Watches Under 37mm

Case diameter is the number everyone quotes and the least useful one. Lug-to-lug distance decides whether a watch sits on your wrist or overhangs it, and a 36mm case with long straight lugs can wear larger than a 38mm with curved ones. If 40mm watches have sat awkwardly for you, lug span is usually the reason rather than diameter.

What a smaller case gives you is a watch that slides under a cuff and sits comfortably all day. Longines, Tissot, Hamilton and Oris are the names here that treat smaller proportions as a design brief in their own right.

Watches Under 37mm holds 1538 models across 77 brands, from £15 to £99,950. Half cost less than £229, and a quarter less than £139. 296 of 1538 are automatic. 515 are stocked by more than one retailer, giving 2133 offers in total. Longines lists more references here than any other brand. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.