Excellanc Women's Two-Tone Stainless Steel Watch

A women's watch on a stretch strap, with no buckle to fasten

Buying a watch online usually means guessing your wrist size, then having the excess links taken out at a jeweller's. This one drops that step. The bracelet is made of flat steel links joined by an internal spring: you pull it open, slide your hand through, and it closes onto the wrist by itself. Nothing to fasten, nothing to size. If that is how you like to wear a watch, the rest of the stretch strap range is worth a look.

How the expanding bracelet sits on the wrist

At 11 mm across, the strap stays narrow enough to read as jewellery rather than as sports kit. Because the links flex, the bracelet follows the wrist instead of sliding around on it, which you notice in warm weather, when wrists swell a little. Putting the watch on and taking it off several times a day stops being a chore.

Blue dial, silver and gold case

The 26 mm round case is silver on the outside, with a gold-coloured ring set around the glass. Inside sits a deep blue dial carrying gold Arabic numerals, with hands and crown to match. The strap picks the same idea up: silver links along both edges, a gold band running down the centre. It stops there, and that restraint is what makes a two-tone piece easy to wear.

Wearing two tones with the jewellery you already own

The practical advantage of two tones is that the watch sits happily beside silver and gold jewellery alike. A gold bangle on the same wrist, silver hoops in your ears, and nothing clashes. The blue dial does its own work, breaking up the neutral tones of office clothes and picking up the blue of a shirt or a pair of jeans. Paler dials and printed ones turn up on other watches in the women's range.

Size, weight and movement at a glance

Light enough to slide under a shirt cuff without catching, at 29 grams and 6 mm thick, and easy to forget about by mid-morning.

Cleaning the links and changing the battery

A dry cloth is all the bracelet needs. Dust settles between the links, and it lifts out easily as long as you don't let it build up. Mineral glass copes with everyday knocks, though the watch is better taken off before a shower or a swim, and kept away from household cleaners. A quartz movement wants a fresh battery now and again, which any watch repairer will fit in a few minutes.