Collection: Square and Rectangular Watches

Square, rectangular and tank watches

A rectangular case looks dressier than a round one and sits along the wrist instead of across it. This page gathers the square, rectangular and tank-style watches from Citizen, Bulova and Caravelle, with women’s cases from 16 mm wide and men’s from 26.5 mm, plus Bulova’s Curv, whose movement and crystal are both curved.

Women’s rectangles and tanks

Most of the shapes here are women’s, and they go very small. Bulova’s Goddess of Time Sophia is 16 mm wide and 5.25 mm thick under a sapphire crystal. The Bulova Sutton comes as a 21 mm rectangle with a mother-of-pearl dial and Roman numerals, a 23 mm square with soft corners, and a 25 mm rectangle in gold tone or two-tone steel. From Citizen, the L Bianca EW5600-52D is a 21.5 mm Eco-Drive with a mother-of-pearl dial and a curved sapphire crystal, the Small Tank is 23.5 mm on a leather strap, and the Fio, Petite Palidoro and Axiom put a two-hand Eco-Drive movement in slim cases. Caravelle’s Modern is just 17.5 mm wide. The Bulova Sutton page has the rest of that line.

Men’s squares and rectangles

Men’s rectangular watches tend to be slim. The Citizen Square BJ6570-50E is 26.5 mm wide, 28 mm long and 7.25 mm thick, with Eco-Drive and a sapphire crystal. Bulova’s rectangular Classic on leather is 29 mm wide and as thin as 6.9 mm, and the Bulova Quadra and Caravelle Vintage Classic run 30 to 32 mm wide on steel bracelets. The Bulova Series X2 is the exception: a 41 mm square automatic with a skeleton dial. Citizen’s Star Wars ana-digi watches also use a 33.5 mm rectangular case, with a digital chronograph and dual time.

The Bulova Curv

The Curv is here because of its curve: the case itself is round. Bulova built it around what it calls the world’s first curved chronograph movement, under a double-curved sapphire crystal. The Curv 98A162 is a 44 mm five-hand chronograph in titanium and stainless steel, on a black rubber strap with an exhibition screw-back. Its high-performance quartz runs at 262 kHz. It’s rated 30 m, so keep it to splashes and rain.

Getting the size right

A rectangular watch is measured across its width, and because it’s longer than it is wide, it wears larger than that number suggests. The 16 mm Sophia is 24 mm long, and Citizen’s 23.5 mm Small Tank is 35 mm long. Check the length against your wrist as well as the width; our case size guide shows how. Most of these watches are rated 30 m, which in Citizen’s terms means splashes and rain, so take them off to swim. The Citizen Square, the L Bianca and the Star Wars models are rated 50 m and can go swimming.

Questions

What is a tank watch? It’s the usual name for a rectangular dress watch with straight sides. Citizen makes one it calls the Small Tank, 23.5 mm wide on a leather strap.

Which rectangular watches never need a battery? The Citizen Eco-Drive ones: the L Bianca, Small Tank, Fio, Petite Palidoro, Axiom and the men’s Square all charge from light.