Iconic watches
This is a very interesting subject, because each one of us has a different set of ideas about exactly what constitutes an iconic timepiece. I will first address the matter by thinking about the person who decides to start a collection of favourite watches.
Michael Balfour*
The process often begins by purchasing a watch that one has “always wanted”. Perhaps that time has coincided with the receipt of an annual bonus at work, or a lottery number has come up, or a grandmother has left a bequest to our novice collector. Then the next watch arrives, perhaps following a sporting achievement, the arrival of a baby, or an anniversary. When the third watch arrives our collector is leaving his novice status. By now he is noticing that watch advertisements always portray minute hands at nearly, but not at, 10 minutes past 10 o’clock. He is very involved now and starts to attend auctions, learning more about his chosen watch or brand by examining the sale catalogues closely.
When the appeal of brands begins
Such an educational process generally leads to discernment, and an interest that goes beyond that initial watch purchase. Maybe it is a particular theme that is becoming attractive… like alarms, art deco, car marques, cartoon characters, designer labels, erotic watches with interesting movements, jewellers’ own signature pieces, masonic, military, and so on. And then the appeal of particular brands can begin to take hold.
At this point individual models within one brand’s range start to proclaim their own lasting attractions. Now comes what I have considered to be the main interest in the subject of what constitutes an iconic (or cult, to use a term I prefer) timepiece.
We all know that wristwatches are “micro-marvels” of engineering, and that they attract the attention of collectors, investors and regular wearers alike. We also recognise that among them a few models emerge into the daylight of universal preferment. It is a certain bet that if the discerning readers of this article, who are almost by definition in the world of Haute Horlogerie, were asked to draw up a list of 30 such watches, about 20 of them would be shared choices. They would, as it were, be listed by common consent.
Desire and emotions first
Perhaps it is the simple desire to own such watches that confers the status of cult upon them, together with the emotions involved in their possession. The qualities of their movements might well not be foremost in the collector’s mind. This is why the Happy Diamonds series of watches by Chopard, which have now been on the market for more than 30 years and are not haute horlogerie, might well find a place beyond that 20 figure on the lists of many. Thus also Ingersoll’s Mickey Mouse watch is there too. After all, one of them has been taken into space by astronauts on three separate flights, chosen as an American icon. And who can disagree that, in the mass market, Swatches are Swiss icons ? The Mickey Mouse is almost unique among cult watches, in that it is not “Swiss Made”.
Much more certain to feature among those “common consent” wristwatches are perhaps the most famous three of them all. The first is the cleverest in design concept, and is of course the Reverso by Jaeger-LeCoultre, with a case that was patented back in March 1931. In Germany it is referred to by collectors as a Kultuhr, and a new model design appears with great regularity.
Then comes Cartier’s Tank, designed by Louis-Joseph Cartier in 1917, when Renault-designed tanks were creating havoc in the fields of war, and provided his inspiration. There are now more than 30 versions of the Tank watch. The third on this most exclusive of lists of iconic or cult watches is Omega’s Speedmaster, which first “flew” (as NASA terms it) in March 1965 aboard Gemini 3. A year later Professional was added to the dial name, and now it is affectionately and accurately known as the Moon Watch.
Why not try making such a list of iconic watches, and compare it with those of your colleagues ? About 20 would be shared … perhaps ?
*Michael Balfour is the author of CULT WATCHES : The World’s Enduring Classics, just published by Merrell, London and New York, 192 pages ■
