Long, narrow, and slightly impractical
By Priya Nair, Singapore ·
Which is the whole point of the Américaine: it curves. The case bends along its length to follow the wrist, so a watch this long doesn't stick out at the ends the way a flat rectangle would.
The small model is about 18 mm across and 7 mm thick, steel, silver dial, quartz, on a steel bracelet. It's the Tank I'd stack with bangles, narrow enough to sit between two of them without clanking, and it makes a slender wrist look even more slender. With a sleeveless dress in the evening it's exactly right.
My objections are practical. The dial is tiny, so reading minutes takes a moment. The bracelet makes it feel more formal than a Tank needs to be; I'd rather have it on a strap. And at 4,000 to 4,300 dollars it costs more than a Tank Must while being harder to read and harder to resell. Buy it for the shape or don't buy it at all. Larger wrists should look elsewhere: this size simply disappears on them.