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Future watch tech is a mystery, so makers are looking to the past for inspiration

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Future watch tech is a mystery, so makers are looking to the past for inspiration

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Future watch tech is a mystery, so makers are looking to the past for inspiration

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Future watch tech is a mystery, so makers are looking to the past for inspiration

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Why do you want to go spending all that money on a watch? It’s a question that would probably come from the sort of person who can’t understand why you would pass up the fuel economy of an entry-level Honda Civic for a thoroughly irresponsible Type R. But in case you do ever feel the need to justify your choice, let’s have a crack at the question in light of recent developments in the industry.

Watch companies often disagree over what constitutes value. Every new upstart brand talks about inflated prices among “certain watch companies”. But despite the infighting, people are buying watches like never before, just with an accelerated shift online. Strong sales across the board indicate that the public perception of value is still strong.

Current success, however, is no guarantee things will stay that way in the long-term, so the industry is eyeing the future with caution. A few years ago, a head watchmaker with one of the big Swiss firms told me that within a generation we will likely be able to 3D print luxury watches at home. Choose, click, and in a couple of minutes your watch appears like magic in a little box where you used to keep the fax machine.

Developments like this will make the current shift away from going into physical shops seem like a minor blip. If we can make anything we want at home, where is the value of craftsmanship? We shouldn’t be too quick to write it off, though, because even if you can run off a watch at the click of a button, there will always be someone who can tell the difference.

For now, watch companies are keeping their options open. The future is a mystery, but the past remains the moneymaker. That’s why companies continually mine the archives for ways to add value. A fashionable move in recent years has been adding in bits of unique material to give the watch an extra twist. We have seen parts salvaged from old clocks, boats, planes, cars and motorbikes, then moulded into dials, cases and crowns. They don’t make your watch do anything different, but they give the watch something that can’t easily be replicated, no matter where the tech takes us.

A watch is a consistent companion, a tangible, long-lasting object in a world of increasing fleetingness. And if it’s got some cool stuff worked into it, all the better – it’s hard to put a price on little bits of history.

# data.attributes.body.processed
Why do you want to go spending all that money on a watch? It’s a question that would probably come from the sort of person who can’t understand why you would pass up the fuel economy of an entry-level Honda Civic for a thoroughly irresponsible Type R. But in case you do ever feel the need to justify your choice, let’s have a crack at the question in light of recent developments in the industry.

Watch companies often disagree over what constitutes value. Every new upstart brand talks about inflated prices among “certain watch companies”. But despite the infighting, people are buying watches like never before, just with an accelerated shift online. Strong sales across the board indicate that the public perception of value is still strong.

Current success, however, is no guarantee things will stay that way in the long-term, so the industry is eyeing the future with caution. A few years ago, a head watchmaker with one of the big Swiss firms told me that within a generation we will likely be able to 3D print luxury watches at home. Choose, click, and in a couple of minutes your watch appears like magic in a little box where you used to keep the fax machine.

Developments like this will make the current shift away from going into physical shops seem like a minor blip. If we can make anything we want at home, where is the value of craftsmanship? We shouldn’t be too quick to write it off, though, because even if you can run off a watch at the click of a button, there will always be someone who can tell the difference.

For now, watch companies are keeping their options open. The future is a mystery, but the past remains the moneymaker. That’s why companies continually mine the archives for ways to add value. A fashionable move in recent years has been adding in bits of unique material to give the watch an extra twist. We have seen parts salvaged from old clocks, boats, planes, cars and motorbikes, then moulded into dials, cases and crowns. They don’t make your watch do anything different, but they give the watch something that can’t easily be replicated, no matter where the tech takes us.

A watch is a consistent companion, a tangible, long-lasting object in a world of increasing fleetingness. And if it’s got some cool stuff worked into it, all the better – it’s hard to put a price on little bits of history.

BREMONT LONGITUDE
Henley-based Bremont has been flying the flag for a resurgent British watch industry for two decades. At first the flag flying didn’t get a great deal of attention, but now the brand is impossible to ignore, with a fancy new factory and more production taking place in-house. This watch is a significant milestone, as it combines the brand’s first in-house movement with brass from one of the original meridian line markers at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. The power reserve indicator is inspired by the Greenwich Observatory. With 40mm stainless steel case and automatic movement with 65hr power reserve.

£14,995; bremont.com

REC GW EXOSKELETON
Danish company REC uses bits from a range of classic cars and motorbikes. The latest project uses carbon fibre carved from the body during the creation of the ‘Carbon Exoskeleton’ Porsche 993 by US modder Gunther Werks. With 44mm stainless steel case and Swiss-made automatic movement. Water resistant to 50m.

£1,859; recwatches.com

ORIS UPCYCLE
Adding something old and fancy is one way of doing it. Oris has taken a different approach by drawing attention to the plight of the oceans with dials made using recycled PET plastic. The process leaves random multicoloured patterns, so no two watches are the same. Based on the Aquis Date, with stainless steel case of either 36.5mm or 41.5mm.

£1,600; oris.ch

WILLIAM WOOD WATCHES TUXEDO BLACK
William Wood is the founder’s late grandfather, a firefighter whose bravery inspired the company. This quartz piece has a commemorative coin on the caseback forged from a Twenties British brass fire-fighting helmet and can be ordered with a strap made from upcycled
fire hoses.

From £395; williamwoodwatches.com

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Future watch tech is a mystery, so makers are looking to the past for inspiration