Q at Her Majesty’s Secret Service headquarters may have made one of the most spectacularly useful watch cases by incorporating a buzz saw into the bezel of agent James Bond’s Rolex, but taking a watch’s use beyond the mere function of timekeeping is nothing new.
In the 18th century, exquisitely enamelled opera glasses, opulent walking canes, jewelled fans and even colourful pistols sported little dials pushing the limits of what a timepiece should look like.
Today, we are seeing a renewed interest in the watch case itself, although admittedly in a less exciting way than Agent 007’s wristwear or Madame de Pompadour’s trinkets.
Like our frivolous predecessors or our favourite action heroes, we are demanding more from our watches. Perhaps it is because we have seen so many brands come up with yet another clever mechanical twist that a tourbillon alone is no longer considered enough to make a statement.
‘Everything I suggested was declared impossible. So I decided to take up the challenge’
Combine this with the fact that watches are largely redundant these days, with mobile phones, computers and even children’s virtual pet key ring Tamagotchis flashing up precise digital time, and it becomes clear that more than just the mechanical function, the very look and usefulness of a watch have to evolve to keep us interested.
And so it is that what we strap on to our wrists is in a phase of accelerated mutation. Take the Amvox II by Jaeger-LeCoultre. It won’t snip through Bond girl Solitaire’s lingerie or bring Don Giovanni into clearer view, but by eliminating push buttons to activate the chronograph it emulates the paddle gears of a Formula 1 racing car.
The aim is to give the lucky wearer a wrist-mounted driving experience, a sexy idea that came from the revered Swiss watch manufacturer’s association with Aston Martin.
Merely pushing the glass of the dial activates the Amvox II chronograph. To achieve this, the watch case is made of 130 parts, which is more than the sum of most watches working parts.
Jacob & Co, known for its diamond-loaded, footballer-pleasing watches has moved into the sphere of experimental watchmaking with the new $360,000 Quenttin – take a deep breath – 31-day power reserve, seven-barrel vertical tourbillon.
The unlikely inspiration for this timekeeper was a Communist era electricity meter from creator Jacob Arabo’s Soviet childhood.
“I wanted to make a watch that didn’t look like any I had seen,” says Mr Arabo of his latest high-voltage, rich-boy, cigarette-packet-sized wrist candy. Time is read off little whirring rings, and details in the exposed movement are made of rose gold, emulating the copper in electrical installations.
Linde Werdelin has decided to make an impact by piling on the functions. Their double decker Biformeter is the brainchild of these Scandinavian design and sports nuts. The handsome mechanical wristwatch doubles up as a landing pad for a mini-computer that will provide information on your outdoor adventures, monitoring heart rate and performance.
The thinking behind these watches comes from co-founder Morten Linde’s unorthodox approach: “I love watches, but unlike other watch designers, I design all sorts of other things that interest me, from calculators to carpets.
“The accumulated knowledge from different areas makes you a better designer. No matter what you design. Even if it’s a picnic basket.”
Michel Jordi introduced the Twins Squelette, which slides open like a fan to reveal a skeletonised vintage chronometer.
Jaeger-LeCoultre has played with case design to pack in even more complications. The Triptyche converts the classic Reverso case – originally developed in the 1930s for polo playing British Army officers in India – into a three-dial affair that claims to be one of the most complicated wristwatches with 18 functions vying for attention.
Another man to question accepted wisdom is Jean-Christophe Babin, chief executive of TAG-Heuer. Previously at Henkel, he introduced a think-tank approach to development and innovation.
This won it the accolade of one of the most innovative European companies from management consultant AT Kearney and led to some interesting looking watches that do more than just tell the time.
“Companies often limit themselves because they become too introspective” is how Mr Babin explains this trailblazing leadership style and the resulting watches.
“Everything I suggested to our watchmakers that had not been invented in the past 50 years was declared impossible. So I decided to take up the challenge.”
This approach explains the Aquaracer Calibre S watch that shoots a few sacred cows and begs the question: why hadn’t anybody thought of this before?
Like all good ideas it is simple: elapsed time measured by the chronograph function is read off the main hands and dial rather than small sub dials and it also has an anti-clockwise countdown function.
By rethinking the very logic of a watch TAG-Heuer has created an easy-to-read and use analogue quartz chronograph.
What can we expect next? A chronograph with spare change for the parking meter or a nail file would be handy but unlikely to happen, but then, who expected to see a watch inspired by an electricity meter.
