If you belong to the roughly 10% of people in the world who only use their left hand, you’re out of luck. With a traditional watch, you actually only have one choice for the most convenient use: to wear it on your dominant wrist. A few prominent watch companies over the years responded to the cries of their left-handed collectors by developing a several “destro” watch models that catered to sophisticated lefties. Destro is an Italian word meaning “right,” hence the crown is placed on the left so the wearer can display their watch on their non-dominant right hand. After carefully examining the available options, our Swiss-trained watch repair experts came up with a list of their top five left-handed watches:
1. Rolex GMT-Master II Green Left-Handed “Sprite”
Granted, famous southpaw Charlie Chaplin owned the very first left-handed Rolex in 1945, but that was only because Rolex had it custom-made for him. This past Spring at Watches and Wonders 2022, Rolex made history by introducing its first destructive timepiece for the general public, a lefty version of the GMT-Master II.
2. IWC Big Pilot’s Watch “Right Hander”
The Big Pilot’s Watch, which debuted in 2019 and measures an enormous 46.2mm, is the biggest watch on our list. IWC’s proprietary 52010 caliber movement, Pellaton automated winding, protection from magnetic fields and pressure loss, and a 7-day power reserve are just a few of its fascinating features.
3. Panerai Luminor Left-Handed 8 Days
Left-handed timepieces have a long history with Panerai. For the divers in the Italian navy, the Italian watchmaker developed a left-handed version of the watch in the 1940s. Others just wanted to wear their watches on the right to free up their left wrists for other mission-critical devices like depth gauges and compasses, while some were left-handed.
For left divers who want to experience the professional quality of a Panerai diving watch without having to pay the extra time and money to special order a left-handed one, the Luminor Left-Handed marks a significant advancement.
4. Tudor Pelagos LHD “Left-Hand Drive”
Tudor’s professional dive watch line’s left-handed version, the Pelagos LHD, was introduced in 2016. This mechanical marvel, which is housed in a sturdy 42mm titanium and steel casing, has a self-winding movement with a 70-hour power reserve and is water resistant to 500 meters.
5. Tag Heuer Monaco Calibre 11
The Monaco Calibre 11 is a necessary addition to any list of watches suitable for southpaws. When he wore the unusually square watch on his right wrist in the 1969 racing movie Le Mans, actor Steve McQueen helped make it famous. Tag Heuer’s more recent versions of this renowned watch remain absolutely true to their original, elegant form, with the crown on the left and chronograph pushers on the right. However, one does question whether Tag Heuer had left-handed people in mind while developing the Monaco Calibre 11. According to their website, they might have changed the design more to show how an automatic movement rendered human winding obsolete.
source: https://www.timesticking.com/5-timepieces-every-lefty-should-consider-owning/
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