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How this works

Two pages do the work here: Search, for finding watches that already exist, and the Builder, for drawing the one you have in mind and seeing what comes closest. Here is how to get around both.

Search

Search is the fastest way in. You narrow the catalog down with filters on the left, and the watches that match appear on the right as you go — there's no search button to press and nothing to submit.

Showing and hiding the filters

The filters live in a column down the left-hand side, under the heading Refine. You can push them out of the way whenever you'd rather look at watches.

On a phone there's no column to hide — the filters sit above the results instead, and the same button collapses them.

  • ‹The small arrow next to Refine slides the whole column away, and the results stretch out to fill the space.
  • FiltersA Filters button appears above the results to bring the column back. It carries a number when you've got filters applied, so hiding them never hides the fact that they're on.
  • The column stays with you as you scroll down the results. If the filters themselves are taller than the screen, scrolling inside the column moves only the column — the watches stay where they are.

How the filters work

The filters are sorted into four groups — Watch, Dial, Band and Movement — and you open a group by clicking its heading. Watch and Dial start open, because between them they hold the things most people reach for first.

Everything stacks. Pick a brand and a case shape and you get watches that are both, not either. Nothing you pick ever needs applying or confirming; the results catch up on their own.

  • Every option tells you how many watches it will find before you pick it. Round (20,427) is going to leave you plenty; Television (1) is going to leave you one. It's there so you can see a dead end coming.
  • Dial color Green ×Anything you've set turns into a chip above the results. Click the × on a chip to drop just that one filter and leave the rest alone.
  • A group heading grows a small number when it's holding a filter, so you can tell at a glance that something's set inside a group you've closed.
  • Clear criteriaClear criteria at the bottom of the column drops everything at once and starts you over.
  • The chips at the very top — Under 36 mm, Green dials and the rest — are shortcuts. They set a search in one click, which is a gentler way in than facing twelve empty filters.

Worth knowing

A few things that took some thought to build, and that are easy to walk straight past.

  • Case shapes are drawn rather than named. You don't need to know what Dodecagonal or Tonneau means — you can just look at the thirteen little outlines and pick the one you like. The names are still there for when you want them.
  • Any sizeThe case size filter has a chart of the whole catalog sitting behind it. That big hill around 40 mm is where most watches actually live, so you can see right away whether the range you're about to ask for has much in it. Any size clears it again.
  • Dial color is eighteen swatches. Hover over one — or tab to it — and it tells you which color it is and how many watches have it, which saves squinting at the difference between silver and gray.
  • Pick a brand first and the movement maker list quietly narrows to the houses that brand actually uses. There are 130 makers in the catalog and Hamilton doesn't use most of them, so there's no sense making you scroll past them.
  • Your filters live in the web address. Copy the URL out of the bar and you've got a link to exactly the search you're looking at — send it to someone, or bookmark it. No account needed for that one.

Saving a search

If you've built up a search worth keeping, you can name it and come back to it later. You'll need to be signed in — the buttons only appear once you are.

  1. Set up the search you want. The save button stays grayed out until there's something in it worth saving.
  2. Save this searchPress Save this search, give it a name you'll recognize later, and save.
  3. Saved searchesTo go back to one, open the Saved searches list and choose it. Your filters snap back to how you left them. They're also all listed on your profile.
  4. The catalog changes underneath you — brands get renamed, movements get merged. If a saved search mentions something that's since gone, that part is quietly dropped instead of breaking the whole thing, and we tell you which part went.

Building a lineup

When you've found a few watches you want to look at side by side, you can pull them out into their own window and arrange them however you like.

  1. Check the box on any watch in the results. It works the same in the gallery and in the table.
  2. 3 selectedA bar appears telling you how many you've picked, with a menu beside it reading Do this with the selection.
  3. ApplyLeave the menu on Build a lineup and press Apply. Your picks open in a window of their own, laid out as tiles.
  4. Now drag the tiles around until the order suits you — smallest to largest, or by color, or however you're thinking about them. If you'd rather not drag: tab to a tile, press Enter to pick it up, move it with the arrow keys, and press Enter again to put it down.
  5. Clear selectionClose the window when you're done. Your boxes stay checked, so you can open the lineup again or add another watch to it. Clear selection empties them.

Builder

The builder asks the same question as search, from the other end. Instead of describing what you're after with filters, you build it — and then ask the catalog what comes closest.

Building a watch

Down the left are the parts of a watch: Case, Bezel, Scale, Dial, Band and Movement. Work through them in any order you like, picking materials, shapes, colors and finishes. The watch in the middle updates as you go.

It's the same idea as the filter column in search, and it behaves much the same way — the difference is that you're describing one specific watch rather than narrowing down a list.

Moving it around in the light

This is the part worth actually playing with. Drag the watch to turn it over.

Materials don't really show themselves standing still. Brushed steel and polished steel look nearly identical head-on and completely different the moment they move; a sunburst dial only does its trick when the light sweeps across it; gold reads quite differently against a black bezel than a white one. Turning the watch is how you find that out before you go looking for a real one.

If dragging isn't convenient there are Rotate left, Rotate right, Tilt up and Tilt down buttons underneath, and a Reset to put it back where it started.

If your browser can't do 3D, everything else on the page still works — including the search.

Finding real watches like it

Once the watch on screen looks like the one in your head, press Find matching watches. We rank real references in the catalog against what you built and list them underneath, closest first.

You won't usually get an exact match, and that's exactly the point — you'll get the handful of real watches that come nearest, which is often more useful than the thing you drew.

Search the catalog takes you over to the filters instead, and Copy link puts a link to your build on the clipboard so you can send it to someone.

Saving a build

Builds save exactly the way searches do. Sign in, press Save this build, give it a name, and it's in the Saved builds list and on your profile whenever you want it back.

The save button stays grayed out until you've actually changed something — an untouched builder has nothing to record.