swirl of corporate life must go on, and with never-ending to-do lists and thousands of unread emails to get through, looming deadlines are certainly made easier with one of these quality timepieces strapped to your wrist.
About Exquisite Timepieces
Established in 1998, Exquisite Timepieces is your one-stop shop for all things luxury watches! We are an authorized dealer for 60+ luxury watch brands including Omega, Hublot, Seiko, & Longines! We are proud to showcase one of the world’s largest pre-owned watch collections, including renowned brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe. Check out our brand new watch arrivals here and popular pre-owned listings here.
