DRESS Watches are Back - The Top Dress Watches To Buy in 2025

Tim Mosso's recent reflections on luxury watches include an incontrovertible fact: dress watches are back! From Audemars Piguet to Patek Philippe to Vacheron Constantin - the entire "holy trinity" - dress watches are becoming more versatile and usable in casual life. Independents like F.P. Journe, Gronefeld, and Greubel Forsey are sending the same message; wear a dress watch anywhere, any time. The original wristwatch was an elegant companion for man or woman in daily life. As the public domain became more casual and Rolex became dominant in the luxury watch space, Rolex-style dive watches, pilot's watches, and field watches became accepted standards in offices and social scenes around the world. But over the last fifteen years, watches not designed for driving, aviation, and Scuba diving have made a comeback thanks to innovation by watchmakers and an evolution in taste by watch collectors. In 2022, Patek Philippe launched the Calatrava 5226G, an ideal example of a versatile dress watch. Thin, white gold, and 30-meters water resistant, there was no doubt that the 5226G was a dress watch. But, at the same time, its 40mm size is robust, the fully luminescent dial is as potent as any dive watch. The "textured charcoal" dial is a rustic departure from delicate opaline or sunburst treatments. And the razor-sharp case design is stridently aggressive. This is a dress watch to wear everywhere but the shower, the pool, and the ocean. The same year - 2022 - Audemars Piguet launched