A HODINKEE Vintage Valentine's Day Gift Guide: Men's Watches For Women

February 12, 2011

A "Tiffany's" retailed Submariner, A Perfect Gift For Your Lady This Valentine's DayValentine's day is a day for the expression of love and devotion - often in the form of gifts. Now we thought wed be all community minded and make a few suggestions in case you were struggling to find the perfect gift for that special lady in your life. Now we arent going to suggest roses, chocolates, or champagne, but something that is personal, precious and perhaps surprising - were going to step way out on a limb and suggest that a watch would make a great Valentine's gift. However we are going a bit left of center and steering away from those watches marketed specifically to women, not that there arent some great and very appropriate options there, many of them incorporating diamonds. Its just that we think that there are a lot of women out there wearing mens' watches, and wearing them very well.The first suggestion weve got for you is a classic; the Rolex Submariner.?The Rolex sub has got it all going on in the classy lady gift stakes, timeless design, versatility and (dare we say it?) elegant simplicity. But dont just take out word for it, open any fashion magazine, or head on over to somewhere like The Sartorialist and there are elegantly dressed women the world over sporting them. Now for extra romantic cred the sub you get should also come from a top end jeweler, such as this one from Cartier we showed you a little while ago. If you dont quite fancy putting such a high price on love, how about this (not particularly vintage) little number from Tiffany & Co? Though to be honest, if we were doing the gifting, wed stick with something like this tried and true 5512.The second watch wed like to suggest is a little bit more of a refined beauty (see, the valentines day parallels are just too good) If youre after a dressier option vintage really is the way to go. Vintage gold. Complicated vintage gold. The really great thing about vintage watches is that size is far less of an issue (ahem) if youre buying a watch for a womans wrist than for a male one - 33 C 36mm is a great size for many women. For this sort of watch youre really spoiled for choice, but we think the smiling moon and fancy lugs on this Ebel would look particularly lovely. Our final suggestion for a gift to demonstrate the depth of your feelings for your significant other comes from the trenches of World War One (insert Love is a Battlefield pun here). Trench watches are transitional watches, owing more to pocket watches than with what we would more commonly recognize a wristwatch. As such they are often quite petite and come on very slender straps. We think this makes trench watches a unique option with a great sense of history. This lovely sterling silver cased Rolex is a case in point. But, word from the wise, maybe dont bring up the Somme on Valentines Day.So there you go, just a few examples as to why we think a vintage watch is the perfect Valentines Day gift. Now get out there and buy something!