Watch Design

The link with the past is one of the most appealing aspects of owning a fine watch.

Artists tend to be a breed apart and watch designers are no different. In the Swiss watch industry, where everyone dresses with as much elegance as they can muster, they are immediately evident to the untrained eye as the person wearing the kilt, the rumpled suit, or like one well-known designer who walks around with no shoes. Why the sartorial insouciance? Design is the most important reason we covet a timepiece and as long as these artists provide the magic, no one is going to complain about what they wear. Excellent design goes far beyond the unorthodox lines and shapes employed by avant-garde designers who work for many of the major watch brands. Even the circular and square wristwatches many of us take for granted were regarded as cutting edge fashion statements during the twenties and thirties.

Traditional elements are an inescapable part of contemporary watch design. The link with the past is one of the most appealing aspects of owning a fine watch and this has not been lost on the many companies who now offer with features gleaned from archives and old watch collections. Geneva watchmaker Franck Muller is known for its oversized, stylized numerals, a look that is much emulated by other companies. These eye-catching dials actually first made their appearance in Belle Epoque watches made before the First World War, and the rich, slightly decadent flavor of those times is evident even in the modern pieces.

Other design elements are much older. Abraham-Louis Breguet, a genius watchmaker who worked during the Napoleonic era, imbued his pocket watches with his innate sense of style. His circular cases with fluted sides, oblique Arabic numerals and hands with circle-shaped tips are all classic designs that are collectively known as "Breguet" or "empire" style. This look is the basis for the expensive luxury wristwatches made by the modern Breguet firm. Breguet's style was so influential it can now be seen in a wide range of companies and prices.

Inside The Watch Design

Maintaining the link with the past is vitally important at a brand like Cartier. The Paris-based jeweler is renowned for producing some of the most ground-breaking designs in the first half of the twentieth century, including its famous rectangular "Tank" watch. One of the most important members of Cartier's design department is the heritage director, whose job it is to make sure that this rich legacy is reflected in the new watches Cartier offers. "The Cartier style is very much a sense of proportion," he explains. "I review the plans for all new watches to make sure that even the newest parts of the design have a continuity with what the company has done before."

Despite the technical nature of watches, original design ideas still begin with pencil and paper. One of the most challenging parts of watch design is working on such a small scale. A watch is really a miniature sculpture and sketching is a necessary first step as it affords total freedom with the details. More advanced plans - inevitably - involve a computer.

Modern software allows designers to manipulate their work three dimensionally and, just as importantly, they provide a direct link with industrial machinery, even at long range. Bulgari watches are produced in Switzerland, but the design team works at the company's home office overlooking the river Tiber in Rome. It's easy to see the tradition and the tools watch designers have at their disposal. But peering into their brains where the real creativity lies is a different story. Many designers are shy and withdrawn, while others are prone to walking barefoot. Zenith Watches CEO is a welcome compromise, who in addition to running the company he is also intimately involved in the design process, making him quite a unique property in the watch business. He has managed to turn a company known for its conventional, round mechanical watches - not exactly a breakout combination - into a design leader. Zenith's newest watch, called the Port Royal Open, is square with a slate gray modernist dial with an aperture revealing the movement inside.

Evolution, Not Revolution

For the majority of watch designers, tradition is not something to be thrown away, but evolved. Almost all the oddball twists you can imagine: off-center and unconventional dials, even digital displays, can be found in century-old pocket watches. Today, designers are reinterpreting the traditional mechanics using modern materials. The most daring are elite timepieces with enormous price tags, but the idea is spreading throughout the industry. Of course, you have to work with tradition, but it is the job of the watch designer to create something new. Watch design ought to reflect modern times and the available technology. That is the direction for the future.