Wearing a watch with long sleeves is an executive look that could be ruined by not properly applying the right habits. Wearing your watch wrong along with long sleeves makes it appear ill fitting, out of line and clunky. It's actually quite a difficult case, and states why we wanted to know exactly how to wear a watch with long sleeves.

As a general rule, wear a watch with long-sleeves by choosing a watch that matches the colors of the sleeves. Make sure that your watch does not get completely under your sleeves, but is visible for about 60% to 90%. Also, don't wear oversized watches to complete the look.

Watches are beautiful pieces and they can take your outfit to a new level, that's why we explained exactly how to wear your watch with your long sleeves later in this article.

What is the best way to wear a watch with long sleeves?

In the summer and spring you usually wear short sleeves, you can get away with a lot more while wearing short sleeves. However, if you want to look as stylish as possible this fall or winter, it is really important that you wear your watch correctly when you have long sleeves on. We do this by paying attention to a number of points.

  • Don't hide away your watch completely
  • Make sure the colors fit
  • Don't wear an oversized watch

These are the first things you should pay attention to when the weather gets colder days and you start wearing long sleeves, we'll explain these points.

Don't hide away your watch completely:

If you're going to wear long sleeves, you want to make sure your watch doesn't completely disappear under your sleeve, but you also don't want your watch to stick out completely, so we're going for a middle ground. We follow the tube rule that we let the watch stick out about 60 to 90% of the sleeve, while you stand with your arms straight down.

This way you can still take the benefits of wearing the watch, but it will not seem that your sleeve is too short, or your shirt too small. The picture below represents a good example of how to wear a watch with long sleeves.

watch long sleeves
"About 90% of the watch is covered by the sleeve."

Make sure the colors fit:

This one may be a bit self-explanatory, but it is extremely important that the colors can be used with the sleeves. With short sleeves your arms stick out, and you have more leeway in the use of colors, but when your sleeve is directly over your watch, it is very important that you do not throw the wrong colors over each other.

What do we mean by the wrong colors? When using a watch, there are a few short rules you can follow for pairing your watch with your shirt sleeves.

  • For example, watches with metal straps can go well with black or even dark clothing.
  • A classic model that is not too flashy, goes with every outfit.
  • Do you have sleeves with a warm undertone? Then both gold and rose gold probably suit you best.

Don't wear an oversized watch:

Wearing an oversized watch is never a good idea, especially if you are going to wear long sleeves. This will ensure that your sleeves are way too tight around your watch, which is of course not the intention.

Keeping space between your watch and your sleeves will help you create more symmetry and make you look more stylish. We will discuss this in more detail in the next paragraph.

When we talk about normal long sleeve shirts, it's something else. You can't keep the 60 to 90% rule all the time. That is why it is important that you create symmetry. If you have 2 sleeves you don't want one sleeve higher than the other, because the watch is there.

How do you wear a long sleeve dress shirt with a watch?

When we talk about a long-sleeved dress shirt, we are talking about something other than a normal long-sleeved shirt. It's annoying when, for example, the cuff gets cought up behind the watch. The watch should largely fall under the cuff on the man while you have your arms hanging down. It is therefore very important that you ensure that there is space between the sleeves and the watch.

Make sure to keep at least 2 fingers between your watch and your sleeve

watches
make sure there is enough space between sleeve and sleeve.

Keeping 2 fingers between your watch and your sleeve will make sure your watch and your clothes fit properly. Why is this a problem? That has to do with the contrast. When you wear a watch and you see that one sleeve sticks out a lot more than the other. This will create a less beautiful symmetry.

With a dress shirt there is something else really important. It is very important that we choose the right colors and watch first, the colors of your strap should match the color of your clothes and sleeves, and with suits there are a number of rules that you "must" abide by:

  • Please note that no sports watch fits with a suit or suit.
  • You are now basically obliged to wear a dress watch.
  • Ensure a neat, businesslike appearance.

The gaps are there to allow for proper sleeve-rolling and cuff-ironing. If they're long enough to serve their purpose, they'll be too long to stay closed without a button.

To ensure that you can comply with the 60, 90% rule, you could for example, make the right button of your shirt a little bit bigger. You can do this by cutting and doing it yourself, but also by using another button. That way you can use the rules we mentioned above with a dress shirt.

For an even better look, you might be interested in luxury watches, they can really complete your look. Look at this article for a better understanding of luxury watches.

Casual way to wear a watch with long sleeves

You can of course also choose to wear your watch in a different way if you have long sleeves. That's why it's not a bad idea to roll up your sleeves.

For more casual types, you can rol up your sleeves, and put your watch right over wrist bone. Of course we don't just do this. You also want to roll up your shirt in a certain way. If we talk about a dress shirt we would check the following video, it will solve a lot of problems if we talk about rolling up long sleeves.

When we talk about normal long-sleeved shirts, it's a little easier. We do keep in mind that we roll the shirt up to slightly above the elbow bone. Also, make sure that your shirt is rolled up symmetrically at all times.

The watch sits slightly above the wrist bone. In this way we provide a slightly more casual look, and we can remove the problems of long sleeves with a watch in advance.