Editors' Picks Watches We Love, But Wouldn't Wear

I can sum up my thoughts with two simple sentences. I love Urwerk. I couldn't wear a watch that is so purple.

The Urwerk UR-100 was released in 2019 as a nod to the watch that put the brand on the map, the UR-103, with a similar wandering-hours satellite display and a more accessible price. The UR-100V has Urwerk's most reasonable case size at 41mm x 14mm, and maintains a look that grabs attention. All the while, I think this is still a far more wearable and intuitive watch than a lot of hyper-modern designs on the market.

I am a big fan of understated and very traditional watches and yet somehow Urwerk is a brand I keep coming back to. In fact, I think Urwerk has opened my eyes to the appeal of some more traditional brands' more experimental watches like the Audemars Piguet Star Wheel, which uses a similar display. And if someone gave me a gift card loaded with enough money to buy one high-ticket watch and said "this will disappear if you don't use it," an Urwerk would probably be on my list of top five picks. But I just don't think I could pull off an Ultra Violet watch.

John Mayer once did an interview in GQ where he talked about creating a look based on a points system. Imagine you get 10 points to "spend" on an outfit. If you wear a Visvim robe, that probably counts for seven, so maybe the rest of your outfit should be jeans and a t-shirt. Well, if I'm working with 10 points, this is at least a six-point watch. So if my imaginary gift card arrives in the mail, I'll be hunting down something with a more reserved color palette so at least I'm not walking around in my boxers and a purple watch.

I am deeply, astronomically clumsy. And this Bulgari, with all of its gorgeous, super polished surface area would be in peril on my wrist. I generally don't do Octos any favors, which is a shame since I do like them a lot, but this one, in particular, would just not be a match. I wish I was the kind of chic and graceful person who could pull this off because there really isn't anything else like it out there.

The Rolex Datejust is about as classic and ubiquitous as a watch can get. If I were to wear one regularly, I'd want it to be something different, but not too different. This new floral-patterned Rolex Datejust 31mm is more like a "watch I would wear, but don't yet have the self-confidence to," but I don't want to turn this into a therapy session. Like our collective boss Nick Marino, the new two-tone Tudor Black Bay 31 was another sneaky favorite release this year; giving it a test run convinced me that maybe, just maybe, I can pull off a 31mm Datejust one day. And if I were to do it, it might be this Datejust.

This year, Rolex released a bouquet of floral-dial Datejusts. Of the bunch, the Azzuro-blue dial in a 31mm White Rolesor case (Rolex's white gold) is the clear standout. The blue is vibrant, the flowers have tiny little diamonds in the middle, and from a distance, the effect is surprisingly subtle. Exactly what I'd want from a Datejust: full of personality, but only when you look close enough to see it. To most onlookers, it'd be "just a Datejust," and that's totally fine, too.

For me, tweaks like this are more fun and interesting than the nips and tucks Rolex made to its sport watches this year. But for now, I just can't get myself to wear a watch with flowers (though that VCA below looks nice, too). I'm sure I'll get there one day though, and this watch will be waiting for me when I do.

I hate car racing. I hate cars. I hate that there's Gulf logo on this. And yet, I love it, for the colors and for the arrangement of all the different shapes inside that big chunky square. I love the two small white boxes framed in blue and orange with their teeny orange hands and how they match the big orange chronograph seconds hand. The indices, white slant-topped rectangles sitting on top of little white circles, look like Mies van der Rohe skyscrapers riding Segways.

My wrist is way too small for this watch. I'd only like this watch on the sort of person who would wear it, someone with whom I'd have nothing in common, someone who quit racing cars then went on an ayahuasca journey to find themselves. This watch looks like their journey around night seven or eight, the night they had their "I'm going to business school" epiphany. But I know an icon when I see one, and I love this watch, even though it is very silly.

Last year I made the shocking discovery that the Patek Philippe Aquanaut was – somehow – the entry-level watch in the brand's catalog. Since then, I've fallen for that watch more and more. I've long been a fan of the original reference 5060A because I love the simple, field-like, design of the model. And then this Rainbow piece dropped like an anvil on Wile E Coyote and I had this instant sense of, "Maybe I don't like simplicity at all. Maybe I like this double rainbow, gold Aquanaut with a chronograph complication on a red composite strap." And the fact that it's marketed as a ladies' piece be damned. 

It's 39.9mm – effectively the same size as a Rainbow Daytona – and it speaks to me. But, as much as I love this crazy design object, two things strike me as problematic in the wearing experience. Number one is the above-$200k price point. I'm steadfastly an under-$100k kind of guy (like way under…like way way under). And second, if I were to somehow come into the funds to allow me to purchase this watch, I'd likely turn it into a personal museum piece. I'm just not the sort of guy to wear something quite this loud in public. I mean, come on, I only just realized I even like this sort of thing.

I actually found this prompt to be a pretty difficult one to answer. I like to think that I'm generally quite open and amicable to any watch that makes its way to my wrist. I would say that I'm pretty comfortable with both smaller and larger diameters, and even extra-thick watches are fun to break out and wear every once in a while. It took some time, but I did finally come up with at least one watch that I'm downright fascinated by and yet it, unfortunately, does not work on my wrist at all: the Armin Strom Dual Time Resonance.

I've always appreciated Armin Strom's very direct approach to the resonance phenomenon, and its application in a two time-zone wristwatch is ingenious and makes a whole lot of sense. Its execution is honestly incredible, which is why I'm sad to report that the final product is just far too large and unwieldy (it's 59mm × 43.4mm × 15.90mm!) for me to approach it for anything more than a cursory wrist shot. It's a watch that I'll no doubt continue to admire from afar – potentially from a place where the sardine can-shaped case is a touch more digestible.

I love the JLC Reverso. I want one. The one I want is, quite specifically, the Reverso Classic Duoface in the medium size (ref. Q2458422) mounted on a Forstner's ladder bracelet – an idea I'm shamelessly stealing from my Hodinkee Japan colleague Suguru Nishioka. (You can see his here.)

Point being, I'm not getting the €90,000 rose gold model with the pouncing tiger hand-engraved into the caseback, which was released to commemorate the Lunar New Year and the opening of a Shanghai boutique. But I admire it. I think it's beautiful and badass. If I had it, I'd wear it as a bracelet. Tiger face up.

Calling MB&F a guilty pleasure feels wrong on so many levels. This pick is more "I love this on a visceral level but the size and aesthetic of this watch does not work with my personal style at all."

The red Aquapod is first and foremost an object of art; it looks like something you would find at MoMA. In fact, when I first saw the Aquapod in pictures all I could think of was Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp; she created a huge body of work over her lifetime but is mostly recognized for her abstract painting of perfectly circular and rectangular forms depicted in deeply pigmented primary colors.

Beyond the initial impression, which is made through shape and color, there is of course a mechanical complexity: a central 60-second flying tourbillon tops the concentric vertical movement architecture, with indications radiating out from the center "like ripples in a pond." I love the bold design of this watch as much as I love the story behind its creation. Max Büsser found the idea for the design from a memory of a family beach holiday, which included an encounter with a jellyfish.

When I finally got to see an Aquapod in the metal, it felt like a completely different watch, the 3D form made it less Taeuber-Arp and more machine-like. But that's the beauty of this brand; the watches are little sculptures that can be read in so many different ways. I love this timepiece for its bold design and intricacies and because it was born from a story belonging to one of the most forward-thinking leaders of our industry. If MB&F is a meditation on the future of watchmaking then the Aquapod is my horological mandala. 

For me, this incredible garden watch from Van Cleef & Arpels all but defines the idea of a watch I love but wouldn't wear. This fanciful ladies' watch was the most interesting watch I saw at Watches & Wonders earlier this year, and the demonstration of its complex functionality remains an absolute high point in personal watch moments for 2022.

Putting aside the Lady Arpels Heures Florales' $324,000 price tag, the model is available in either pink or white gold, with both options featuring a diamond-set case surrounding a tiny mechanical garden meant to reinterpret Linnaeus' Flower Clock. For this wrist-born re-thinking, the dial features 12 tiny mechanical flowers that tell the time by opening to reveal gem-set interiors. The animation is pulse-like, happening quickly and appearing to be quite organic. As you can imagine, the movement within is incredibly complicated and the tiny animations immediately made me think of the Harry Winston Opus 11. 

I've said it before and I'm saying it here too, the next time you're near a Van Cleef & Arpels boutique, be it near where you live or perhaps while traveling, give them a call and see if you can arrange a demo. I'm sure they'd be thrilled to oblige and it just may be the best 10 minutes of your day. It wouldn't make a lick of sense on my wrist, but what a cool thing.