It seems that fewer people are wearing a watch nowadays than at any time since the Fifties. Or at least fewer men are, because wrist watches are just as popular with women as ever they were. This is almost certainly because women regard their wrist watch as a style accessory too as a timepiece.

Men are also likely to have a formal watch, but only wear it if they go somewhere nice. This is in spite of the fact that there are not many articles of jewelry that men may wear in the traditional sense. The cell phone is apparently to blame for this transformation in inclination.

Luckily, there are thousands of ladies’ wrist watches to choose from in a price range from cheap to shocking. There are fantastic styles and even numerous colours.

Traditional watches were gold or golden, silver or silver-coloured or stainless steel, but these days you can purchase a wrist watch in practically any colour you want.

Swiss watches have the best reputation in the world and, in fact, it was a Swiss company that first brought out the coloured plastic watches called Swatch. At least one model came with a set of interchangeable different coloured bezels that can be clipped over the face of the watch so that ladies can match the colour of their watch with their dress or bag.

This was a great idea as Swiss watches are not cheap and before the Swatch, having half a dozen Swiss watches for different outfits represented a sizable investment, especially if you wanted the well-known names like Patek Philippe, Rolex, Omega, Longines, Breitling or Tag Heuer.

Ladies wrist watches also make fantastic gifts. The present of a watch is difficult to misinterpret as watches come in prices and materials to suit any occasion and can suggest emotions ranging from love to affection and gratitude to respect or recognition of an accomplishment.

Because ladies see their wrist watch as an accessory to their appearance, you have to be considerate when purchasing one. For example, many people will not wear gold and silver together. If you are purchasing for a lady that wears lots of silver, there is not much point getting her a gold watch.

The starting point when purchasing a ladies wrist watch is naturally how much you would like to spend. You do not really have to spend a lot to buy something lovely. Then think of where and when you want it to be worn.

Is it to be a watch for every day or a dress watch? After all, a bottle-washer is hardly likely to want to wear an Omega to work even if it is water-resistant.

If you are going for a watch for all day use, you should do some research, check the prices and then look on eBay or Amazon, where you can save money, but you have to beware of copies. If you are going for a costly Swiss ladies’ wrist watch, then it is more prudent to go to an authorized dealer in town.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with luxury Swiss watches. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Jewellry but Watches.