>SHOP

keep my inbox inspiring

Sign up to our monthly newsletter for exclusive news and trends

Follow us on all channels

Start following us for more content, inspiration, news, trends and more

The art of nostalgia
Trend Forecaster

The art of nostalgia

Monday, 02 October 2017
close
Editor Image
Mathilde Binetruy
Freelance journalist

“And yet, it moves.”

Galilée

From the 1998 World Cup, her first big event, to SIHH and Baselworld today, she reports from where the action is.

Read More

CLOSE
4 min read

By revisiting their past, watch brands are treading safe ground and add a layer of authenticity to their image.

It takes its name from a weapon of the First World War. And not without reason. Four lines, two parallel “brancards”, a square: the Tank de Cartier looks to the armoured tanks that rolled off Renault production lines in 1917. Exactly 100 years ago and it hasn’t aged a day, although it has changed shape several times (cintrée, basculante, allongée…). Its centenary is being duly fêted with a raft of reissues, no doubt all destined for success.

In the space of a decade, nostalgia has become a marketing bandwagon. Formica is back in fashion, Twin Peaks is on our screens again, and watchmaking continues its lucrative journey through time. Not a year goes by without an icon breaking out the birthday candles. The equivalent of vinyl for music fans, consoles for gamers, they are prized by collectors – who welcome each limited-edition reissue with open wallets – and reassuring for new customers who prefer to play it safe.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Frosted Gold
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Frosted Gold
Happy anniversary

Brands have picked up on the benefits to be gained from dusting down their archives, and are using their old models’ popularity to build the future. There are various ways they can do this. The most straightforward is an anniversary. Tapping into demand for interchangeable straps, Cartier launched a selection of brightly coloured leather bands for its Tank Solo, adding a contemporary twist to the signature rectangular shape. It’s textbook vintage, bringing the Cubist vibe of the original up to speed with current trends. Audemars Piguet took a similar tack for the 40th anniversary of its women’s Royal Oak, when it teamed up with Florentine jeweller Carolina Bucci to launch the Royal Oak Frosted Gold, a shimmering and contemporary interpretation of its matrix. Omega, meanwhile, paid tribute to three masterworks of mechanical watchmaking with special editions of the Seamaster 300, Railmaster and Speedmaster, revisited in time for their 60th anniversary.

Omega Seamaster 300, Railmaster and Speedmaster
Omega Seamaster 300, Railmaster and Speedmaster

Anniversaries – which for consistency’s sake should be celebrated every ten, nay, five years – are just the tip of the iceberg. For the years in between, there are other ways to keep that icon in the spotlight. This is the job of the marketing department, which works upstream to adapt image and communication to the latest trends. A browse through this year’s launches singles out bronze as the new big thing. The advantage of bronze is the patina it acquires over time, making it the perfect combination of old and new. Montblanc launched its Montblanc 1858 collection in bronze.

Montblanc 1858
Montblanc 1858

The design is perfectly aligned with this neo-retro metal: the large cathedral hands filled with beige Super-LumiNova, a railroad minute track encircling the dial, and the historical 1930s Montblanc logo complete with original font and a drawing of Mont Blanc, the mountain, in the centre. Bell & Ross is another case in point. Setting aside its usual territory of runways, radars and aviation in general, the brand has chosen to give its interpretation of marine instruments with the Bell & Ross BR-01 CM Instrument de Marine, also in bronze.

Bell & Ross BR-01 CM Instrument de Marine
Bell & Ross BR-01 CM Instrument de Marine
Past, present, future

Alternatively, brands can use their heritage as a springboard for new ideas. It’s a well-worn path, granted, but worth the detour: a brand that maintains a traditional image and whose watches conform to a distinctive style, with some slight variations, will trip off the tongue of any watch fan. Rolex’s classics have sailed through the decades without departing from their distinctive design. The Submariner, albeit in a modernised version, retains the style that forged its success. The same applies to every other Rolex icon. Each awakens its own set of memories in the collective psyche, from Sean Connery in James Bond to Sir Edmund Hillary on Everest’s peak. As for the Cosmograph Daytona, as worn by Paul Newman in Winning, it has to be the most famous vintage watch in the world.

Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Oysterflex
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Oysterflex

Taking one icon, an object on which theoretically time has no hold, and turning it into another is the hallmark of Tudor. The brand first hit the mark in 2010 when the Heritage Chrono opened the floodgates for a 1970s revival. Since then, Tudor’s design studio has skilfully steered a slew of heritage-inspired designs, with the Heritage Advisor (2011), Heritage Black Bay (2012), Heritage Chrono Blue (2014) and, latest to date, the Heritage Black Bay S&G – a descendant of the brand’s first dive watch, the Submariner 7922 from 1955. Inspired by the past, all these watches also factor in the technology and the level of finishing that today’s watch buyers expect. The details that make all the difference between wearing a legend and checking the time on grandpa’s watch.

Tudor Heritage Black Bay S&G
Tudor Heritage Black Bay S&G
Back to Top