If you know me by now, you also know that I’m a big proponent of sports watches. My lifestyle very rarely requires me to wear a purely formal dress watch. I usually end up resorting to some of my fancier sports watches when needing to dress up into a smart casual type of look. There are times though when I want to wear something that’s a touch dressier than normal without going into full dress watch mode, and that’s where the inspiration for this article comes from.
We’ll explore below three options that can be worn as full on dress watches with a suit, but that can also pull off double duty as a smart casual, or even casual watch for the weekends or evenings. If you’re in the same boat as me and would like to add something slightly fancier than usual to the collection this could be a great resource for you.
Cartier – Santos De Cartier
This might be an expected choice for our list, but it’s certainly deserving of the tittle. Cartier also makes the iconic Tank, but this model is strictly a dress watch and is quite difficult to dress down. This is where the Santos De Cartier comes into play. Having the perfect size, shape, and aesthetics to walk the very fine line of dress watch and casual sports watch simultaneously.
The Cartier De Santos has its roots cemented as the first ever aviation watch created in 1904 for pilot Alberto Santos-Dumont. Its available in a couple different size variations and dial colors as well, allowing you to choose a specific reference that fits your wrist size and style you’re going for best. Recently Cartier has become increasingly popular as a watch brand, with brands like Rolex becoming too difficult to obtain from the AD many collectors have fallen back on Cartier as the next best thing at a similar price point.
I personally believe the sunburst blue dial in the smaller medium size is the sweet spot for this model. It can be worn with a suit, and it can be dressed down to casual wear for daily use. The new brown, or bronze sunburst dial is also quite intriguing and would pair fantastically with earthy colors in the fall and winter season.
Not only does the watch overtly look the part, it’s also sporting the specs needed to make it a great daily watch that doubles as a dress watch. It has a 100 meter water resistance rating, and is equipped with an in-house automatic Cartier movement called the caliber 1847 MC. The watch case is also incredibly slim at 9.38mm, quite amazing for an automatic watch with a respectable water resistance rating. Before closing off on this segment I do need to mention that the integrated bracelet on the Cartier Der Santos is one of the best looking and best built in the industry, and it’s also interchangeable with leather straps if needed.
IWC Portugieser Chronograph
I had some dilemma on which watch to place in second position here. Initially I was leaning towards the JLC Reverso, but I feel it’s just a touch too fancy for daily casual wear although it can be pulled off if required. What really rang the bell for me is the Portugieser Chronograph from critically underrated watch house – IWC.
This is a stunning chronograph watch that really impresses as an everyday casual watch, but can easily pull off suit duty, or better yet I’d consider it a smart casual beast. This is a stainless steel sports watch that’s offered on both a stainless steel bracelet or a more formal looking black leather strap. This watch would also pair fabulously with aftermarket leather straps of different colors.
The watch is slightly on the larger end of our scales though, coming in with a 41mm case diameter, and 13mm thickness. When considering that this watch has a skinny bezel, it does sound like it’s a relatively larger wearing watch, but one must not forget that this is inherently due to it being a chronograph. Another fun aspect about this watch is the viewable automatic in-house caliber 69355 through the exhibition caseback.
The vertical dual-sub-dial layout of the dial is very unique and striking to observe while wearing, and it’s sure to draw some attention from other watch collectors. The Portugieser Chronograph is available in a large selection of dial colors as well, just have a look at the official IWC website and choose one that suits you best.
Omega Aqua Terra
While the Portugieser above leans somewhat towards the dressier end of the spectrum, the Omega Aqua Terra probably leans more towards the sporty daily wear side. It’s really a very similar concept to the well known Rolex Oyster Perpetual in that it’s kind of geared towards the “do it all” crowd of prospective watch shoppers.
This is a watch that’s part of the Seamaster line of watches from Omega, so that should give you some hints in terms of what specifications you should be expecting from this watch. Right off the bat you’re getting an enhanced 150 meters of water resistance, more than our two other selections above. You’re also getting a more ordinary looking dial, allowing it to blend into multiple settings without standing out too much. This watch can easily lean into both formal and casual styles.
The dial has simple applied, pointed, and lumed indices – with no form of numeral to be found anywhere except for the date wheel and the tiny minute track on the very outer edge. It’s a clean look that’s accentuated by whichever dial color you choose, some of which have some styling such as the horizontal lineage found on the blue dial references. Stainless steel is the main metal of choice of the Aqua Terra model, but Omega also offers a Titanium variant with the caliber 8928 Ti movement and an astounding price tag of $53,400 USD.
While this model, in my opinion is a touch ordinary, it’s most certainly a beautiful watch that can lean into any style from sporty to formal. It could make a good one watch collection because of this, but if you’re one of us enthusiasts and collectors you may want to make your choices more diverse and precise.
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