WATCHES Archives - Page 4 of 18

Crazy Rich Collectors

What’s the best way to please your existing fan base while also attracting a new generation of watch collectors? Patek Philippe arrives in Singapore to show us how it’s done.

As the last family-owned independent watch manufacturer in Geneva, Patek Philippe maintains a special place in the world of fine watchmaking. The brand’s singularly elegant and artistic design language has always defined its products; centuries of experience mean the technical know-how is innate, a tradition of innovation represented by more than 100 patents.

Put simply: Nobody does it quite like Patek.

Patek Philippe Watches (R to L) Ref. 5531 World Time Minute Repeater, Ref. 7234 Calatrava Pilot Travel Time, Ref. 5930 World Time Chronograph, all Singapore 2019 Special Editions. — (R to L) Ref. 5531 World Time Minute Repeater, Ref. 7234 Calatrava Pilot Travel Time, Ref. 5930 World Time Chronograph, all Singapore 2019 Special Editions.

All that history and grandeur goes on display at the Watch Art Exhibition. This traveling show, which began in Dubai in 2012, and has since visited Munich, London, and New York, offers free public admission and an opportunity to view some of the rarest and most iconic pieces from Patek’s archives. This year, the exhibition rolled into Singapore, and Watch Journal was on the ground to experience it firsthand.

According to Patek, this was the ideal location for the 2019 show. For starters, it’s the Singaporean bicentennial—an important event in what’s become one of Patek’s most important retail markets. But the brand didn’t just grow here overnight. In fact, the relationship between Singapore and the watchmaker goes back to 1965, when the city-state first became a sovereign independent republic separate of Malaysia. Mr. Philippe Stern, the current ownership group’s third-generation patriarch, arrived on the scene to start a new sales network. The watches were a hit, Singapore grew into a booming financial hub, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, the bonds between country and brand is stronger than ever before. This much was clear inside the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which served as the base of operations for the Watch Art Exhibition. Inside, the venue’s 24,000-square-foot performance space was transformed into an extension of the watchmaker’s legendary museum and the grand salons of its Lake Geneva store. Important historical pieces were brought in from Switzerland; the accomplishments of scientists, metallurgists, and astronomers were proudly on display. There was even a live show presenting rare handcrafts, with master artisans practicing age-old crafts of enameling and engraving and marquetry.

The Marina Bay Sands, site of the "Watch Art Grand Exhibition Singapore 2019." — The Marina Bay Sands, site of the “Watch Art Grand Exhibition Singapore 2019.”

In terms of programming, this resembled the previous events in London or New York. But the local flavor at this year’s Watch Art Exhibition was next-level. The entrance at Marina Bay Sands paid tribute to the spirit of Singapore, with hundreds of colorful paper flowers, called Majulah Singapura, installed for the occasion. (“Majulah Singapura” means “onwards Singapore,” the opening refrain of the national anthem.) Beautiful papercraft continued in the lobby windows, which were filled with artistic representations of birds and flowers. Also on display were new and rare pieces from the Patek Philippe Museum collection, along with unique timepieces created for Southeast Asian collectors in the past.

There were treats for the region’s current—and emerging—crop of brand aficionados as well. At the show, Patek unveiled a smattering of exclusive pieces, including six limited-edition watches created specially for Singapore. (Among them: Ref.5930G-011, a red-dial Worldtime Chronograph; Ref.5167A-012, a steel Aquanaut with bold red coloring; Ref.5067A-027, a red Aquanaut Luce with a diamond bezel; and Ref.7234A-001, a stunning blue Calatrava Pilot World Time.) More exclusive debuts, which ranged from dome table clocks to pocket watches and chronographs, offered a selection of rare handcrafts inspired by cultural and artistic expressions of Southeast Asia.

The Patek Philippe Ref. 5303 Minute Repeater Tourbillon, a world premiere Singapore 2019 Special Edition — A limited-edition of twelve pieces, Patek Philippe Ref. 5303 Minute Repeater Tourbillon, a world premiere Singapore 2019 Special Edition.

But in terms of high-watchmaking, the new Minute Repeater Ref. 5303R-010 managed to steal the show. Limited to a total of 12 pieces, this grand complication debuted an exceptional manually wound caliber; it displays the gong hammers on the dial side, exposing the entire repeater mechanism and tourbillon. The rose gold case and matching gilded baseplate are contrasted by a minute track running along the exterior, and a black leather strap with matching red stitching.

Predictably, all of these new designs kicked off a frenzy, with collectors and enthusiasts flying in from all points of the globe. But the ultra-desirable pieces (including the #trending red Aquanaut) were available exclusively to the residents of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Which is to say: Best of luck getting your hands on any of them.

Still, western collectors—and, really, anybody who cares about craftsmanship, design, or horology—could appreciate the Watch Art Exhibition. Patek’s history and products offer a unique perspective on humanity’s creative pursuits, and a small company that’s spent centuries honing its trade. Amid the monuments to that pursuit, the brand’s current patriarch, Thierry Stern, paused to reflect on the Patek Philippe magic.

The steel Aquanaut in red, Patek Philippe Ref. 5167, symbolizing good fortune (especially for the lucky 500 able to get their hands on one).

“It’s a family taking care of the business,” he said. “I have two people who know how to design. So we talk. Knowing them so well, and them knowing me so well, the image appears in front of us. After all these years, you simply know how to do it.”

PROFILES/WATCHES

Jimmy Chin’s Greatest Climb

by Blake Rong

Panerai ambassador, Jimmy Chin, puts the rugged Submersible BMG-Tech Carbotech to the test with an independent film project made exclusively for the launch.

By Blake Rong

The BMG-Tech Carbotech (PAM00799) might be submersible to 30 bar (300 meters) but Jimmy Chin proves the watch is equally rugged on dry land. Two of Panerai’s most inventive materials in one watch, a BMG-TECH case, and Carbotech bezel ensuring extreme strength, scratch resistance, and lightness. Photo by Atom Moore.

You may have heard this kind of story before. A couple flees a revolution, lands in America. In the unlikely cold of the Midwest, they raise a son. They pin their hopes and dreams of the future on him. He learns two languages, takes violin lessons, takes martial arts and swim lessons, reads books, enrolls in SAT classes. Earns straight As at boarding school. Learns patience, hard work, humility, the wisdom of keeping his head down. Every opportunity afforded to him off the sweat of their backs. He goes to a good university, where he studies international relations, with law school ahead. And then, he buys a 1980 Subaru wagon, drives to Yosemite, spends a year in the wilderness—then another. And never looks back.

“I was brought up with this idea of excellence: If you were going to pursue something, it was really not about whatever pursuit, it was about the craft,” said Jimmy Chin, 45, youthful and lean, who first fell in love with rock climbing in the late 90s. Back when it was still a fringe activity, Chin was living in Yosemite among the proud, Thoreau-like devotees who dubbed themselves “climbing dirtbags.” Among these characters—incredible athletes, said Chin, who were living on the fringes of society—he found his people, made lasting friends, and thrived.

Jimmy Chin, wearing the BMG-TECH Carbotech, is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Nat Geo photographer and mountain sports athlete best known for his ability to capture imagery and stories while climbing and skiing in heart-pounding high-risk situations. He is also Panerai’s newest ambassador. Photo by Nick Martini.

During one climb Chin borrowed the camera of his climbing partner, Brady Robinson, and took a picture of him hanging in a bivouac off the side of El Capitan. Robinson developed the photo and sold it to the clothing brand Mountain Hardwear for the princely sum of $500—a fortune among the dirtbags. They split the money. Chin, still living in his Subaru, used his share to buy his first camera. He was hooked.

“I’ve been told, and I believe it’s true, you find your mentors, or the mentors find you,” said Chin. “I didn’t go to school for photography, I didn’t go to school for filmmaking, I was really fortunate in the sense that when I committed to the craft of photography, filmmaking, career, the universe would provide.”

In 1999, Chin and Robinson organized their first major expedition to Pakistan’s Karakoram mountains, the second-highest range in the world. The expedition lasted three months. The team climbed the 6,325-meter Fathi Brakk, a jagged granite spire that rises dramatically over pools of glacial water, like a fantasy castle inhabited by dragons. In an era before the Internet or widespread GPS, Chin and Robinson were to venture to one of the most remote places on Earth.

The 47mm case is made of BMG-Tech, a bulk metallic glass which is harder and lighter than steel with extreme resistance to corrosion, external shocks, and magnetic fields. Photo by Atom Moore.

“I took a big leap in terms of making commitments to make that expedition happen. Convincing a group of my peers to trust me and making it happen and then going off and climbing these big alpine high-altitude, fairly complex climbs, that was a big leap for me, gave me a lot of confidence in trusting myself and following my instincts. I was the expedition leader, and it was a lot at the time. but I trusted myself, trusted in the universe, trusted that things would work out.”

The team climbed a dangerous and unproven new route. They endured falling ice blocks, rock slides that nearly crushed them. It was Chin’s first time shooting with an SLR camera. When they returned, his expedition photographs found their way to clothing catalogs, and suddenly, Chin was hot.

As a filmmaker, Jimmy Chin’s experience in the adventure and extreme sports world brings an authentic and unique perspective to storytelling. Photo by Nick Martini.

In 2001, Chin began shooting campaigns for The North Face, which became his sponsor. The next year, Chin participated in a 300-mile trek across Tibet’s Changtang Plateau; his photos were featured in the April 2003 issue of National Geographic. Chin’s parents saw their son give a talk in Washington D.C., surrounded by his photographs, and they understood: how one can build a life in circuitous routes, much like a snakelike climb up a rock face. Meru, the first documentary directed by Chin and his wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, debuted in 2015 at the Sundance Film Festival. It won the U.S. Documentary Award there and was shortlisted for an Oscar. It detailed his team’s climb up Meru Peak in India’s Himalayas, ascending a route evocatively named the “Shark’s Fin.” Last year’s follow-up, Free Solo, won an Oscar and a BAFTA, and at the 2019 Emmy Awards, racked up 20 trophies across seven categories. In Free Solo, the camera was on Alex Honnold attempting to freehand climb Yosemite’s legendary El Capitan. Now, Chin was returning home.

“I was brought up with this idea of excellence: If you were going to pursue something, it was not really about whatever pursuit, it was about the craft.”

“We’re constantly referencing time in relationship to where we are on the mountain,” said Chin. “It affects your decisions.” Time is of the essence: It is the one consistent variable among the unpredictable, a potentially lifesaving source of stability. Climbers check their progress by how much time has elapsed, which in turn determines their route, their energy levels, and weather conditions. Knowing when to turn around or whether there’s still time to push forward is vital. “I’ve always said that time is the only true currency, and I still believe that,” said Chin. “In the mountains, you could do big expeditions and big climbs. You’re constantly checking the time in terms of progress, in terms of where you are on the climb, how you make decisions moving forward or retreating.”

That’s the basic premise of a timepiece, anyway. But when, say, skiing down Mount Everest’s Lhotse Face, as Chin did in 2006, a watch’s ruggedness takes on another dimension. Panerai recently appointed Chin as a brand ambassador—at the Emmys this year, he wore a Luminor 1950 GMT—in the hopes that its latest ultra-functional timepiece, the Submersible BMG-TECH, can keep up.

Panerai is attempting to harken to its past of building properly rugged hardware. The BMG-TECH series recalls the dive watches issued to the Italian Navy as a fount of never-ending inspiration—one that has sustained the brand as it went from obscure foreign curiosity to fashion icon. Watches, said Chin, are like climbing gear: “Some of the most useful pieces of gear are the timeless and the most well-designed pieces that we still always use … it’s almost less about the watch getting me out of a bind but keeping me from getting into a bind.”

For Panerai, Jimmy has recently shot a short film that depicts his ever-intensifying work ethic, pushing himself and his talents to even greater heights. Photo by Nick Martini.

BMG-TECH is a bulk metallic glass, an alloy of zirconium, copper, aluminum, titanium, and nickel that is heated and rapidly cooled, a process similar to glassblowing, but where the atoms retain a chaotic structure at the microscopic level. It can never corrode, says Panerai. It is shockproof, scratchproof, and resistant to magnetism. It is super light, and the carbon fiber bezel only adds lightness. All the better to protect the P.9010 automatic calibre, an in-house movement with a three-day power reserve and 28,800 beats per hour. Two different types of Super-LumiNova differentiate the small seconds dial from the main functions, and the light blue adds a chic contrast. That beefy crown lock has always been a polarizing Panerai element; here, it aids in the watch’s 300-meter water-resistance rating. If the watch is as bulletproof as Panerai suggests, then it will survive anything Chin’s next expedition can throw at it.

There is always something coming up next. Viewed from Chin’s lenses, the world shrinks, and the vast remoteness of territories appears in our mailboxes and on our phones. There is an element of wistfulness to this—are there still far-flung lands to be discovered? Is there still time left? The Changpa nomads have been around for a lot longer than National Geographic; British surveyors crisscrossed the Karakoram mountains as early as the 1800s, and Yūichirō Miura became Chin’s predecessor when he skied down Everest himself, in 1970, complete with a parachute and broken limbs. (The ensuing documentary on Miura won an Oscar, something Chin can surely appreciate.)

In Chin’s mind, there are endless places to be explored. He spends part of his time in New York City and in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and despite his youth spent climbing the Rockies in a Subaru, there is still uncharted territory among the Tetons. “You know what, there’s still a lot of this planet that has not been explored,” he said. “There are so many mountains in the Himalayas that have not been explored. There are still tons of potential. You have to get creative. We have so much more tech these days to go further, and so our capacity to be explorers is changing and progressing and allowing us to push further to areas we’ve never been … the oceans, for example. And of course, there’s space!”

Chin in space? The world waits for that documentary with bated breath.

HIT LIST/STYLE/WATCHES

Why So Serious?

by Stephen Watson

Created as a fitting tribute to DC Comics’ villains, RJ reimagines the character watch with a mischievous glint in its eye.

The world of high-end watchmaking can often be a sober and serious place. But in the world of RJ, haute horology and a sense of wonder aren’t mutually exclusive. The brand’s playful timepieces have smiles built right into their DNA.

The limited edition titanium RJ X Joker houses the RJ20142 self-winding mechanical bidirectional movement.

Founded in 2004, and relaunched last year under the creative direction of CEO Marco Tedeschi, RJ has made its mark on modern watchmaking thanks to surprising collaborations. These draw inspiration from pop culture iconography, ranging from Marvel and DC Comics superheroes to beloved video-game characters like Super Mario, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man. If you’re looking for a tourbillon with an artisan-crafted Pokémon dial, this is where you’ll get it. There is even a pavé diamond and pink sapphire-encrusted Hello Kitty timepiece.

“We attract a wide range of people who want something different and, most importantly, something fun,” Tedeschi tells Watch Journal. “It’s essential for me to have a product you can identify by the wrist. There is simply no way to mistake an RJ for anything else in the world.”

That is certainly true of the brand’s two newest pieces. The first is a colorful callback to Batman’s original nemesis, The Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime made his DC Comics debut in 1940 and has been the arch-enemy of Gotham City’s crime-fighting bat ever since. The Joker’s distinctive look — purple-and-green clothing, exaggerated facial features — come through in RJ’s laser-engraved titanium tribute, which features hand-painting and is limited to 100 pieces. It’s a killer chronograph in every sense.

For those after a more conceptual homage, RJ is also offering a timepiece inspired by another one of Batman’s iconic foes: Two-Face. Calling on the villain’s conflicted nature, one half of the watch is pristine, while the other half is cleverly “burned away” (just as the character’s face was in the comics) to expose the skeletonized movement inside. It’s exactly the type of timepiece that attracted Tedeschi to RJ.

The RJ Two-Face represents the good vs. evil struggle of Batman’s former ally, Gotham City’s District Attorney Harvey Dent. Acid sold separately.

“I was interested in the brand for two main reasons,” he says. “The first was the main concept, which was the core product having a material that has a fascinating story incorporated within the watch, and, of course, the collaborations.”

For Tedeschi, leveraging those partnerships is the key to success moving forward. That means bringing more of RJ’s watchmaking in-house and starting to produce its own movements in Geneva. Here, he sees opportunities to make his company’s timepieces even more unique.

“We are going to increase the collaborations, and the idea is to work on the character differently,” he says. “Before we used to have a dial…. We are now, being a manufacturer, able to incorporate the collaboration with the movement itself.”

The addition of in-house mechanicals will no doubt yield unconventional results. But diving into the unorthodox is simply a matter of course for RJ. In addition to the pop culture-inspired collaborations, the brand is known for its DNA Concept watches, which bring history-making material to the wrist. One such watch used steel from the Titanic; another contained actual moon dust. The RJ6919, released earlier this year, has pieces from the Apollo 11 spacecraft integrated into the bezel.

The dial coloration is hand applied, meaning no two watches will have the exact same makeup.

(Tedeschi, on how RJ sources these fantastic materials: “It [the metal] was sourced from the original refinery, even from the same batch of steel they used in the Titanic. For the Apollo, we bought the various artifacts from different parties at an auction.”)

The CEO is staying tight-lipped about what surprises will be coming our way soon, allowing only that RJ is “currently following other sales to purchase additional unusual materials.” What Tedeschi can reveal is that the shape of the watch, with its distinctive case protective “bumpers,” will always remain the same.

“The shape is quite simple, integrated within the case, we will never exclude having the case shape without the bumper in the future,” he says. “The essential thing is to have those four elements at 30 degrees from the primary axis. That’s how we define the RJ watch.”

That faith in the DNA is a large part of the brand’s bright future under Tedeschi. It’s also a statement of confidence in RJ’s place in both popular culture and watchmaking. This is why Warner Bros and DC Entertainment are continuing to join forces with Tedeschi, bringing their most infamous characters to life as rare, limited-edition watches. Seeing the finished Joker product, it seems that faith is well-placed. For collectors with a comic-book bent, the only question left is this: Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

The Arraw RJ Joker comes with interchangeable straps in alligator or rubber with contrast stitching.

FASHION/WATCHES

Dominance by Design

by Stephen Watson

Walking into Baselworld 2019, you couldn’t help but notice a new world order emerging.

Declining attendance and shifting economics meant several of the Swiss heritage manufactures were absent. What remained at Basel — historically the world’s largest annual watch and jewelry show — were the untouchables. Those rarified brands not only surviving but thriving and continuing to expand.

Gucci was right in the thick of it. For this year’s show, the storied Italian fashion house doubled down, constructing an enormous glass greenhouse in the center of Basel’s main promenade. Inside, an arrangement of plants and flowers surrounded its latest timepiece collection, the Grip.

This new watch is the product of great momentum. In January 2015, Alessandro Michele became responsible for all Gucci’s collections and global brand image; a kaleidoscopic flurry of acclaimed runway shows and ad campaigns followed. The designer’s gutsy, referential maximalism shook up the fashion universe, casting Gucci as the new lodestar. Translating Michele’s remarkable vision into ultra-desirable watches has taken time. Now, though, it’s all coming into clear focus.

So the stage was set for the brand’s breakout display in Basel. Inside, the president and CEO of Gucci Timepieces, Piero Braga, laid down the contradictory laws of the land: a sumptuously furnished conservatory, decorated with inimitable Gucci style, but built exclusively to show off a single watch inspired by old-school skate culture.

“[Unlike] all the other watch brands that are hiding, we wanted to have everything transparent, and out in the open. We are here to be seen,” Braga says. “We wanted to dedicate a different environment to the project of the season, and we did it the Gucci way. We wanted to make a statement. And we wanted to make this our main focus, which is the Grip.

For Braga, success isn’t adding another product category to Gucci’s accessories range. Instead, he wants to create timepieces that have something unique to say. Against the backdrop of Baselworld, a moving monument to the fast-changing realities of the watch industry, he doesn’t mince words about the approach: “There is no need for further product introduction in a market which is already oversaturated. You must have a point of view, love it or not, but you need to be consistent.”

And when it comes to having “a point of view,” the deck is stacked in Braga’s favor. Few designers in history have cultivated a signature aesthetic as quickly and successfully as Michele. As a result, Braga says, modern-era Gucci Timepieces is defined by a distaste for the generic. “We don’t want to do something classic with a Gucci name on it. Other brands are doing that much better than us… We want to have our say creatively, and like all the other Gucci product categories, need to stick to the original vision of our creative director [Mr. Michele].”

To that end, Gucci Timepieces has become an unqualified success. The Grip joins a growing lineup of clever, expressive designs — dive watches with embellished reptilian dials, all-over floral face-and-strap combinations, tonneau shapes featuring tri-color and insect motifs. Each of these pieces recall the recurring themes of Michele’s unmistakable work.

“What we did was shape the image of the line quickly, and align that to what Gucci collections represent,” says Braga. “So now I think that it’s clear to most of the industry experts, what Gucci stands for within the watch industry…I believe we succeed in this.”

This message is articulated not only through the watches, but also the visuals that accompany them. The brand hasn’t filtered its personality to fit into the conservative luxury timepiece space; instead, Gucci has gone in the opposite direction. The coloring of the products, the display materials, even the shopping bags — none of it looks like traditional watch company fare.

This helped Braga move on from Gucci’s previous timepiece aesthetic. But he knows the company “still has a long path” ahead. The next step, he says, is to narrow the scope and focus on what will become foundational pieces in the brand’s portfolio for years to come. This presents a unique set of challenges, as runway styles are notoriously changeable.

“In producing watches, the fashion angle doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to change our collection every year. We had to do that [initially], because when you have to replace 200 references of an entire range of a watches company, the first season you need to introduce new models,” says Braga. “Now we need to build pillars.”

Hence, the Grip. This new collection of rounded, cushion-shaped quartz watches aligns perfectly with the style of Gucci’s ready-to-wear collection. In engraved stainless steel or gold PVD, on a bracelet or a strap, the piece stands out thanks to three small windows with rotating dials beneath, revealing the hour, minute, and the date. The overall look, like many of Gucci’s core products, should be endlessly adaptable.

“We needed to establish a new aesthetic, and this project is totally aligned with this concept,” Braga says. “It has young inspiration. It’s a cool, playful way of representing the hour with this jumping style movement. It has a genderless appeal, which is another important thing for us. And you can interpret the watch in different ways, encouraging self-expression and uniqueness.”

Along with creating signature pieces like the Grip, there are several other major goals for Gucci Timepieces. One is to continue upgrading the movements, boosting the brand’s horological credibility, especially within a certain price bracket. Braga feels that an entry-price automatic in the Gucci style will be like nothing else in the market.

“I believe that there’s room to establish a certain aesthetic to automatic watches, especially at a certain price point,” he says. “For sure, the ambition of our brand is to be able to offer even more refined products to the clientele without forgetting that for timepieces our base is more democratic.”

Accordingly, Braga also wants to create watches that can accompany the fine jewelry collections. He wants the designs to incorporate more precious and semi-precious gemstones in the future. Ambitious? Sure. But at this point, it’s difficult to doubt Braga or the brand. The Grip is just the beginning. Looking out at Baselworld from inside the Gucci greenhouse, you couldn’t help but see so many new possibilities.

AVIATION/CARS/WATCHES

Less Does Not Equal More

by James Jung

Meet the man behind the relaunch of TAG Heuer’s most storied line.

Photos by Atom Moore

Blame it on IKEA. Blame it on Marie Kondo. Blame it on the resurgence of midcentury modern design. Today we live in a world in which sleek minimalism can sometimes feel like the only acceptable aesthetic.

Guy Bove disagrees. As the new product director at TAG Heuer, Bove brings a robust sense of design that fits in well with the storied Swiss brand’s commitment to rugged adventure.

“To those who say, ‘less is more,’ my feeling is that too little is not always enough.”

For the movement, TAG Heuer has developed the Isograph, a state-of-the-art oscillator featuring a carbon composite hairspring and custom balance wheel for ultimate chronometer precision with a power reserve of 38 hours.

Soft-spoken with wavy brown hair and a Balbo beard, Bove cuts a debonaire, yet unfussy, figure. He’s young, sharp, and — as anyone who has seen him affably roaming the halls at Baselworld in one of his wide lapel wool suits — very stylish. And while, much like his personal wardrobe, you could never categorize his design philosophy as maximalist, Bove likes to bring together disparate elements and moods when creating a luxury timepiece. Call it understated eclecticism.

“I look for a balance between readability, being fit for purpose, and an amount of detail or quality of detail that, even if it is not obvious to most people, creates the right feeling — typography, proportions, three-dimensional detailing, finishes,” Bove tells us from his office in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a small city nestled in the folds of the Jura mountains on the French border. “I think a well-designed product should combine a feeling for quality with a sense of being in the now but also being able to survive the test of time — it should look effortless.”

A glittering combination of AUTomobile and AVIAtion, the Autavia looks to the future of TAG Heuer while keeping the craftsmanship and spirit of the past.

Whether he’s skiing in the Alps, or hiking in search of the perfect photograph for his visual art side hustle, Bove — who says he would have been just as happy being an architect or a writer — is always open to inspiration. He sees it everywhere, even in the periphery of his life: the colors in shop windows, the contours of passing cars. Perhaps it’s this unconventional approach to watch design that has put him in such high demand.

After recent posts at Chopard and Breitling, where he led the iconic brand’s reboot, Bove was poached by TAG in late 2018. Consider that a major coup, especially since TAG had ambitions to relaunch its famous Autavia line. Like so many of its watches, the Autavia is known for a connection to motorsports. The original, introduced in 1933, was a double chronograph designed for dashboards. After becoming a wristwatch in 1962, it was adopted by some of the world’s fastest Formula 1 drivers. In short, it became synonymous with racing paddocks and the thick, wafting fumes of petrol.

When tasked with a redesign, however, Bove was more interested in the Autavia’s lesser-known connection to aviation, which the Swiss native closely links to the spirit of grand adventure that became so pivotal to this project. The Autavia’s original double chronograph was also built for airplane cockpits, after all, and it was used by both the Kenyan and Argentinean Air Forces.

The brushed and polished 42mm steel case is water resistant to 100 meters. For a life of adventure, an array of dial options, provide various possibilities for look and style.

“In the new Autavia collection, the goal was to introduce a new facet to the TAG Heuer range, one which brings the wearer back to a time of great adventures,” Bove says with the enthusiasm of a boy whose imagination can still be stoked by fighter planes.

This timeless ode to adventure permeates the new collection. Devoted TAG Heuer heads will be relieved to also find specific, albeit updated, details harking back to every era of the Autavia. There’s the pusher, crown, and numeral dials inspired by the 1933 original. The case and bezel are borrowed from the 1962 iteration, and the inner flange indexes are straight from the 1970s. Add 3D luminescent blocks for the numerals, not to mention a vintage-inspired band that’s easily interchangeable — making this rugged watch as versatile as it is rakish — and you’ve got a thoroughly modern timepiece.

Yet, it’s the namesake Isograph that truly powers the revamped Autavia. First introduced in TAG’s Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph, it’s a carbon-composite hairspring that’s virtually resistant to shocks, temperature disruptions, and even magnetic fields. The state of the art invention, the oscillatory regulator, is the combination of a hairspring with a balance wheel that becomes the groundbreaking heart of the watch. Made in-house out of this innovative patented material, the combination of carbon nanotubes and amorphous carbon allows for freedom of shape and exceptional chronometer precision.

Traditionally, only metal or silicon-based hairspring are used, making the Isograph both groundbreaking and COSC certified.

This new collection is spread out over seven models. Bove, however, isn’t shy when choosing a favorite. “I really like the aged bronze and green combination with the dark brown strap,” he says, sounding more like an unabashed collector rather than the creative brain behind the relaunch. “They blur the lines between today and yesterday and really stand out with anything you are wearing — or that I would wear at least.”

With its smoked dial and utilitarian vibe, it’s an unsurprising choice for Bove, who admits he’s a big fan of WWII era mil-spec watches.

And that’s indeed the point of this revamped line: For all its style and deft mix of history and modernity, the Autavia — much like a worn chambray shirt or a beat-up Defender — evokes a personal history of adventure, of a life well-led.