You could say that it is “the world upside down.” Only a few years ago, we could hear recurring laments: “the feminine watch is only a pale reduction in size of men’s watches…”,




The new Piaget campaign


“…creating a ladies’ watch should be something more than simply reducing the size of a men’s model…”
Clearly, these complaints have been heard… and listened to. Today, we can actually observe just the opposite: the feminine watch is now often on the forefront of design, and it is now the turn of men’s watches to be influenced by the stylistic designs of ladies’ timepieces.
While the large macho watch still has its devotees (and will certainly always have), we nonetheless are seeing a new form of refinement in men’s timekeepers. The materials have become softer and more delicate; the forms are more graceful; the colours are more subtle.
Is this due to the influence of the feminine watch? The answer is a most definite “yes”. The ladies’ timepiece has now become the design laboratory in today’s world of watchmaking. It is a laboratory where liberty and imagination prevail to a greater degree than for men’s models.
Just to give you one example… After having invaded nearly all the dials, bezels and bracelets of ladies’ watches, the diamond has unabashedly migrated to masculine cases. In times gone by, the diamond-studded piece was strictly reserved for the Middle Eastern market. Now, however, men’s watches with diamonds – often discreetly stone-set but nevertheless set with diamonds – easily adorn the most manly of wrists, mixing sparkle with sports functions.
“As long as there are men…” Chaumet emblematically affirms in regards to its “Dandy” watch, thus transforming the “eternal feminine” into a sophisticated, luxurious and voluptuous “eternal masculine”. Or, you only have to see – in our pages – Piaget’s new marketing campaign to become convinced of this phenomenon. Completely inspired by women, Piaget’s current men’s campaign is similar to, but the inverse of, past masculine campaigns that were transformed into ladies’ versions.
On a more pragmatic level, if the feminine watch has today acquired such creative autonomy, it is primarily because it offers watchmakers such immense markets to conquer. But, there still remains much to do, especially in the area
of integrating mechanical movements into the pieces. Mechanical calibres have reached a certain maturity in men’s watches, but they are still faltering when it comes to being placed in feminine timekeepers.
Yet, it is becoming more obvious that associating the “eternity” of diamonds and precious materials to the “perennial nature” guaranteed by a good mechanical movement is a wise thing to do, as it offers definite added value.
While the feminine watch has long been the domain of fashion brands or of jewellers who are “content” to place a small quartz movement in their pieces, the future certainly belongs to those brands that succeed in crea-ting the best fusion of the strongest elements of timekeeping, namely bold design, precious materials and exceptional “motors” to drive the pieces.


Source: October - November 2005 Issue

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