Watch Gift Guide: How to Choose a Watch as a Christmas Gift

A watch is one of the few Christmas gifts that gets used every day and, chosen well, gets handed down. It is also easy to get wrong. Here are the five questions I would answer before buying one for someone else, and which of our watches can actually arrive in time.

Five questions before you buy

1. How big is their wrist?

This matters more than anything else. Borrow a watch they already wear and check its case size, or measure their wrist with a strip of paper. As a rough guide, 36mm to 40mm suits most wrists, and anything over 42mm suits larger ones. A steel bracelet can be sized by any watchmaker in a few minutes.

2. What do they wear day to day?

Suits and shirts call for something slim and clean. Jeans, boots and weekends outdoors call for a field, dive or pilot watch. If you are unsure, a steel sports watch on a bracelet works with almost everything.

3. Battery or automatic?

A quartz watch is accurate and easy. An automatic has a mechanical movement that winds itself as you move and can last generations. For a gift that means something, automatic is the better story, and most watch lovers prefer it.

4. What is your budget?

Under a few hundred dollars you are mostly paying for quartz and a brand name. Between roughly US$500 and US$1,500 you can buy a proper automatic with sapphire crystal and real water resistance from an independent brand. Above that, you are increasingly paying for the name on the dial.

5. Does it mean something to them?

The watches people keep for decades usually carry a story: a place, a milestone, a service. That is the reason every Bausele carries a real piece of somewhere sealed in the crown.

Mistakes to avoid

• Guessing the size. Too big is the most common gift regret.
• Buying a smartwatch as a "watch". It is a great gadget, but it will be replaced in three years.
• Leaving it to the last minute. Many independent watches are made to order and will not arrive by Christmas. Check the delivery time before you buy.

Our picks that can arrive in time

• Air Force 5th Generation. In stock and ready to ship from Sydney. The RAAF pilot watch: 42mm, Swiss Sellita SW200-1 automatic, deep blue sunray dial, sapphire crystal, 200m water resistance, and soil from RAAF Base Point Cook, Australia's oldest military air base, sealed in the crown. Limited to 200 individually numbered pieces. A strong pick for anyone who flies, served, or loves aviation.
• A spare strap for the watch lover who has everything: our black rubber strap or beige recycled strap, both for 22mm lug width and in stock.

Worth the wait

Our other watches are made to order, so they will arrive after Christmas, but they make a memorable "it's coming" gift.

• Elemental: our 40mm dive watch with an integrated bracelet and a Swiss automatic movement. The next made-to-order window opens in February 2027.
• Numbered limited editions, including our field watches made with the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Engineers.

Still unsure? Email us at info@bausele.com with their wrist size and style and we will tell you honestly which watch suits them, even if it is not one of ours.