TRENDS IN TIME
Trends in Time - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Trends in Time | |||||
| By: Bani McSpedden, Issue 29- Summer 2007 | |||||
| (Jacob & co, Girad-Perregaux, Frederique Constant, Omega, Louis Vuitton) | |||||
| WATCHES GO TROPICAL TO STAY TOPICAL. | |||||
| For anyone interested in travel, there’s no choice but to be interested in time, whether it’s time allocated to this place or that, time of departure and arrival, or differing time zones from one region to another. But there’s also an historical link: the whole idea of the wristwatch stemmed from the need to tell the time while out and about; in particular the emergence of aviation and its need for accurate fuel and distance calculations added impetus to the wish for something handier than a pocket watch. The first wrist mounted pieces were for the most part pure utilitarian instrument, devoted unceremoniously to indicating the time as clearly as possible. However it wasn’t long before exotic embellishments and the use of precious materials entered the picture. As acceptance of the then-called wristlet watch grew, so did its possibilities as a decorative accoutrement. | |||||
| Of course today, aside from when you’re travelling and rendezvousing, the watch is barely necessary for knowing what time it is – any number of appliances can tell you that. Hence the watch is viewed more and more as an adornment, a statement of taste, a proclamation of disposable income, and a pleasantly diverting plaything or reassuring object to look at. | |||||
| It’s the one piece of decoration that even men of all ages and backgrounds seem not only comfortable with, but also happy to indulge in given the chance. This has not been lost on the Swiss, whose rehabilitation of the mechanical watch – one that you wind or winds itself, as distinct from a battery powered quartz watch – has seen a rash of increasingly exotic models on offer to an increasingly watch-hungry clientele. How do you make a watch more exotic? | |||||
| Recent trends suggest a few ways; you can make the watch bigger and add a flourish of colour; you can ‘complicate’ the movement by adding functions in addition to pure timekeeping; and finally, like icing to a cake, you can sprinkle the item liberally with jewels. Many manufacturers are doing all of the above. Mark Watson, head of Omega in Australia, sums it up thus: “Colour and diamonds, and big and bling – they are here, and here to stay.” | |||||
| Whereas a man’s watch was once around 34 millimetres across, many are now at least 40 mm and larger. And while the majority of time pieces have always presented a white, black or silvery face, today you can choose whatever colour or material you want, mother of pearl being a current fad. Not since the 1960’s and 70’s have we seen such variety, thankfully without the kooky graphics that also graced some dials around this period. Brands active back then in both the colour and complicated movement departments included Omega, Heuer and even Rolex, who famously had difficulty selling its striking and now ultra-valuable Daytona chronograph model, seen at the time as having too many knobs and sub-dials, just what today’s man hankers for. | |||||
| Now we have Omega Planet Ocean models with flashes of orange, Schumacher Speedmasters in yellow and red, Tag Heuer’s Monaco in blues and browns, Rolex’s in almost tropical tones and Breitlings in hues ranging from teal to pale yellow. | |||||
| And while it mightn’t be surprising that Tag Heuer has brought back its brightly coloured Formula One range with technicoloured bezels and bands, what is interesting is the entry of uber-upmarket makes such as Audemars Piguet, Daniel Roth, Corum, Zenith and Roger Dubuis with dials of truly striking colour and design. | |||||
| It’s worth mentioning, too, European brands like Glycine, and Italy’s Locman who’ve managed to embrace colour in the most stylish way possible; in Glycine’s case they’re doing it with traditional movements and cases simply complimented by bright dials, whereas Locman are marrying mad colour combinations with avant-garde design and materials like carbon fibre and polished titanium for an entirely different effect. But the real colour burst has come from a fresh look by designers at how to use lustrous stones in a complimentary way, rather than just as applied decoration. | |||||
| Venerable makes like Cartier, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet and Piaget have always featured be-jewelled and covetous confections in their catalogues but one gets the feeling it’s the brands from the fashion houses who’ve played a big role in re-popularizing the precious – Dior, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton for example, and now everyone has caught the bold and bright bug. Ranges from Seiko to Omega, Raymond Weil to Tag Heuer, have sparkling offerings, although some impact a little more than others, as do their price tags. | |||||
| You can pay $3000 for a spritzy Longines or $2,500,000 for a bespoke Corum. At the top of the traditional tree, Patek Philippe and Rolex vie for attention with Audemars Piguet, Jaeger leCoultre, Bulgari, Girard-Perregaux and relative newcomers Roger Dubuis and Franck Muller. All are capable of producing mouth-watering masterpieces, some offered exclusively at brand boutiques, some built virtually to order with brands such as Louis Vuitton among those offering a bespoke service to international clients. | |||||
| With all this dazzling activity taking place on the outside of the watch, you’d be forgiven for thinking little is happening on the inside. Not so. Whereas the movements making things tick were once pretty straightforward and either wind-up or battery driven, the latest little watch-motors use anything from solar to electromagnetic energy and feature extra cogs and wheels for a cornucopia of complimentary functions. | |||||
| Common ‘complications’ include big dates, 24-hour hands or separate sub-dials for indicating two time zones, chronograph functions for timing intervals, power reserve indicators and at the very high end, ‘tourbillons.’ The latter is the name given to a complex counter-revolving mechanism for compensating the effects of gravity on the watches movement. Invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1790, it takes countless hours for a craftsman to assemble and is usually displayed through a cut out in the watch dial. | |||||
| How necessary a tour billon is in the modern world is not the point; it’s how desirable they are deemed to be, with connoisseurs regarding them as the high-water mark of the ancient watchmaker’s art. As such they’re appearing in brands as diverse – and modern – as the afore-mentioned Louis Vuitton and Panerai. There are other ‘complications’ you may or may not need, and indeed a host of other hidden developments. Tag Heuer for one has introduced a mechanical watch, the ‘Calibre 360,’ that can time intervals to within one-hundredth of a second; Omega’s Planet Ocean has a special ‘Co-axial Escapement’ movement that reduces friction and makes for longer service intervals; Jaeger-leCoultre has a Master Minute Repeater that runs for fifteen days on one manual winding and chimes with the clarity of a bell. | |||||
| Panerai, once the rudimentary ‘tool’ watch of the Italian Navy, offers a split second chronograph with twin column wheels visible through a crystal sapphire exhibition back; and Seiko, staking a claim in the field of high horology, has introduced a ‘Spring Drive’ movement capable of unheard of accuracy – better than a second a day. | |||||
| What does all this mean? It’s simple really – manufacturers have recognized something at almost the same time you have: that the promise of today’s watch is not just time – it’s time out with an object that’s more captivating by the minute. | |||||
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