Depending on what you're looking for, thick, hefty watches might suit you. Such watches can have a certain masculine appeal, and they just look rugged. But today, I'm not going to talk about those watches.
Instead, I'll discuss the top three ultra-thin mechanical watches available on the market. These watches are designed to be worn with a business suit or any formal outfit. But just because these watches make a strong fashion statement doesn't mean they're purely decorative. I looked for watches that function well, so here are not only reliable watches but also beautiful accessories.
Junghans 34mm Max Bill
Today, I'll start with the 34mm Max Bill model from Junghans. These watches first appeared in the 1960s and have since maintained their iconic design. The designer and founder of the company was a watchmaker at Bauhaus, one of the world's most famous watch manufacturers, before he moved on to establish his own manufacturing company. Today, Junghans watches are almost as well-known as Bauhaus itself.
These are truly elegant watches with a white dial and black hands and indices. The dial has no complications, but it's not as Spartan as some other fashion watches. The inner ring features hour numerals, while the outer ring has five-minute markers. Between them are elegant scales with slightly longer hashes every five minutes. All the markings are easy to read despite their small size. The hands themselves are long and thin, with luminescent stripes for visibility in low light conditions.
The case is compact, with a diameter of 34mm and a lug-to-lug distance of 37mm. The case thickness is 9mm, and the back is smooth and fits snugly against the wrist. The bezel is impressively thin, so much so that you'll wonder how the crystal manages to stay in place. However, be careful if you want to get the Max Bill wet. The watch is rated for only 30 meters, so it can be used in the shower, but you shouldn't swim with it.
These watches are equipped with a hand-wound movement, which is not very common these days. The movement's thickness is only 3.35mm, which is thin even by hand-wound movement standards. But just because it's not automatic doesn't mean it's lacking in quality. The movement is the caliber J805.1, based on the original Swiss caliber ETA 2801-2, and is almost identical to the original Junghans movement released in the 1960s.
This is a simple movement, with no rotors or complications, which is a major reason Junghans managed to make it so impressively thin. The power reserve is 42 hours, so keeping the movement wound is a simple and unobtrusive task you don't need to worry about. Additionally, the watch has a hacking feature, so if it's ticking a few seconds fast, you can just pull out the crown to stop the watch at the exact time, then push the crown back in to resume its movement.
While Junghans emphasizes the 25-jewel movement in their advertising, I'm not overly impressed with this feature. To be honest, the number of jewels is far less important than their size, construction quality, and finish. Fortunately, all these aspects are well accounted for, providing you with a very reliable movement.
The crystal is acrylic, not sapphire or glass. This material offers exceptional clarity and is less prone to letting in dust than more traditional materials. It's also not as scratch-resistant, but this is not a major issue for dress watches.
Christopher Ward C5 Malvern 595
The Christopher Ward brand emerged in the UK in 2004, when three friends, including the company's namesake, discovered that Swiss luxury brands were overpricing their watches by 34 times. This is not a typo. I didn't mean 34 percent. I meant 34 times, or 3400 percent. These friends also found that the same components used in elite watches were freely available on the open market.
A year later, Christopher Ward released its first watches - the C5 Malvern Automatic and the C3 Malvern Chronograph. They received an additional boost when traveling lecturer and watch enthusiast Dave Malone discovered their watches and suspected they were lying about offering Swiss components in such an affordable package. Intending to expose this "fraud", he bought one of these watches, planning to publish a scathing review. When he discovered how well they were constructed, he wrote a glowing review that brought Christopher Ward into the limelight.
Their latest offering, the C5 Malvern 595, features minimalism and is genuinely worthy of any Swiss watchmaker or luxury brand. It was designed as part of a challenge set for the Christopher Ward engineering team - to create a watch with a case under 6mm. The C5 Malvern 595 is made of stainless steel and has an exceptionally thin case - 5.95mm.
For such thin watches, the case is actually quite large. Its diameter is 39mm, and the lug-to-lug length is 46mm. While this doesn't make it a monster, as I've mentioned, it's fairly large for such a thin profile. Depending on your wrist size, this could be good or bad, but I found the watch to be comfortably sized, and the weight matches the size.
As with most refined watches, the 595's dial is the main attraction. The white dial has an opaline finish, with elegant black hashes at the five-minute markers. There are no numerals or complications on the dial, nor is there a scale marking individual minutes. The only other marking you'll see on the dial is the words "Christopher Ward", placed at the "9 o'clock" position. The gold-colored hands have a thin profile. The hour hand extends to the end of the hashes, and the minute hand almost reaches the bezel. The bezel itself has a nice rounded profile, with a width roughly equal to its thickness.
The crown on this watch is a simple push/pull, but with no complications, that's all you need. The watch is water-resistant to an impressive 300 meters, the most robust water protection I've seen on any watch anywhere.
Inside is the ETA 7001 movement. This movement is only 2.5mm thick, significantly thinner than the more popular ETA 2801. It runs slightly slower, at 21,600 beats per hour, but that's a relatively minor note.
Hamilton Jazzmaster Thinline Auto
Hamilton is part of the Swatch Group, known for its Swiss-made American watches. They are respected among mid-range watch manufacturers and comparable to other Swatch brands like Tissot, Mido, and Certina.
Earlier this year, they released the Thinline Auto as a 40mm alternative to the 38mm Field Material model and the 38mm and 42mm models in the American Classic Collection. There is also a 43mm variant of the Thinline Auto, so be careful not to mix up the wires when buying. The case thickness is 9mm, which is not exceptionally thin, but it's thinner than most cases and thinner than almost any case of this middle diameter. The watch weighs only 1.87 ounces. If you prefer lightweight watches, you'll like the Thinline Auto because you'll barely notice you're wearing anything.
The dial of this watch is made of matte bronze with a golden sheen that matches stylish cufflinks. The dial has long thin hands marking the hours, with wider ribbed hands at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock. There's a date window at the "6 o'clock" position, and the rest of the dial has no additional sub-dials or other complications. The minute hand is very long, stretching almost to the edge, and the hour hand is short and squat. Both hands are painted with luminescent stripes for better visibility. The dial has no markings, but in formal watches, this is not necessary.
The bezel on this watch is thin and rounded, providing a wide view of the dial and an elegant profile. I particularly liked the lugs, which have a long, curved profile. This can be an issue if you have a small wrist, but I appreciated the curves, and the gaps between the grain leather strap and the top and bottom of the case create an attractive negative space without being too open.
My only complaint with this watch is the crown. It's very small, and I had to use my nails to pull it out. But again, we're talking about an automatic watch. This doesn't mean you'll have to pull out the crown and wind it daily. Additionally, thanks to its flat profile, the watch doesn't dig into your wrist when you bend your arm.
These watches are equipped with the ETA 2892-A2 movement, a standard automatic movement found in most Swatch watches. It ticks at 48,800 beats per hour, and in a quiet room, it's easily audible even without bringing it to your ear. When you're not wearing the watch, the power reserve lasts for 42 hours, so leaving it home for a day is no problem.