If you want to step your photos up to the next level, pick up a flash. A macro lens is optimized for close focus use thereby allowing more magnification and sharper results. If you want to go all Henri Cartier-Bresson on this adventure, buy a macro lens. Again, rack out the lens to near its max zoom. The kit 18-55mm lens included in most kits will take fine photos. It deserves better than taking badly exposed pictures of sunsets and yet another close-up of a flower or too small of a dog. Liberate the Canon Rebel your girlfriend asked for last Christmas. If you take the time to position your watch and camera so they get great light, HDR won’t be needed. It may also give you exaggerated colors that will make your watch look a bit clownish.
For this type of photography, HDR mode isn’t typically recommended as it can cause ghosting if you’re not holding the camera perfectly still. On the iPhone, the + volume button will also act as a shutter (on the earphone remote as well) which will give you less camera shake. It helps to focus on the logo since that will have enough contrast for your phone to lock on to. Use the touch screen to accurately place the focus point on the dial of the watch face. The wider view and deep depth of field in a camera phone can actually help in these scenes.
Take your watch photos outdoors in context to an environment. You are a judo master you will use these limitations to your advantage. It will appear on the Facebook tag that you just gained ten Big Macs because the camera was too close. You can see this in action when your girlfriend takes a photo of the two of you at a Bieber concert with her arms extended. In use this means that the closer you get to your watch, the more distorted and fatter it will look. The iPhone 4 is a tad wide at 28mm and the 4s is a bit narrower at 35mm. The lenses on popular smartphones are fixed at wide-angle views.
In watch photography, two things hold you back: the amount of available light and the field of view of the lens. Smartphones can produce surprisingly good results in sunlight.