The Unique Romance of Wedding Watches

I recently attended Breitling’s launch of two new NFL partnership watch lines. I sent images of the New England Patriots editions to my friend, Tripp Adams, a recently engaged Bostonian and Pats die-hard. That’s it! He texted, Those are going to be our wedding watches! Understand that this couple announced their engagement with a picture of her decorated ring finger resting on a Brady jersey. 

Romance is personal. It takes all forms. As it happens, commemorating weddings also takes many forms, beyond rings. With more women in the watch game and a general desire for unique nuptials, I’m seeing more couples do what I did. Opt for wedding watches. For those looking to celebrate their new marriage in a way that says something about them, this is a meaningful and lasting way to do so.

Seeking an expert perspective, I met Allon Zohar at his chic luxury showroom, Iconic Timepieces, in Midtown Manhattan. Allon has counseled numerous couples pursuing wedding watches and has seen innumerable ways spouses have made their sets specific to their love story. 

“Each watch is like two halves of a heart,” Allon describes. Unlike wedding rings, when each spouse is out in the world without the other, no one knows each timepiece’s significance, making them more intimate. It isn’t until the couple comes together that people see that the watches are partnered in some way. From Iconic’s inventory, Allon presented two Omega Constellation watches with integrated bracelets. One was a sporty Double Eagle chronograph, the other a sculptural date watch in rose gold, both two-toned, flaunting the emblematic bezel claws. “These watches have their own personality but are clearly related,” he says. 

When you marry someone, you aren’t just committing to a loving partnership; you also make that person your family. Rings symbolize the former. With watches, you can embody the latter. My wedding watches are a set of Omega Seamasters, the 36-millimeter GoldenEye and the 28-millimeter lady’s with the sparkling applied indices.

Relatedly, Allon presented me with a cleverly touching concept. With the his and hers Constellations, he partnered three much smaller Constellation timepieces. It very much looked like a dad watch, a mom watch, and three kids’ watches. He suggested that your children can inherit your wedding timepieces for their nuptials, and their children can inherit the ones they wore as kids. Wedding watches can expand into family watches in ways rings conventionally can’t. The Constellation line is an excellent range for this since it offers so many sizes and variations.

Speaking of expandability and personalization, my recently married cousin and his wife opted for sensible and affordable Timex Easy Readers as their wedding watches. Hers is gold-toned, his is silver. In a romantically quirky move akin to getting a Cracker Jack ring personalized a la Breakfast at Tiffany’s, they plan to customize the dial with each anniversary, adding a tin application on an index for the tenth anniversary, silver for the 25th, and diamond for the 60th.

Allon, who also makes custom jewelry, has even designed gemsets to match the exact eye color of the wearer’s children. The possibilities are endless.

Rings don’t have to be formal. On a Hallmark Channel cooking segment, I learned that Chef Duff Goldman proposed to his now-wife with a butcher’s twine ring. Still, historically, jewelry was ornamental, while watches were functional. Tool watches have far more capacity to be casual and practical than traditional rings do. If you’re a chef or a logger, you likely take your wedding ring off on the job. With the right timepiece, you won’t need to take your wedding watch off. Plus, some couples are simply more casual.

I know a formerly-divorced couple who wishes to remain anonymous. Attempting to regain civility for the children’s sake, they started hiking together. This evolved into thru-hiking. “Maybe it was the shared experience or learning to work as a team,” he tells me. “But we fell in love again.” They’re getting remarried, using their old rings, and adding wedding watches to the mix. I recommended the Rolex Explorer 36 for the bride and a 42-millimeter Explorer II for the groom—sound investments for adventurous couples who hike and spelunk together.

Brands are catching on to this, with Citizen’s selection of couple watches offering a wide range, from his and her dress watches to dive watches. No surprise there from a brand that’s hosting a vow renewal at the Empire State Building for couples whose 2020 weddings were impacted by the pandemic. 

Again, my wedding watches are two Seamasters. We share a love for James Bond. Having grown up in the ‘90s, the GoldenEye Seamaster means more to us than the Submariner, which is arguably more symbolic of the franchise. Also, our song is Frank Sinatra’s The Very Thought of You. Had the Sinatra Bulova line come out ten years ago, it would have been a serious contender. There’s a literal The Very Thought of You couples set.

Back to my buddy, Tripp the Bostonian. His and his fiancée’s Patriots fandom is so fevered, he proposed at Gillette Stadium. For their wedding watches, he’s going for the muscular 42-millimeter Breitling Patriots Chronomat B01 and for her, the simpler 40-millimeter Chronomat GMT. The visual dynamic of this set is quite similar to the previously mentioned Constellations.

Men’s engagement watches have existed since the dawn of time. Moreover, I was introduced to the concept of matrimonial timepieces from a newspaper wedding announcement: two men gifted each other wedding Rolexes, a creative way to say, “we’re still men who like typical male things, and yes, we’re in love.”

Thankfully, we’re seeing more female perspectives in the watch industry. Women don’t necessarily want the lady’s version of a men’s model, often just bedazzled, shrunken, quartz-equipped iterations. The Hermès Cut, a uniquely female sport watch, isn’t frillier than a typical men’s sport watch; it simply accommodates a lady’s distinct sizing and geometry. Today’s “watch girlies” love the STEM-oriented horological component as much as the fashion.

“I’m actually way more into watches than my fiancé,” says my dear friend, Brittany Umstead, a long-time luxury professional. Meanwhile, my friend Tripp’s fiancée tells me she has feminine ring tastes, but sporty watch tastes. “I want to represent both sides of me,” she says.

Whenever I’m upset, I look down at my Seamaster, and my spirits lift. So while I’m no wedding expert, here’s advice from someone who went the wedding watch route to great success. Don’t limit yourself to fancy brands unless you have good reason to. When celebrating, it’s easy to order the nicest thing on the menu, but choosing your wedding watches isn’t the same as impulsively ordering a bottle of Krug. Make it personal to your love story.

I wear my watch instead of a ring and never take it off. Fortunately, I can wear the case on my inner wrist, making it look like a bracelet, then stack another watch if I need to. Every couple is different, though. Many understandably don’t want their spouse running around town ringless.

If you’re seeking expert advice, find someone who’s consulted men and women, isn’t beholden to one brand, and has experience in customization. Bonus points if they’re family-oriented. It’s why I started my research with Allon, a doting father of two.

Want your watches to match your rings? He suggests lifestyle maisons, like Hermès or Bulgari, which incorporate similar design languages across their offerings. If the groom wants a conventionally masculine ring, he might consider onyx, which pairs well with PVD or DLC watches. Finally, Allon recommends thinking about customizations from a long-term perspective. “For example, a blackened dial is hard to undo,” he says. Fantastic point. Watch tastes evolve, change, and grow—just like relationships.