That’s right left handed individuals this one is for you. — I had a gentleman come in the other day whose bezel had popped off of his submariner. He complained that he had entirely lost his bezel before and that it has come off several times. I found this a bit odd because it is not a frequent problem. Yes, it happens, but it is usually a rare occurrence which results because of some kind of terrible accident. Then he slipped the watch on his wrist. His right wrist and I figured it out.
A right handed individual usually wears their watch on the left wrist. This places the crown and it’s guards on the exposed side of the wrist. These protrusions actually protect the lip of the bezel from getting knocked and therefore protect the bezel from coming off. When you switch the watch over to the right hand the unprotected side of the watch is out against the hand exposed to the hard knocks of life. Since the bezel protrudes quite a bit it would be much easier for the bezel to get knocked off.
I always assumed that “left-handed watches” were mostly for convenience in winding and setting but I see now that there are other practical advantages to a left-handed watch. Unfortunately there are very few brands who make a left-handed wristwatch. Rolex isn’t one of them, but Panerai is.
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2 Comments
Would you have a left-handed watch simply by rotating the dial 180 degrees? I realize the dial feet positions may not allow this, but is it easy to do on at least *some* models?
ok, so your winding direction is reversed, and the buckle needs flipping, but still…
There are very few watches with symmetrical arrangements of dial feet. Rolexes are not one of them. You couldn’t just turn the dial around. You would have to change the dial feet positions.
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