Gold watches are tacky, and that's okay
It's time to talk about gold watches.
I own one gold watch, a Casio A500WGA. There are two versions of it. One with dark border and yellow-ish LCD panel, and one with gold border and light gray LCD panel. I own the latter.
Yes, I do wear this watch. It's a fairly unknown Casio timepiece in America because it's a model ordinarily only seen in Asian markets. The known Casio gold model that is sold here is the A168WG-9 - which I actually have seen someone wearing in real life around these parts (I live in Tampa Bay Florida.) Ultimately however, Joe or Jane Average wouldn't know the difference between the A500WGA and the A168WG. True, the A500 is far more advanced, but all anyone sees is the gold. And that's the entire point to owning it.
Why are gold watches tacky?
Nobody, including myself, wears a gold watch appropriately.
The appropriate time to wear a gold watch is with a dress outfit, such as with a suit. But people will wear a gold watch with anything. I wear mine with t-shirt and jeans, which is pretty much as tacky as it gets. Do I care? No. I'll still wear the gold anyway.
How to make an "everyday gold watch" not tacky?
The simple solution to making gold slightly less tacky is to wear a smaller timepiece.
The wrong way
Big gold is the tackiest of the tacky, like this Invicta monstrosity:
You've got to have a big set of balls to wear the above Invicta as an everyday watch. It's a freakin' huge 48mm timepiece. Yes, it actually can dive as it has 300m water resistance, but it totally looks like you're wearing a doorknob when on the wrist. Only men with a wrist measuring 7.5 inches around or larger could wear this thing. But even if this watch was on a proper size wrist, you have to be really comfortable wearing something in gold this large.
The right way
Smaller gold timepieces work much, much better.
Here are a few better options, starting with Invicta...
Invicta Men's 17054 Pro Diver Automatic
This timepiece from Invicta is way better than the 15343. It's a 40mm diver, automatic movement, has 200m water resistance, obviously a Rolex Submariner clone (Mercedes hour hand, cyclops date window and all,) and it works for what it is. It may have more gold compared to the 15343 but it carries itself a lot better.
The case size is 42mm but the advantage here is a super slim 8mm and a wide 22mm bracelet width. The lug bars might be a turnoff to some, but it's a good design overall that's sure to fit comfortably on the wrist. And yes, this is a men's timepiece.
This is the one I would buy personally if I were in the market for another gold watch, because you can't go wrong with a Seiko 5 automatic. Rock solid reliability, elegant look, 37mm case size, crown at the 4 position, day-date complication, near-silent tick. This is a great watch.
This one is like the Seiko but in a larger 40mm case size and only has a date complication instead of day-date. Simple watch, elegant in appearance and has thicker hands compared to the Seiko. For a lot of gents, this would be the go-to gold dress watch to get, especially with that Eco-Drive system which is way more accurate than Seiko automatic movement.
This is the simplest timepiece on this list, as it's just a quartz movement with 3 hands and no complications. The size is 38mm but it definitely wears large because it's "all dial" due to the very thin bezel. A watch like works very well for larger-wristed gents who want a smaller timepiece that wears large. Because of the thin bezel, this Tissot definitely wears larger than its 38mm measurement, no doubt about that. It also has the slimmest case at just 7mm, meaning it will slide under the cuff even when wearing tight-fitting long sleeve shirts.
What about gold digital?
Casio is the only one that does gold digital right.
Aside from the A500WGA and A168WG-9, there's also this:
Of all gold digital watches available, the A168WG-9, A500WGA and DBC611G are your three best choices. Casio is currently the only company that brings any sort of elegance to a digital in a gold tone color.
Other Casio timepieces in gold to consider are the A178WGA and DB380G (which is almost extinct at the time I write this.)
Which should you get if going with digital gold? The A168WG-9 is the safe option because it has the largest case size at 36mm. The A500WGA is a 34mm, the DBC611G a 33mm, the A178WGA a 32.5mm and the DB380G a 33mm.
Bear in mind that with square and rectangle shape cases, you can get away with smaller sizes more easily. And with gold you can go even smaller because to the eye, smaller gold looks better than big gold.
But again, if you like digital and gold, the safest of the bunch is the A168WG-9. If you've ever worn a regular A168, the A168WG-9 is literally the exact same thing in a gold tone color.
Published 2018 Mar 14
