Posts Tagged ‘designer watches’
Luxury Watches in The Movies
Luxury watches are typically seen as very closed-doors, esoteric items that are known only to a rich and knowledgeable few. That’s not really true, especially once you consider all the times that a designer watch has appeared on the silver screen. Expensive wristwatches might not exactly stir the same interest as the lead characters, but they’re still celebrities in their own right.
It’s All in the Wrist
Countless contemporary movies are just full of these premium timepieces, and there are even a number of groups that like to keep tabs on all of them. 2008 blockbuster Street Kings, for example, featured star Keanu Reeves wearing a Rolex GMT II quite prominently in the movie poster. Blood Diamond, another big movie from the same year, showed lead Leonardo DiCaprio with a Breitling Chrono Avenger.
Other notable silver screen watches include
- George Clooney spotted with a Luminox watch in Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
- 007 agent James Bond (played by Daniel Craig), who wore an Omega Seamaster to the opening scene of Casino Royale (2006)
- Ben Affleck, who fought crime as the title character in Daredevil (2003) wearing red tights and a Hamilton Linwood Daredevil Automatic
- An Omega Speedster watch worn by Tom Cruise as Chief John Anderton in the futuristic Minority Report (2002)
A Long History
This whole trend of wearing expensive premium timepieces, however, is hardly a new thing in Hollywood. In fact, it’s been a recurring theme in the James Bond movies, one of the oldest establishments of the silver screen. Through the years, exclusive watches have topbilled in movies like
- Dr. No (1962), where James Bond (played by Sean Connery) used a Rolex Submariner to test a Geiger counter
- Goldfinger (1964), where Sean Connery reprised his role wearing the same watch from Dr. No
- The Predator (1987), where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch wore a Seiko H558-5000
- The Abyss (1989), where Ed Harris wore a Seiko 6309-7049 as Bud Brigman
If you have a free afternoon, try going through your DVD collection and checking through the blockbusters for any watches you didn’t spot before. You never know, your favorite actor might just wear the very same watch that you do.
3 Luxury Watches That make a Simple Statement
You’ve probably noticed by now that a lot of contemporary luxury watches are getting more and more, well, everything. One model will look edgier or more garish than the next, while another will claim to have the most number of complications yet.
But there are those times when all you want is a simple and straightforward watch that will tell you the time, period. While the heyday of those watches is long gone, some haute horlogerie houses still make models of a similar aesthetic. Here are three watches that definitely go for that subtle and understated message you’d want from time to time.
The fact that it’s a manual-winding watch only adds to the old-world allure of the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionelle 38mm watch. A couple of years after the first release of the Patrimony line, top horology house Vacheron Constantin adds – update would be the wrong word – to the collection with this manual mechanism piece.
Its design is beautiful in its sheer simplicity. A plain vanilla round rose gold case holds a slightly off white dial with baton indices and just a single no-numeral subdial at 6 o’clock. It’s symmetrical, straightforward and positively stunning.
Of a similar streak is the Piaget Altiplano collection, a series of watches that features a simple, slim white gold case and a plain dial with no markings other than the indices and the brand at 12 o’clock. Long, thin batons are used for the hour indices, and the hands are uncomplicated needle-like affairs. Measuring just 2.1mm thick, the Altiplano watches are very unobtrusive and can go with any outfit, event or occasion.
Yet even with its impossibly thin frame, each one of the Altiplano watches is equipped with a top-of-the-line Calibre 430P, created by Piaget’s team of master watchmakers. Behind the simplicity lies power and engineering born from over a century of haute horlogerie.
Timepieces like the ones in the Patrimony and the Altiplano collections are not common anymore, especially nowadays where there’s some one-upmanship between the houses in terms of features, complications and design. However, it’s still refreshing to know that, should you ever need this kind of simplicity, some of the best names are still willing to deliver.
Ralph Lauren Watches: Designers in Horology
High fashion and premium watches are both areas reserved and roped off only for the moneyed and the elite. Consequently, it’s no wonder that the two industries would merge every now and then, resulting in the creation of something truly special. That was the case when American designer brand Ralph Lauren unveiled not one but three collections of designer watches at the 2009 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in January.
Now, followers of the fashion scene would know that Ralph Lauren – both the brand and the designer himself – is no stranger to premium items. But the watch market is full of entrepreneurs and people very particular about technical details. That’s probably why the clothing brand teamed up with Richemont, the group of companies that includes some of the watch industry’s most prestigious names like Cartier and Jaeger-LeCoultre to help with the horology side of the business.
The new partnership resulted in the Polo Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewellery Company (SARL), under which the new collections of Ralph Lauren-branded watches were released. With a combination like that, it’s no wonder that the new timepieces turned out the way they did. A total of three collections were released at the 2009 SIHH: the Stirrup, the Slim Classique and the Sporting lines.
So named for its equestrian equipment shape, the Stirrup line captures a true feel of Ralph Lauren, its American heritage and its close ties with the equestrian image. Luxury is obviously one of the main goals of this collection as it’s available either in 18-karat gold or platinum. Three sizes are available in this collection, and each size has its movements made by a different Manufacture. Small Stirrup watches, for example, use Piaget movements while larger units have Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Exclusivity is the key concept behind the Slim Classique collection, and it’s not just because the extremely thin movements housed in gold or platinum come from Piaget. Both dials are guilloched on a special machine that can only churn out two such dials everyday, and even the face has to go through the same process. With price tags ranging from $16,000 to $36,000, don’t expect too many other people to start wearing this on the street.
Cheapest among the three is the Sporting collection with prices ranging from just $9,000 to just over $11,000. Featuring a sub-timer, world clock or chronograph, the Sporting collection is a good mix of design, engineering and functionality. And with movements from IWC Jones, the performance you get will surely be worth the money.
