Watches with a tuxedo: the old rule and the dress watch

By the old rule, a man in a tuxedo wears no wristwatch at all. Today most black-tie evenings accept one, provided it is a true dress watch: slim, plain-dialled, on a black leather strap, and sitting under the shirt cuff. A large sports watch stays at home.

The old rule: nobody checks the time at dinner

In traditional Western evening dress, the wristwatch does not belong with formal evening wear. The usual explanation is that a gentleman at a dinner has nowhere else to be, and glancing at a watch mid-meal is discourteous to the host. With white tie, if a timepiece is needed, it is a pocket watch in the waistcoat, sometimes on a chain. This is a convention of manners, not a law, and many men still follow it at very formal balls.

Today, when the invitation says black tie, a discreet watch is generally acceptable. What matters is that it does not draw attention.

What a dress watch is

A dress watch is designed to slip under a shirt cuff. You can recognise one by these traits:

• Slim: the case is usually under around ten millimetres thick, so it does not push the cuff up. Hand-wound and slim quartz movements make this possible.
• A plain dial: white, cream, silver or black; fine indices or Roman numerals; two or three hands. No complicated calendars, no chronograph, no tachymeter ring.
• Black leather strap: smooth, not too thick, with a buckle in the same metal as the case. Leather suits the quiet nature of a tuxedo better than a metal bracelet.
• Matching metal: if your cufflinks and studs are silver, choose a steel or silver case. If they are gold, a gold or lightly gold-plated case will agree better. See matching metals across accessories.

A good evening watch does not have to be expensive. It needs to be neat, clean and well fitted to the wrist.

Avoid the large sports watch

Dive watches, big chronographs, watches with rotating bezels, thick cases and heavy rubber or metal straps belong to daytime, travel and the beach. Wearing one with a tuxedo causes three problems:

1. A thick case will not fit inside the cuff, so the sleeve rides up and the line of the shirt is lost.
2. A busy dial pulls the eye away from the lapel and shirt front, which should be the focus.
3. The sporting character clashes with the mood of an evening, rather like wearing sneakers with a dinner jacket. Our piece on smartwatches with a tuxedo deals with the most common example of this.

Wear it beneath the cuff

An evening shirt's cuff should be slightly roomier than the wrist so the watch can sit inside. A quick check:

• With your arm relaxed, the dial is hidden under the cuff and only shows when you raise your hand or lift a glass.
• About a finger's width of shirt cuff shows beyond the jacket sleeve, and the watch does not drag the cuff down.
• Your cufflinks stay visible. If the watch is too large, the links are hidden or the cuff is distorted.

Your tailor can widen the cuff by a few millimetres to accommodate a watch, but if it is made too wide the cuff will slide, so wear the watch when trying on the shirt.

What about a pocket watch

A more classical alternative is the pocket watch with a waistcoat and chain. It suits a three-piece tuxedo with a double-breasted or crossover waistcoat. See pocket watches and chains for how to choose and attach one. In our collection, TUX-027, a classic black three-piece, is a natural home for this kind of accessory, since the waistcoat provides the pocket for it.

When to leave the watch off entirely

If the event is a highly formal gala, or your cufflinks and studs are already prominent, consider wearing no watch. A bare wrist is not odd in a tuxedo; it reads as tidy. If you need the time, the phone in your trouser pocket will do.

When to ask your tailor

If you are having a new shirt made, bring your watch to the fitting so the tailor can set the cuff width correctly. Book a fitting at Mon Amie or browse the tuxedo collection.