How Should A Wooden Watch Fit, And How Do You Size One?

At a glance

• A watch fits when one finger slides under the strap and two do not, and the case sits just above your wrist bone without sliding down onto your hand.
• To measure your wrist, wrap a strip of paper round it just above the bone, mark where it overlaps and lay it against a ruler. No ruler? A bank card is 8.5cm wide.
• 24 of Forest's 25 watches are on a link bracelet, which you shorten by taking links out with the link-sizing tool that comes in every box. Scout is on a nylon strap and adjusts at the buckle.
• Link bracelets usually have a small arrow on the inside of the links that come out, showing which way the pin pushes out. Keep every link and pin you remove, because they go back in the same way.
• Forest case sizes run from 28mm (Midnight) to 45mm (Barrel, Riverstone and Woodhaven), and strap widths from 16mm to 22mm.
• You do not need a jeweller. A watch shop will do it while you wait if you would rather not do it yourself.

How should a watch fit on your wrist?

A watch fits when it stays where you put it without pinching: it can turn a little, it does not slide down onto the back of your hand, and it does not leave a deep mark when you take it off.

That test applies to any watch, but a wooden one is light, so a fit on the loose side does not swing about or knock against the wrist bone the way a heavy steel bracelet can. There is no reason to wear it tight to stop it moving. If it feels tight, it is too tight.

The other half of fit is the case size. The two points where the strap meets the case should sit inside the edges of your wrist rather than hang over them. A strap can be shortened and a case cannot, so the case is the part to get right before you order.

How tight should a wooden watch be?

Use the one-finger test: with the watch closed on your wrist, one finger should slide under the strap and two should not.

If two fingers go under easily, the watch will slide down towards your hand. If one finger will not go under, it is too tight, and you will feel it by the end of the day.

Wrists are slightly bigger in warm weather and after exercise, and slightly smaller in the cold. A watch that fits on a cold morning with no room to spare will feel tight on a hot afternoon, so when you are choosing between two settings, the looser one is usually the better choice.

Should a watch sit above or below the wrist bone?

Just above it, on the arm side. That is where most people wear a watch, and it is where to measure.

The wrist bone is the knob on the outside of your wrist, on the little-finger side. Worn just above it, the bone acts as a stop and keeps the watch from sliding down onto your hand. Worn on top of it, the case presses on the bone and rubs. Worn below it, on the hand side, the watch digs in every time you bend your wrist.

How do you measure your wrist for a watch?

With a strip of paper and a ruler.

1. Cut a strip of paper about 1cm wide.
2. Wrap it round your wrist just above the wrist bone, where the watch will sit. Snug, not tight.
3. Mark where the end overlaps.
4. Lay it flat against a ruler and read off the length to your mark. That number is your wrist size.

No ruler? A bank card is 8.5cm wide, so you can step it along the strip. A soft tape measure is easier still.

If you are buying for someone else and cannot measure them, a watch they already wear is the next best thing. Close its clasp or buckle on the hole they use and measure round the inside with the same strip of paper.

Forest has not yet published a smallest or largest wrist for each watch. If your number looks unusual in either direction, send it to support@theforestwatches.com with the watch you have in mind, and you will get an answer before you order.

What case size suits my wrist?

Start from your wrist measurement, then check the case against the edges of your wrist once it is on.

• Under 15cm: 28mm to 36mm. Midnight or Zara.
• 15cm to 17cm: 36mm to 40mm. Zara, Ember, Ivy, Royal, Victoria, Dawn, Dusk or Nightfall.
• 17cm to 19cm: 40mm to 44mm. Most of the men's collection, or the 40mm watches if you like a smaller face.
• Over 19cm: 44mm and 45mm. Riverstone, Woodhaven, Barrel, or any of the 44mm watches.

These bands are a starting point, not a rule. Once the watch is on, the two points where the strap meets the case should sit inside the edges of your wrist. If they hang over, the case is too big for you. If you wear shirts with cuffs, nine Forest watches are 8.4mm deep, which slides under a cuff easily. The deepest are 12mm.

The men's and women's watch guide goes through every case size in the range and which wrist it suits.

How wide is the strap on each Forest watch?

Forest straps come in five widths, from 16mm to 22mm, and the width stays the same however many links you take out.

• 16mm: Midnight, the smallest watch in the range at 28mm across.
• 18mm: Ember, Ivy, Royal and Victoria.
• 20mm: Dawn, Dusk, Nightfall, Zara, Nightjar and Nordic.
• 21mm: Flint, on its steel and ebony bracelet.
• 22mm: Alpine, Barrel, Bracken, Cobalt, Gale, Harbour, Hunter, Raven, Riverstone, Scout, Windsor, Woodhaven and Woodland.

Width is about looks, not fit. A narrow strap looks neat on a slim wrist, and a wide one balances a larger case. Length is the part you adjust.

How do you remove links from a wooden watch strap?

With the link-sizing tool that comes in the box, at a kitchen table, in a few minutes.

1. Work out how many links to take out. Put the watch on, close the clasp, and pinch the spare bracelet together under your wrist. Count how many links you can gather up while still fitting one finger underneath.
2. Lay the bracelet on a soft cloth. The pins are small, and a cloth stops them rolling away and stops the wood getting scratched.
3. Find the arrows. Turn the bracelet over. On most link bracelets, the links that come out have a small arrow on the inside showing which way the pin travels.
4. Push the pin out with the tool, in the direction of the arrow. Go slowly. The pin should slide out with steady, gentle pressure.
5. Take links from both sides of the clasp. If you need to lose two links, take one from each side, so the clasp stays centred under your wrist rather than drifting round to the side.
6. Join the bracelet back up and push the pin back in until it sits flush with the wood. A pin left standing slightly proud will catch on a sleeve and work its way loose.
7. Try it on and do the one-finger test. If it is still loose, repeat.

Put the links and pins you took out back in the box. You may want them one day.

Which way do the pins come out?

In the direction of the arrow on the inside of the link, where there is one. Push with the arrow, never against it.

The pins in a link bracelet are usually made to grip at one end, which is why the direction matters. Pushed the right way, they slide out with steady pressure. Pushed the wrong way, they jam. When you put a pin back, it goes in from the other side, so it grips where it was made to grip. Push it until it is flush.

If a pin will not move with steady pressure, stop. Check the arrow, check the tool is lined up with the pin, and try again gently. If it still will not move, hand it to a watch shop rather than push harder. Wooden links are held by small pins, and forcing one is how a bracelet that was fine gets broken.

Can you add links back?

Yes, as long as you kept the ones you took out. Putting a link back is the same job in reverse, using the same tool.

Keep every link and pin in the watch box. Wrists change over the years, watches get passed on to someone with a bigger wrist, and sometimes you take one link too many. With the spares kept together, each of those is a quick job.

If you have a choice, put links back in the same order and on the same side they came from, so the grain pattern lines up as it did before. The wood varies from piece to piece, and the links from one bracelet match each other better than links from another would.

Forest does not list spare links for sale. If you have lost the links you took out, email support@theforestwatches.com and ask before you buy anything elsewhere.

Do I need to take it to a jeweller?

No. Every Forest watch box carries a link-sizing tool, and most people can size a wooden bracelet at home in a few minutes.

A watch shop is still a good choice if you would rather not handle small pins yourself. Our care article suggests exactly that, and most shops will do it while you wait. Ask them to give you back the links they remove.

What if my wrist is between sizes?

Choose the slightly looser fit. A link bracelet shortens one link at a time, so sometimes one link out is too loose and the next is too tight. You have three options.

• Leave it a link loose. A light wooden watch wears comfortably with a little movement, and you will be glad of the room on a warm day.
• Take the extra link from one side only. It moves the clasp slightly off centre, which some people notice and some do not.
• Wear it a little further up the arm. The forearm widens as it goes up, so a watch that is loose just above the wrist bone may sit well a finger's width higher.

If you are between two case sizes rather than two strap lengths, go back to the edges-of-the-wrist test. If the larger case stays inside the edges of your wrist, it will fit. If you are still unsure, Dawn, Dusk and Nightfall are 40mm, a middle size in the range, and are listed in both the men's and the women's collections.

Do leather and nylon straps size differently?

Yes. A leather or nylon strap adjusts at the buckle, so nothing comes off and no tool is needed.

Forest does not currently sell a watch on a leather strap. The one watch that is not on a link bracelet is Scout, at £75, which wears a hard-wearing blue nylon strap. You adjust Scout at the buckle, the way you would a belt, until it passes the one-finger test. The case is still wood, so the care is the same as for the rest of the range.

If you have an Apple Watch, the Wood Link strap sizes like the watch bracelets, by taking links out. Its own strap guide walks through it.

Can you buy a wooden watch as a gift without knowing their wrist size?

Yes. The bracelet length is the easy part, because it adjusts, and the tool to adjust it is in the box.

The case size is the part to think about. If you know they wear their watches small, look at the 28mm to 40mm cases in the women's collection. If you know they wear them large, the 44mm and 45mm cases in the men's. If you have no idea, Dawn, Dusk and Nightfall are the same slim 40mm shape in three woods, at £80 each, and sit in both collections.

If it does not suit them, every Forest watch can be returned within 90 days in the UK, engraved watches included, with a prepaid return label.

How do the strap types compare, side by side?

Details below are as of September 2026.

A link bracelet takes a few minutes to set up once. A buckle strap takes a few seconds every time.

So how should your wooden watch fit?

One finger under the strap, the case just above the wrist bone, and the edges of the case inside the edges of your wrist.

Measure with a strip of paper, pick a case that suits the number, then take out links with the tool in the box until the one-finger test passes. Keep the spare links, and if you are between two settings, choose the looser one.

Every Forest watch comes in a wooden gift box with a link-sizing tool, a 2-year warranty, free UK delivery and 90-day returns, and every watch plants ten trees through Tree-Nation. Every watch is finished and packed in our London workshop, and engraving is done there too: £25 for up to 50 characters. The watch guide has the case sizes and the care routine on one page.