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Men: 38mm or 42mm?

  • 38mm

    Votes: 414 34.8%
  • 42mm

    Votes: 777 65.2%

  • Total voters
    1,191
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The Golden Ratio and most of my current watches say I should wear 38mm; the try-on and wife, however, say I should wear 42mm, pictured. Sport SG ordered.
 

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  • AppleWatchTryOn.jpeg
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People saying 38mm is small like the 4mm difference is an obviously noticeable difference or something.. #

It's all about wrist size.
 
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Oh, I forgot to mention that. My wrist size is 160.


also what size is the watch?

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People saying 38mm is small like the 4mm difference is an obviously noticeable difference or something.. #

It's all about wrist size.


exactley people are crazy and if i hear one more time that the 38mm is for women i will scream. i know women with bigger wrists than some men.
 
cubedude - I think the 42 looks better on you, but only my opinion.

I think we can exactly think of these as traditional watches. I'm finding, in images, a 42mm in Apple Watch doesn't look as extreme as a 42mm in a traditional watch on the market.
 
I've ordered a 42mm Space Grey :apple: Sports Watch and was worried I may have made the wrong choice. But then I went to my local :apple: store and tried on the 42mm version. I was surprised at how well it actually fit. I then asked to try on a 38mm version and before the strap was done up i decided there was no point as I could tell it would be way to small.
 
To the people who already wear a 38mm traditional watch,
did the 38mm Apple watch feel smaller on your wrist or just right?
 
To me it very much depends on the band used. I've a 170mm wrist (ish). Placing a credit card over the top show a tiny bit of wrist top and bottom as my forearm curves away, making my wrist the shape of an elliptic cylinder - so the protruding part i can see top and bottom of the card is not the flat of my wrist, but it's the sides pushing out toward the 'horizon point' of the wrist curve.


I tried on the 38mm and 42mm link bracelets.

Both looked good - but the 38mm looked a little small for my wrist. The 42mm fitted well though. The Link bracelet, given its construction, allowed 5-10mm of bracelet to still be visible top and bottom of the watch, as it curved downward and behind the wrist. As such, the watch face looks slightly smaller, and the wrist is visible to the left and right of the protruding visible parts of the bracelet.

I tried the milanese loop on the 42mm bracelet and I could not get the same effect - the band is a lot thinner and it effectively 'descends' sharply from the top and bottom of the watch at a steep angle - you don't get the curve of links disappearing over the 'horizon' of the top and bottom of the wrist. As such the watch face looks bigger, taller and a little too big for my wrist

I tried the sport watch, both sizes and for the larger size, i had much the same effect as the milanese loop - the strap dropped back a little too quickly, and not enough of the watch band was visible when looking front on.

Ultimately having tried the watch on in person _four times_ now (i live near an apple store) the more I see it the more crazy huge it looks in photos on here, especially well taken, 'macro photographs', when compared to how it looks fine real life.

I'd definitely suggest trying it on a few times and taking a look in a mirror or holding your arm away from you. Or having someone else wear it with you.
 
I just turned 14 and still have pretty small wrists. I was trying to justify buying the 42mm on my wrists which are 150mm in circumference and 50mm in width so that I could get a leather loop. The combo down here is what I pre-ordered with a June delivery date, the 42mm black sport with a separate bright blue leather loop.

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PoWOjPp.jpg


After looking at the real size photos again on the Apple Store app though, I decided to go for another try-on to make sure I made the right decision. The lady helping was super nice, but gave me the wrong advice and said the 42mm looked fine on me. :eek: I believed her and kept it.

Then, yesterday, when I was at the mall and a friend wanted to go to the Apple store to see the Watches, I tried them on again and finally decided that the 38mm was the right one for me, which I should have known from the beginning. Sorry I don't have a picture, but I canceled my order and ordered the 38mm SS with the white sport band, which the Apple guy assured me wouldn't get dirty.

One of the other things that was keeping me from the 38mm too was that I was growing and I thought I would grow out of it, but reading this thread makes me realize that the 38mm might even still be the right choice in 2 years, so thank you!

Now I've got a May 21-June 4 delivery date, too, though, so that's good!

To all of you, though, don't let the bigger screen size or access to the leather loop band cloud your judgment. First thing is making it look good on you, size-wise. If you ordered either one and are having doubts, go try them on again at the Apple Store and have pictures taken of your wrists from close and far away. It helps.
 
I went to a try on yesterday for the first time. I admit I was rather surprised that the 42mm did seem smaller than I thought it would, even though almost everyone has said that. Still, once I tried the 38mm it was no question I made the right choice for my personal taste.

My biggest disappointment is that none of the actually usable demos that you could play with were the 38mm model, so I couldn't get a decent idea of how much harder the 38mm is to use.
 
I went to a try on yesterday for the first time. I admit I was rather surprised that the 42mm did seem smaller than I thought it would, even though almost everyone has said that. Still, once I tried the 38mm it was no question I made the right choice for my personal taste.

My biggest disappointment is that none of the actually usable demos that you could play with were the 38mm model, so I couldn't get a decent idea of how much harder the 38mm is to use.
Yes! That was my concern too.
 
I've ordered a 42mm Space Grey :apple: Sports Watch and was worried I may have made the wrong choice. But then I went to my local :apple: store and tried on the 42mm version. I was surprised at how well it actually fit. I then asked to try on a 38mm version and before the strap was done up i decided there was no point as I could tell it would be way to small.

A mistake a lot of people make. You need to try both on.
 
I was really skeptical of the 42 until this afternoon. I visited the Apple Store and tried on both. I had preordered the 38 in space gray. The 42 looked so much better on my wrist (170mm) that I changed my order. June now!
 
38 vs 42

The pictures definitely do not tell the whole story. In pictures, the 38mm looks better on my 150mm wrists (50mm wide). But in real life, the 38 looks small. The problem is that photos only represent the watch in 2D and make it look like it covers more of the wrist than it really does. After I put on the 42mm, the 38mm looked like a kids watch.

But yes, this thread is making me second guess my decision. I bought both sizes on launch day as insurance.
 
So funny seeing all the 38mm guys who can't bare the thought of re-ordering the 42mm and waiting months justifying their original choice. I wonder how much of a bitter pill it will be to swallow a few months down the line when people keep asking why they are wearing the girls version ;)
 
So funny seeing all the 42mm guys who can't bare the thought of re-ordering the 38mm and waiting months justifying their original choice. I wonder how much of a bitter pill it will be to swallow a few months down the line when people keep asking why they are wearing Flavor Fav's version ;)
 
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