There is a huge range of watches for boys, but if you want to purchase something for your nephew who’s 4 or for your son who’s 16, you’ll need to consider completely different watches.
- Watches For Boys Under 6
Nowadays, young children are surrounded by digital clocks, but it’s a basic necessity that they learn to read an analog (traditional) clock face. In the UK, school children aged 5-6 are taught to read a traditional clock face, and tell the time to the hour and half hour. However, for the majority of children at this age, reading and understanding 5 past, 10 past etc is going to be beyond them. Hence a watch for a 5 to 6 year old may just frustrate them rather than help them.
- Watches For Boys Aged 7 to 9
By this age, boys will be mastering the art of telling the time, so it makes perfect sense to purchase them a watch. However, choose a traditional clock face rather than a digital watch if you want to help them reinforce their time telling skills.
The best boys watches for this age group will:
– have a very simple design, showing the hours 1 to 12 clearly
– be easy to read, minutes (0 to 60, in intervals of 5). Many watches geared to this age group have these numbers outside the main dial, to make it easy for the wearer to differentiate between hours and minutes
– have numbers as digits, not Roman numerals
– have an easy close strap eg. with velcro, making things easy for small hands
– be waterproof
– have a nice colour or theme that appeals to boys and will ensure they are happy to wear the watch
– be inexpensive; youngsters are more likely to break or mislay their watch
For example:
Misskt Outdoors Watch with Velcro Strap
Easy to read dial, large minute numbers and an easy to fasten velcro strap. Read more about this watch on Amazon.
Batman Kids’ Time Teacher Watch with Canvas Band
A Batman lover’s delight! Bold black with a yellow canvas strap, easy to read dial, and the watch face hands are helpfully labelled “hours” and “minutes”. Read more about this watch on Amazon.
Timex Children’s Quartz Watch with Resin Strap
A bright turquoise watch and strap, easy to read digits and luminous hands for low-light viewing. Read more about this watch on Amazon.
- Watches For Boys Aged 10 to 13
By this age, telling the time on analog watches will be a breeze: either in digits or Roman Numerals. You’ll have far more scope in your choice of boys watches for this age group – so it is more about matching the look of the watch to the young man.
It’s still sensible to choose a robust, waterproof model (this age group of boys is still very much into rough and tumble play) and to choose a watch that is the right size for the boy’s wrist. The amount you want to pay depends on whether you think the boy will look after it well … or not so well
Wolfteeth Analog Quartz Boys Wrist
This is a step up from the more “time-teacher” watches recommended for younger boys. It looks smart, has a backlight button to light up the watch and is water resistant. Read more about this watch on Amazon.
Lorus Boys’ Watch R2363LX9
This slightly bulky, bold black and red watch is ideal for pre-teens who want to look modern and stylish. Read more about this watch here.
- Watches For Boys Aged 13-17
At this age, boys are going to be just as interested in having something stylish on their wrist, as well as telling the time. They may prefer a digital watch rather than an analog one; no doubt influenced by what their peers are wearing!
Here are some great ideas:
Ravel Boy’s Silicon Sports Watch
Available in different colours, although the grey design definitely has an understated sophistication that teens will love – it certainly doesn’t look like a kids watch. Read more about this watch here.
Ben Sherman Boy’s Watch BSK002USM G
A super classy boy’s watch with a metal strap which will make them look and feel like an adult. Read more about this watch on Amazon.
There are so many watches for boys to choose from, but it’s so important to pick the right watch for the right age of the child. The ideas above should have given you plenty to think about as you start your journey to purchasing a new watch.