At a glance
- Forest sells watches in ten types of wood: walnut, ebony, zebrawood, olivewood, maple, whisky-barrel oak, sandalwood, kosso, rosewood and wenge.
- Walnut is the widest choice with seven watches, from £75 to £150. Ebony is the darkest. Maple is the palest.
- Wood alone does not set the price. Walnut runs from £75 to £150, and what moves the number is the case and the movement inside it.
- Five woods come in a case of 40mm or less: walnut at 28mm, zebrawood at 36mm and 39mm, and olivewood, rosewood and ebony at 40mm.
- Dark woods take engraving with more contrast. Pale woods take it softly.
- Every case is reclaimed timber, so two watches in the same wood never match exactly.
- Whichever wood you pick: a wooden gift box, a link-sizing tool, ten trees planted through Tree-Nation, a 2-year warranty, 90-day returns and free UK delivery. Engraving is £25 for up to 50 characters.
Which woods does Forest use?
Forest offers ten types of wood. Here is what each one looks like.
Walnut. Warm mid-brown with a soft, even grain. The wood most people picture when they think of a wooden watch. Seven watches: Woodland, Cobalt, Scout, Bracken, Gale, Raven and Midnight.
Ebony. Near-black and dense. The darkest wood we use, and the one that reads most formal on the wrist. Four watches: Flint, Riverstone, Nightfall and Nordic (pre-order).
Zebrawood. Pale gold streaked with dark stripes. No two cases look alike. Five watches: Harbour, Dusk, Zara, Ember and Alpine (pre-order).
Olivewood. Light honey with swirling darker figure. Soft-looking, and easy to wear with anything. Three watches: Dawn, Ivy and Victoria.
Maple. The palest wood we use. Cream with a gentle grain. One watch: Woodhaven.
Whisky-barrel oak. Reclaimed American white oak from whisky barrels, with a darker, toasted tone. One watch: the Barrel.
Sandalwood. Warm amber with a fine, tight grain. One watch: Hunter.
Kosso. Rich red-brown from East Africa, with a bold, open grain. One watch: Windsor.
Rosewood. Deep reddish brown with dark veins running through it. One watch: Royal.
Wenge. Dark chocolate brown with a straight, coarse grain. One watch: Nightjar.
Those are the ten woods in the range. If a wood is not on that list, Forest does not currently offer a watch in it.
Which woods are the darkest and the palest?
Ebony is the darkest wood in the range and maple is the palest.
Ebony is very nearly black, and it is the one that reads formal. Flint at £85, ebony set in dark steel, is the cheapest way into it, and Nightfall at £80 is the smaller-cased version of the same idea.
Maple is a cream wood, and the only watch in it is Woodhaven at £250, which has an open dial you can see the movement through. The pale case leaves the movement as the thing you notice.
Between those two ends, in rough order from light to dark: maple, olivewood, zebrawood, sandalwood, walnut, kosso, rosewood, whisky-barrel oak, wenge, ebony. The exact colour varies from one piece of wood to another, so read that as a tendency rather than a paint chart.
We have not compared the watches by weight, so we cannot tell you which wood feels lightest on the wrist.
Which wood suits a small wrist?
Five woods come in a case of 40mm or less.
- Walnut at 28mm. Midnight is the smallest watch Forest offers, at £125, on a 16mm strap.
- Zebrawood at 36mm and 39mm. Zara is £120 and Ember is £95.
- Olivewood at 40mm. Dawn at £80, Ivy at £90 and Victoria at £105.
- Rosewood at 40mm. Royal is £95, and it is the only rosewood watch in the range.
- Ebony at 40mm. Nightfall is £80, the same slim shape as Dawn and Dusk.
For a case of 40mm or less, those five woods are the choice.
The test once it is on: the two points where the strap meets the case should sit inside the edges of your wrist rather than hang over them. Everything else is taste.
Which wood suits a large wrist?
Three woods come in the biggest case in the range, 45mm across and 11mm thick.
- Ebony on Riverstone, £220, an automatic with the movement on show.
- Maple on Woodhaven, £250, the same watch in a paler wood.
- Whisky-barrel oak on the Barrel, £260, a chronograph with stopwatch sub-dials.
Below those, most of the men's collection sits at 44mm, which covers walnut, ebony, zebrawood, sandalwood and kosso. Wenge is available on the 42mm Nightjar.
Does the wood change the price?
Wood alone does not set the price. Walnut runs from £75 on Scout to £150 on Woodland, and it is the same wood at both ends. What moves the price is the case and what is inside it.
The two highest-priced watches are Woodhaven at £250 in maple and the Barrel at £260 in whisky-barrel oak. Those are the only two models in either of those woods, so neither price tells you what the timber costs, and the spread inside walnut shows the wood is not the thing setting the number.
Read the price ranges in the table below as what is in the range in that wood, not as what that wood costs. Across the whole range, Forest watches run from £75 to £260.
Which wood is best for engraving?
A dark wood gives more contrast and a pale wood gives something quieter.
The lettering is cut with a laser, which darkens the grain rather than carving into it. So on ebony or wenge the message sits sharp against the wood. On maple, olivewood or zebrawood the contrast is softer and the words read as part of the surface.
Neither is better. A wedding date on ebony is the bolder of the two. The same date on olivewood is something you notice when you turn the watch over, which for a lot of people is the point.
Whichever wood you choose, the offer is the same: engraving is £25 for up to 50 characters, done in our London workshop, and an engraved watch can still be returned within 90 days.
Which wood looks most formal?
Ebony is the most formal wood in the range. Darker woods sit well with a suit, and lighter woods sit well with a t-shirt.
So ebony, wenge, rosewood and whisky-barrel oak lean formal. Maple, olivewood, zebrawood and sandalwood lean casual. Walnut and kosso sit in the middle and go either way, which is part of why walnut is the wood most of our watches come in.
If you want one watch for both jobs, walnut sits in the middle, then check whether a 44mm case suits your wrist. Scout at £75 and Bracken at £100 are the two cheapest ways to try it.
Do two watches in the same wood look the same?
No, and this is worth knowing before you order.
Every case is reclaimed timber. The grain runs where it runs, so two watches cut from different pieces of the same wood come out with different figure and slightly different tone. Zebrawood shows it most, because the stripes are the pattern, and no two sets of stripes land in the same place.
This matters in two situations. If you are buying a pair, the two will be related rather than identical, which most people prefer once they see them. And if you are replacing a watch you already own, expect some variation in grain and tone.
The photographs on each product page are of a real watch, and yours will be its own.
How do you look after each wood?
All ten woods need the same care, whichever one you pick.
- Wipe, do not wash. A soft dry cloth after wear. Nothing wet, nothing soapy.
- Splashes yes, swimming no. These are built for everyday wear, not the pool, the shower or the sea. Take it off first.
- Keep it out of the heat. A hot windowsill or a radiator dries the wood out. The box it came in is the right place overnight.
- Feed it twice a year. A little wood wax on a cloth, worked into the case and the links and buffed off. Keep it off the glass and the crown.
There is no separate routine to learn for a particular wood. The full version, with the fit and the sizing, is on our watch guide.
Which wood should you choose for a gift?
Start with the wrist, then pick the wood.
If you know they wear their watches small, you are choosing between walnut on Midnight, zebrawood on Zara or Ember, olivewood on Dawn, Ivy or Victoria, rosewood on Royal, and ebony on Nightfall. For a subtle, pale look, consider olivewood. For a darker one, ebony.
If you know they wear their watches large, consider ebony for a darker, more conventional look. Flint at £85 is the cheapest way to try it.
If you have no idea, pick a mid-sized case and let the wood set the character. Dawn in olivewood, Dusk in zebrawood and Nightfall in ebony are the same 40mm shape in three different woods, all at £80, and all three appear in both the men's and the women's collection.
If it is a fifth anniversary, any of them. The fifth is the wood one, which is why wooden watches turn up at that anniversary more than any other.
Add the engraving if there is a date attached to the gift. It is £25, and engraved watches carry the same 90-day return window as everything else.
How do the ten woods compare, side by side?
Walnut
Warm mid-brown with a soft, even grain. The wood most people picture when they think of a wooden watch.
Ebony
Near-black and dense. The darkest wood we use, and the one that reads most formal on the wrist.
Zebrawood
Pale gold streaked with dark stripes. No two cases look alike.
Olivewood
Light honey with swirling darker figure. Soft-looking, and easy to wear with anything.
Whisky-barrel oak
Reclaimed American white oak from whisky barrels, with a darker, toasted tone.
See all men's oak watches
Prices and availability below are as of September 2026.
| Wood | Look | Watches | Price | Case sizes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walnut | Warm mid-brown, soft even grain | Scout, Bracken, Cobalt, Gale, Raven, Woodland, Midnight | £75 to £150 | 28mm, 44mm |
| Ebony | Near-black and dense, the darkest | Nightfall, Flint, Riverstone, Nordic (pre-order) | £80 to £220 | 40mm, 44mm, 45mm |
| Zebrawood | Pale gold with dark stripes | Dusk, Ember, Harbour, Zara, Alpine (pre-order) | £80 to £120 | 36mm, 39mm, 40mm, 44mm |
| Olivewood | Light honey, swirling figure | Dawn, Ivy, Victoria | £80 to £105 | 40mm |
| Sandalwood | Warm amber, fine tight grain | Hunter | £85 | 44mm |
| Rosewood | Deep reddish brown, dark veins | Royal | £95 | 40mm |
| Wenge | Dark chocolate, coarse straight grain | Nightjar | £120 | 42mm |
| Kosso | Rich red-brown, bold open grain | Windsor | £150 | 44mm |
| Maple | Cream, the palest we use | Woodhaven | £250 | 45mm |
| Whisky-barrel oak | Toasted, from whisky barrels | Barrel | £260 | 45mm |
The table shows that walnut, ebony and zebrawood offer the widest choice, with sixteen of the twenty-five watches between them. The other six woods have one watch each, so with sandalwood, rosewood, wenge, kosso, maple or whisky-barrel oak you are picking the watch and the wood together.
So which wood should you choose?
Pick by colour first, because that is the thing you will look at every day, then check the case size against the wrist it is going on.
Want dark and formal, ebony. Want pale and easy, olivewood or maple. Want something with a pattern in it, zebrawood. Want one watch that covers most occasions, walnut. Want the one people ask about, the whisky-barrel oak.
If you are still unsure, compare a 40mm olivewood watch with a 44mm walnut one, then choose the size that sits inside the wrist.
Every Forest watch is finished and packed in our London workshop, and engraving is done there too: £25 for up to 50 characters, and an engraved watch can still be returned within 90 days. Every watch plants ten trees through Tree-Nation.
