For Members
The Fit
Where a watch sits, what a cuff is actually doing, and the one rule worth breaking a habit over.
Start here
A cuff is a stop, not a tube
A shirt sleeve is cut with slack in it. When your arm is down there is a little excess above the cuff; when you reach, that excess pays out and the cuff stays on your wrist instead of riding up your forearm. The thing holding it in place is the cuff gripping the wrist — nothing else.
Which is why the obvious fix for a watch is the wrong one. Widen a cuff so a watch fits under it and you have removed the grip that made the sleeve work. It slips down over the hand, or catches on the case and sits at an angle.
“If a shirt cuff is made too big, it risks slipping too far down the hand, or compromising this excess in the sleeve. Having a larger shirt cuff to fit over a watch is a poor functional solution in any case. The sleeve can often become stuck on the watch, or sit at odd angles.”
The number
Wrist plus an inch and a half
The only published measurement anyone gives: a 15cm wrist with a 20cm fastened cuff — about 5cm of clearance. A reader with narrower wrists works to 1½ inches. So the working range is your wrist plus roughly 1½ to 2 inches, fastened.
The test is simpler than the measurement. With the cuff done up, you should not be able to slip your hand through it.
Cuff shape matters more than the watch. A barrel cuff cut close to the wrist takes no watch at all, and a conical cuff — one that tapers toward the hand — takes none regardless of how thin the case is. A double cuff takes most watches comfortably.
The uncomfortable one
Do not build a wardrobe around a watch
We sell watches, so read this knowing we would rather it said something else. The most authoritative writing on the subject says the watch should be slim enough for the shirt, not the shirt cut around the watch — and that enlarging cuffs to accommodate a large case causes problems that outlast the watch.
The practical consequence is not that you own the wrong watch. It is that a tall sports case and a close single cuff are not compatible, and no amount of tailoring makes them so. That is an argument for owning more than one watch, which is a conclusion we are obviously happy with, but it is not our conclusion.
“So I recommend against designing a wardrobe around a watch… Then reconcile yourself to a lifetime of checking the time, then pulling your cuffs back down again.”
Sleeves
Twice, to mid-forearm
Rolling a sleeve reads relaxed because it implies you were about to do something. Two folds, ending mid-forearm, is the version that looks deliberate. One fold is flappier and reads a little foppish. Above the elbow starts to look like manual work.
Knitwear is the exception, and it matters here because a knitted polo is the easiest smart-casual thing a man owns. Pushing the sleeves of a knit stretches the cuff and it does not fully recover. Either keep it to denser knits, or accept that sleeve length permanently.
“Pushing back the sleeves of knitwear has the same relaxed effect, but can stretch a sweater, making the sleeve wider and shorter… Best to either always have that length or keep it for denser knits.”
Settled
Not over the cuff
Worth stating once because it comes up. Wearing a watch over the shirt cuff is associated with one man, who did it because his own cuffs were cut too narrow to take a watch underneath. Everyone who writes about clothes agrees it does not transfer.
“I think 'You poor thing' if I see someone doing that.”
How to read the rest
Fit is durable. Silhouette is fashion.
Some of what is written about clothes is permanent and some of it expires. The useful distinction: fit is whether a garment sits correctly — collar against the neck, no strain at the buttons, hem where it belongs. Silhouette is the shape you have chosen, and shapes move on a fifteen to twenty year cycle.
Trouser widths in serious menswear went from about 19cm across the hem in 2013 to about 22cm in 2026. Both were right at the time. Anything in this guide that quotes a width is telling you about now; anything that names a landmark on the body is telling you about always.
“Not everything has to look like it was put on with a vacuum sealer for it to technically 'fit.'”