Whether you're meeting a client, sitting in a meeting, or working at the office: modern professional life demands that you look elegant in every situation. To round off a sharp suit in style, a business watch is the accessory of choice. We help you find your way through the vast segment of refined timepieces and present six models from €800 to €8,000 that will let you make a brilliant impression on clients, colleagues, and superiors alike.
Oris Artelier Calibre 113
One of the greatest talents of complicated business watches lies in housing their many functions harmoniously. The Oris Artelier Calibre 113 (Ref. 01 113 7738 4061-Set 8 23 79PS) shows how it's done: while the calendar week and month are indicated by a hand along the outer edge, the day and date displays rely on simple apertures.
The full calendar is complemented by two subdials for the small seconds and the power reserve, the latter featuring a scale that runs up to "10." The inscription "10 Days" confirms it: this hand-wound masterpiece with its in-house Calibre 113 delivers an incredible 240 hours of power reserve – a figure that puts even many unique pieces in the six-figure price range in the shade.
[box type="info" align="" class="" width=""]This mechanical marvel can be admired through a transparent caseback that, like the front, is fitted with sapphire crystal.[/box]On the wrist, the Artelier impresses with classic lines and first-class understatement, making the 43 mm stainless steel model the ideal business companion. Delivered in a luxurious wooden box, it costs €5,800.
Sinn 556 A - The Business Watch with Guaranteed Understatement
Our next favorite among business watches is so pure that even purists could hardly wish for more understatement. At a compact 38.5 mm, this automatic stainless steel watch sits perfectly on slimmer wrists and wins you over with the outstanding legibility of its deep black dial. The numerals are Arabic, the leather strap is black, and the numerals and indices are white. A more elegant date display at 4:30 is hard to imagine. With a case height of 11 mm, it slips under a shirt cuff. Even so, the Sinn 556 A dress watch is a pragmatist: if you head to the pool after work, 200 meters of water resistance provides effective protection.
Frederique Constant Classics Business Timer
The Geneva manufacture Frederique Constant proves with the Classics Business Timer (Ref. FC-270SW4P6) that high-quality business watches exist in the three-figure price range, too. Measuring 40 mm, its round stainless steel case guarantees a confident presence on wrists of every size and pairs with a silver dial featuring an (almost) complete calendar. The symmetry is perfect: while the day, date, and moon phase are shown in three subdials, a red hand indicates the calendar week.
Only the month is missing. By way of compensation, you get applied Roman numerals, a precise FC-270 quartz movement with 54 months of battery life, and a black leather strap that rounds off the refined business look of the Frederique Constant. If you have a soft spot for classic gentleman-style timepieces, you're in business for €850 – with above-average water resistance of 60 meters included.
Omega Constellation Globemaster Chronometer Annual Calendar
Of course, you can also invest ten times that price, as the Omega Constellation Globemaster Chronometer Annual Calendar (Ref. 130.33.41.22.06.001) effortlessly demonstrates.
[box type="note" align="" class="" width=""]For €8,300, the businessman gets a 41 mm top-of-the-line model that combines pure elegance with pioneering technology.[/box]The fluted bezel of this business watch, for example, is made of robust tungsten carbide ("hard metal"), while the sapphire crystal caseback is interrupted by a central observatory motif. Beneath it beats the in-house Master Chronometer Calibre 8922, which offers 55 hours of power reserve and the brand's signature resistance to magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss.
A special feature is the instantaneous-jump annual calendar, displayed on the gray sunburst dial. Its three-dimensional design is as much a highlight as the artful month inscriptions between the luminous numerals. Like the hands, the latter are blued and thus pair superbly with the blue leather strap of this stainless steel watch, which is water-resistant to 100 meters.
Junghans Max Bill Automatic – A Business Classic
A classic that belongs on every list of great business watches: the Junghans Max Bill Automatic is the epitome of Bauhaus design on the wrist and one of the most popular business watches in Germany. Among its countless variants, we particularly like the black Ref. 027/3400.04: its dark dial not only looks extremely refined but also ensures excellent legibility and deliberately does without additional functions. Three hands (the hour and minute hands are luminous) and twelve numerals in the typical Bauhaus typeface speak for themselves.
Not to be forgotten is the domed Plexiglas crystal, whose lack of scratch resistance is offset by a beautiful three-dimensionality familiar from historic watches. Inside the slim case beats the automatic J800.1 (base: ETA 2824-2) with 38 hours of power reserve. If you'd like to pair this design from the 1960s, which still looks thoroughly contemporary, with your sport coat, you'll pay €945 on the black leather strap.
Zenith Elite Moonphase
The Zenith Elite Moonphase (Ref. 03.3100.692/03.C923) is another historically inspired business watch, though unlike the Junghans it draws on the 1950s. The 40.5 mm steel model looks timeless and imposing at the same time, thanks to the artful sunray guilloché of its slate-gray dial.
The fine pattern is interrupted by two elements: the eponymous moon phase at 6 o'clock and a small seconds next to the 9. The latter ticks eight times per second, courtesy of the 28,800 vibrations per hour of the in-house Elite 692 movement. Built ultra-thin, it offers 50 hours of power reserve and, despite its winding rotor, measures just 3.97 mm in height.
Matching the dial, this luxury model comes on a gray alligator strap and costs €6,800. If you expect an even higher degree of exclusivity from a business watch, the Moonphase is also available in an 18-karat rose gold case (Ref. 18.3100.692/01.C922).
