Are dress watches worth it?

A Presage dress dial on a Prospex specification: sapphire, 100m and a 72-hour movement with a published accuracy tolerance, under three years of warranty.

13mm thick — dressy rather than a dress watch, which is exactly why it works as an only watch.

This is the Presage with the Prospex specification sheet: dual-curved sapphire, 100m, 72 hours and a published +25 to -15 seconds a day, on the 6R family's published $296 service path. It is 13mm thick, which is the price of all that on a dress watch.

100m, sapphire and 80 hours at 11.5mm, on a quick-release bracelet that becomes a leather strap for the evening.

The open heart is a taste.

The quick-release bracelet is the detail worth paying for: this is one of the few Swiss automatics at this level you can re-strap in thirty seconds without a tool.

Under 11mm with sapphire, 100m and 80 hours — thin enough for a cuff and tough enough for a swim.

The integrated bracelet cannot become a leather strap.

Tissot publishes a US complete-service price of $210 for a mechanical two-or-three-hand watch, which makes this the most predictable Swiss automatic here to own. The 12mm lug width is not a strap size — the bracelet is part of the case.

The pure dress watch done properly: under 10mm, with sapphire and an 80-hour reserve that survives a weekend in a drawer.

30m — the reason it is a second watch rather than an only one.

Under 10mm thick with 80 hours of reserve is the combination that makes a dress watch practical — put it down on Friday and it is still running Monday. 30m means keep it off in the shower.

The Cocktail Time's dial on the 4R35, with a published $176 overhaul and three years of warranty.

Hardlex, 41 hours and 50m.

The same 4R35 and the same $176 published overhaul as the rest of the Cocktail Time line, with the lug-to-lug published — 47.5mm — so you can check the fit before buying. 50m and Hardlex are the dress-watch trade.