For newcomers to the watch world, the vast assortment of timepieces can be overwhelming. Not only are there plenty of brands to choose from but each watch company also offers dozens of collections that house countless variations. Add in size, material, color, band, functions, movements, and shape considerations to the mix and you’ve got a cornucopia of choices to comb through. In short, it can be daunting to know if you’re picking the right watch—especially if you’re spending a considerable amount on a luxury watch. However, one way to simplify the process is to first decide on the types of watches you like.
Most watches fall into a handful of main types. Once you gain a greater understanding of what these principal watch types are, it’ll be easier to narrow down your selection of potential purchases. Here are the main types of watches to know.
Daily Watches
As its name suggests, the daily watch is the piece that you will wear the most. In watch-speak, these types of watches are often called the “beater watch,” the “everyday-wearer,” the “daily driver,” a “GADA watch,” or some variations of those descriptors. And if you pick the right daily watch, you could very well be a one-watch guy or gal without the need for any other timepiece.
Given the nature of this timepiece type, a daily watch should be robust enough to stand up to your lifestyle, whether that means trekking in the great outdoors or tapping furiously at your keyboard. If you spend lots of time in the water, your daily watch’s water resistance is something to consider.
An everyday watch should coordinate with your wardrobe style so that it can seamlessly pair with what you wear daily. Is your style mostly causal or formal, understated or flashy, trendy or timeless? Go with a beater watch that corresponds to your overall look rather than one that competes with it. Also, take note of the tone of the jewelry or accessories you may wear so you can better match the metal of your everyday watch to them. Finally, the fit and comfort of your daily watch are important, so make sure you select the appropriate size for your wrist and think about the weight of the watch and the material of the band.
Popular Daily Watches
Generally speaking, daily watches have simpler silhouettes and easy-to-read dials. These traits make these types of watches versatile and suitable to wear for almost any occasion. Some popular luxury daily watches include the following:
- Rolex Datejust, Rolex Explorer, Rolex Oyster Perpetual
- Omega Aqua Terra
- Cartier Santos, Ballon Bleu
- Vacheron Constantin Fifty-Six
- IWC Portugieser Automatic
- Panerai Luminor
- Breitling Chronomat Automatic
- TAG Heuer Carrera Automatic
Dress Watches
The opposite of the daily watch on the watch type spectrum is the dress watch, which is also known as the formal watch or the special occasion watch. This is the timepiece you want to take out of the box when you’ve got your best outfit on and are looking to impress. If the invite says formal, then a dress watch is in order.
All high-end watchmakers have at least one dress watch collection in their catalogs and many have a few. What they generally have in common are slim cases, understated dials, and elegant leather straps. It’s also common for dress watches to have manual winding movements because those are the slimmest types of movements available. Though it was once customary for dress watches to be fashioned from precious metals like gold or platinum, steel dress watches are becoming more available. Water resistance is generally minimal with these types of watches since these aren’t the timepieces to take swimming.
Discover more: The Rebirth of the Men’s Dress Watch
Popular Dress Watches
Abiding by the most classic definition, dress watch dials frequently just stick to telling the time, and in some cases, they also include a discreet date display. Plus, slim cases allow the watches to be tucked away under shirt cuffs if need be. The original thought was, the simpler, the better. However, these days, the lines between dress watches and complicated watches are becoming blurred.
Some classic dress watches include:
- Patek Philippe Calatrava
- Vacheron Constantin Patrimony
- Rolex Day-Date
- Omega De Ville
- Breguet Classique
- A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia
- Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso
- Cartier Tank, Tortue,
- IWC Portofino
- Chopard L.U.C
- Piaget Altiplano
Complicated Watches
A complication is any feature on a watch that goes beyond telling the time. A few of the most well-known watch complications are chronograph, dual time, GMT, alarm, complete calendar, annual calendar, perpetual calendar, tourbillon, minute repeater, and moon phase. A grand complication is a watch that combines several complications.
Learn about watch complications:
What is an Annual Calendar Watch?
What is a Perpetual Calendar Watch?
What is a Minute Repeater Watch?
What is a Tourbillon Watch?
What is a World Time Watch?
Popular Complicated Watches
It requires great skill, knowledge, and craftsmanship to make high-end mechanical complicated watches—thus, they can be some of the priciest types of watches to purchase.
A handful of top-notch watch brands are famous for their impressive selection of complicated watches and grand complications. These include Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, A. Lange & Söhne, Richard Mille, and Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Pilot Watches
Although Louis Cartier is credited for developing the world’s first pilot wristwatch for his friend and pioneering aviator, Albert Santos Dumont, in 1906, the rise of the military-style pilot watch occurred during the First and Second World Wars.
Specifications for watches destined for fighter pilots were set out by various military organizations around the world and watchmakers fulfilled them. Some examples include the Mark IV and Mark V pocket watches for British pilots in WWI, in addition to the American A-11 wristwatches, the British Ministry of Defense-commissioned “Wrist. Watch. Waterproof” watches made by 12 watchmakers (collectively known as the “Dirty Dozen” by collectors,) and the German B-Uhren produced by five watch manufactures. While all slightly different in execution, what these war-ready pilot watches had in common were large shock- and water-resistant cases, precise movements, and super legible dials with large hands and markers. The military pilot watch remained popular even after both wars and plenty of air force organizations continued to commission various types and styles.
In the mid-20th Century, a different kind of aviation watch emerged thanks to Rolex—one made for commercial pilots. The Rolex GMT-Master, which could track two time zones at once, was created specifically for Pan-Am pilots in 1955 but became wildly popular with people outside the airline company too due to its striking style and real-world practicality.
Learn more: What is a GMT Watch?
Popular Pilot Watches
Today, there are several pilot watch styles including vintage military-inspired ones, jet-age-inspired ones, and aviation instruments that help pilots compute vital flight calculations.
Some of the most popular luxury pilot watches include:
- Rolex GMT-Master
- IWC Pilot’s Watch
- Breitling Navitimer
- Breguet Type XX – XXI – XXII
- Patek Philippe Calatrava Pilot Travel Time
- Zenith Pilot Type
Related: My TOP 5 Rolex GMT Master II ALTERNATIVES!
Field Watches
The origins of field watches are also rooted in the military but on land rather than up the air. However, field watches have also been adopted by explorers since the designs of these watch types are perfectly suitable for any outdoor adventures — even in extreme conditions.
Popular Field Watches
Yet again, the purpose of a field watch is optimal readability, therefore these types of watches will typically have large hour markers (Arabic numerals are the standard, prominent hands, and great lume. Dials should be clean and easy to read, cases should be durable, and water resistance should be solid.
Some well-known field watches or field-style watches from higher-end watch brands include:
- Rolex Explorer
- Tudor Ranger
- Omega Railmaster
- Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris
- Montblanc 1858 Automatic
- Bell Ross BR V1-92 Military
Dive Watches
Although diving watches are no longer necessary to dive since we now have access to sophisticated dive computers, this watch type remains a mainstay sports watch. You’ll even hear the term “desk diver” to refer to dive watches that are never used for their original purpose but are predominately worn for their sleek and bold design.
Learn more: What is a Dive Watch?
The earliest dive watches were fashioned from durable stainless steel, however, today you’ll find plenty of divers with cases in various materials such as gold, titanium, ceramic, and even, platinum. While metal bracelets remain the traditional choice for dive watches, some prefer to wear these types of watches on water-resistant rubber straps or lightweight NATO straps.
Popular Dive Watches
Dive watches are some of the most coveted types of watches out there; as a result, plenty of high-end watch brands have at least one diving watch model in their catalogs.
Some popular luxury dive watches include:
- Rolex Submariner, Sea-Dweller, Deepsea
- Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver
- Omega Seamaster Diver 300M, Planet Ocean 600M
- Tudor Pelagos, Black Bay
- Breitling SuperOcean,
- Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
- TAG Heuer Aqua Racer
- IWC Aquatimer
Racing Watches
Racing watches are types of chronograph watches that can be used to measure elapsed times during races. A chronograph watch is easily identifiable by chronograph pushers that protrude from the case and counters that sit on the dial. While there are some variations, there are generally two chronograph pushers that flank the winding crown on the right side of the case. The upper pusher serves to start and stop the chronograph hand while the bottom one resets the hand back to zero. Furthermore, most chronograph watches will have at least two counters on the dials and most of them have three. The counters track the elapsed minutes and hours once the chronograph hand has been activated and a third one is usually the running seconds indicator.
Learn more: What is a Chronograph Watch?
While racing chronographs are almost always associated with motorsports, there are yacht racing watches too. Racing chronographs usually come with bezels with tachymeter scales to measure average speeds and/or distances of competing cars. Some really lean into the racing aesthetic with livery-inspired colorways or speedometer-like dials.
Related: Marco Ferrante’s Picks: The 5 Best Luxury Chronograph Watches
Popular Racing Watches
Racing watches. and chronograph watches at large, are a sought-after timepiece type in the market. The vast majority of watchmakers offer at least one chronograph model and some make racing-inspired chronographs too.
Some of the most popular luxury racing chronographs today include:
- Rolex Daytona, Yacht-Master II
- Omega Speedmaster
- Tudor Heritage Chrono
- Richard Mille RM 029 Le Mans Classic, RM 50-03 McLaren, RM 65-01
- Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Grand Prix, Royal Oak Offshore Team Alinghi
- TAG Heuer Monaco, Formula 1, Carrera,
- Breitling Top Time
- Chopard Mille Miglia
- IWC Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One
More on Popular Racing Watches:
Rolex Daytona Price & Buying Guide
How Much Does an Omega Speedmaster Cost?
Travel Watches
A travel watch is a collective term given to a category of timepiece that displays at least two (and sometimes more) time zones at once. As its name implies, these types of watches are made with frequent travelers in mind—but they can also be useful for those that regularly communicate with others that live in a different time zone.
Some watches that fall into the travel watch category include dual time watches (two time zones), GMT watches (two time zones but the second one is specifically displayed on a 24-hour scale), and world timer watches (24 time zones).
Popular Travel Watches
Aside from the functionality, there’s no defining style of this particular watch type. Travel watches can be dressy and elegant or sporty and rugged, vintage-inspired or ultra-modern.
Some popular luxury travel watches include:
- Rolex Sky-Dweller, GMT-Master II, Explorer II
- Patek Philippe World Time
- Vacheron Constantin Overseas World Time
- A. Lange & Söhne Time Zeon
- Omega Planet Ocean GMT, Aqua Terra Worldtimer
- Ulysse Nardin Dual Time
- IWC Timezoner
Luxury Sport Watch
All of the sporty watches we’ve covered so far were initially developed as tool watches, whether to accompany divers, racers, pilots, armed forces, and so on. On the other hand, the luxury sports watch wasn’t created to serve a purpose other than to tell the time and date in an ultra-stylish way.
In the early 1970s, Audemars Piguet debuted the now-iconic Royal Oak watch, which was a Gerald Genta design and a super sporty take on the high-end wristwatch. Not only did it feature an oversized (for the time) case, an octagonal bezel, and an integrated bracelet, but it was also crafted in stainless steel yet carried a hefty price tag on par with gold watches of the era. This avant-garde watch design gave birth to the luxury sports watch genre destined for the leisure class and paved the way for many others to follow.
Popular Luxury Sport Watches
Many of today’s most popular luxury sports watches (sometimes also known as sport-luxe watches) are the same ones (or at least inspired by) ones released in the 1970s and 1980s. However, they’re now available in a wide range of materials aside from stainless steel and many of these luxury sports watch collections have expanded to include various other functions and features.
Some popular luxury sports watches include:
- Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
- Patek Philippe Nautilus
- Vacheron Constantin Overseas
- Richard Mille
- A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus
- IWC Ingenieur
- Cartier Pasha
- Piaget Polo
- Bulgari Octo
- Girard-Perregaux Laureato
Other Types of Watches
While we’ve covered the major types of watches, there are a few others worth a mention.
For instance, there are vintage-inspired watches, which are timepieces that are designed to look like they’re from a bygone era but are, in fact, modern. A common type of vintage-inspired timepiece is re-issues of watches from brand archives.
Another type worthy of a shout-out is the independent watchmakers that make ultra-modern and often avant-garde timepieces. Think MB&F, Urwerk, DeBethune, Gruebel Forsey, Jacob & Co., and so on, which are affectionately known as the “Indies.” This is a very niche segment of the watch market, falling under the “if you know, you know” category.
Finally, we can’t have a guide to types of watches without highlighting jewelry watches and gem-set watches. While there are some jewelry-first brands, such as Cartier, Bulgari, Chopard, Van Cleef & Arpels, that make beautiful (and mechanically excellent) gem-set watches, the world’s best watchmakers also offer plenty of timepieces embellished with diamonds and other gemstones.
