Well, is watch design stuck in the trends of 40 to 60 years ago? Only many of the favoured designs herald from the period 1955-1980. Here are a few favourites:
Daydate 40....first model mid fifties and largely unchanged, visually.
Same for the dear old Datejust.
Speedie Pro....originally from the sixties.
Daytona...again, largely unchanged .
I could go on, but just a couple more.
Grand Seiko, design from 1965.
Zenith CP2, design from the mid-sixties again.
And there are loads more, including the great Rolex Sub and GMT. Omega Seamaster and so on.
Yes, all of these ‘ancient’ designs have had updates, but they are all recognisably the same watches.
So, where are the great new designs? Why are these old classics still dominating?
Last edited by paskinner; 16th February 2019 at 12:33.
I guess it's as simple as pretty much everything has been done at this point, same can be said for most things such as fashion, car design, music. You can almost always say that reminds you of something that has come before.
I always consider the 70's as pretty much the last decade of unique and original watch designs. There's a few designs you can recognise as 80's, fewer still 90's but since then it's pretty much rehashed or refinements to existing models.
Last edited by Tetlee; 16th February 2019 at 12:36.
You make that sound like a bad thing.
Not at all...my watches all stem from sixties designs. But where are the ‘modern’ designs which might become classics? I can’t think of a single one.....Originally Posted by unclealec
Part of the reason could be that , in the sixties, watches had key jobs, hence the Submariner and GMT. Now, technology has made all that obsolete.
Last edited by paskinner; 16th February 2019 at 13:02.
So the 1950s ( DD and DJ, Sub and GMT) was actually in the 1960s. And the 1970s (Nautilus) was also part of the previous decade as well.
I don't think so.
Having only recently dipped more than a toe into watches this question has crossed my mind a number of times. However I think it is not just limited to the watch industry but more a malaise across all of the creative industries. Ever since the run up to the turn of the millennium design has looked backwards rather than forwards (the re-hashed Minis and Beetles were launched around that time, flares suddenly reappeared, remakes of old films started appearing etc etc) and I don't think the industry, or the consumer's taste, has really recovered.
Sticking to watches I agree that the late sixties and seventies was quite a time for watch design with some fabulously outlandish designs being created. Firms tweaking classic, popular designs is not necessarily a bad thing (unless they do it badly) but sometimes the only tweaks made are those that satisfy the current trend of increased size without much thought to the proportions of the finished product which results in the new version not looking as good as the original.
Watches with a modern look are out there (Richard Mille comes to mind but a trawl through Kickstarter or Etsy will reveal more modestly priced examples). However, these being modern watches, most of them are electronic of some form and therefore have gone beyond mechanical. Having a mechanism inside limits the watch to circular motion and there are only so many design cues that will allow for that.
There is an argument for the impression that it has all been done before (the Greeks and Romans already knew which proportions pleased the eye more than others) but I am sure that there are original designers out there who are capable of surprising us (what ever their chosen industry be it watches, films, cars etc) but I feel that, until recently, the odds were increasingly stacked against them breaking out in to the mainstream as the previous generation of talent became entrenched within the corporate structures which produced their products. The rise of Internet platforms such as Kickstarter, Patreon etc may well change this. I certainly hope so.
Apologies for the essay but I have a strong interest in how things are designed, particularly if they work well too.
Will
I think some things tend to find their place and settle on a basic design, electric toaster, kettle, disc brakes, the list goes on. and as for watches and jewellery the same applies. Oh, there have been wacky designs but i think that we mostly tend to settle on what works and then add design elements around that. Part of the design has to do with them being worn on the wrist, if we we wore them on clothing or went back to pocket watches I'm sure we'd see something new.
Sent from my SM-G960F using TZ-UK mobile app
It occurs to me that the most striking and successful designs of the post-dgital decades could be Swatch and the G-Shock. And perhaps even Mondaine.
No. Watch design is stuck in the trends of the first wrist watches, only sizes have changed with the fashion of the day.
Current watch designers use cues from every era, and every piece of history from the individual brands.
It's just a matter of time...
Just to correct myself, the DJ first appeared in 1945!
Nothing wrong with being stuck in the '60's.
People who know electric guitars know that all the most popular designs that are still being used today are from the fifties or sixties.
When something is right it is right.
Cheers,
Neil.
The problem with history is, it's stuck in the past!
It's just a matter of time...
...and getting more out of date every day.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
Good thread. I realised long ago that my favourite decade is around 1966-1976. Manual chronographs, automatic chronographs, the big Omega diving watches, electronic, quartz and digital, Omega Marine Chronometer, moon landings, the interesting Heuers - it was all happening and some cracking watch designs appeared.
"A man of little significance"
Watch design has always been conservative as that's what sells, especially now when watches are in decline due to smartphone ubiquity. That said there are a number of designs out there that are pushing boundaries (HYT, Devon, etc.), but at a cost.
Physical limitations play a big part, average wrist size, the inherent 'circular nature' of a watch dial (if you want to break free of that then it's going to cost - see above), the necessity for a strap of some sort. Functionality and fitness for purpose also play a part, diving bezels, waterproofing, fitting under a shirt cuff.
Colours go in and out of vogue, sizes wander between big and small, materials change, but in the end you are going to have something that fits on your wrist that has the functionality of telling the time which places some quite hard and fast limits on the design of a watch.
I have to say I much prefer the look of the Aquanaut over the Nautilus, and having seen one of the original ones in the Patel Philippe museum in Geneva I like it even less. Obviously many people like it but to me it looks totally dated same with the Daytona.
Panerai’s luminor case (the boxy ones) came out in 1993 (or slightly earlier...) yet there’s a common misconception thinking that the particular case came out way before that
I do wonder if watches will completely disappear in one lifetime (by the end of our children’s or grand-children’s lifetime). Left in the museums along with snuff boxes, bowler hats, fm radios and grand father clocks.
Maybe a few brands will be left - catering for the very rich who enjoy antiques and collecting esoteric memorabilia.
Enjoy the hay-days as they will soon pass.
Oh I am feeling happy today!
Martyn.
I think that’s , sadly, all too possible. The sheer scale and pace of technology could overwhelm any love for old mechanical objects. Let’s face it, cars with combustion engines are now on the way out. Things this generation love, might be ignored by later generations.
Jaquar are making an E-Type powered by batteries. I mean, really......
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