If you’re adjusting the cuffs of your dress shirt to be fairly tight to your wrists and consistently wear a watch on your left or right wrist, you may want to consider specifying a watch allowance.

How dress shirt watch allowance works

Selecting a watch allowance allows you to make the left or right cuff .25″, .5″ or .75″ larger than the other cuff so that it can slide over your watch comfortably. You’ll want to specify the watch allowance for the wrist that will have the watch (obviously).

Choosing the right amount of watch allowance

Selecting between .25″, .5″ and .75″ will depend on the size of your watch, and how tight you’re making the cuffs in general. If you’re keeping the cuffs fairly loose you may not need a watch allowance at all. However, if you notice that the cuff of your watch hand is annoyingly not sliding over your watch, you will want to make this cuff larger. We generally find that .25″ is enough extra space for slim, dressy watches, but if you have a dive watch or otherwise particularly large watch you might need the .5″ to .75″ difference.

Selecting a two-button cuff for versatility

One trick we’ve found that works well for guys that have extra large watches they sometimes wear, is to choose a two-button cuff style cuff instead of our one-button options. With a two-button cuff, you are able to button the back button on the cuff only, such that the cuff can more easily open around a larger watch.