Dominance by Design

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.

The Witty, Wild World of Gucci Watches Online

Gucci hasn’t broken the internet, but it has cracked Instagram. And we can’t get enough.

Photographs by Martin Paar

For its new Instagram campaign, Gucci commissioned British photographer Martin Parr to capture its new watches at nine so-called Gucci Places—sites of brand inspiration, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Maison Assouline in London, and Gucci’s own Florentine garden. As with all of Parr’s work, the photos are hyper-saturated, acerbic, precisely observed. It’s the only luxury watch campaign this year co-starring a stale croissant, a pigeon’s gnarled claw, and a few spots of a tourist’s acne. #TimeToParr is as visually successful as it is ambitious. Which is saying something. 

ITALY. Gucci. Time to Parr. 2018.

The collaboration between Gucci, a brand that’s as Italian as bus strike, and Martin Parr, documentarian of British kitsch and quirk, was not self-evident. It owes its existence to one Roman Anglophile: Alessandro Michele, the visionary, maximally-coiffed creative director of Gucci.

Michele’s love of the British is foundational. His very first collections featured models that looked as if they were honey-dipped then dragged through the Elizabethan, Victorian and Edwardian eras; above the shoulders alone, accessories included ruffled collars, slips of tartan and silk scarves knotted under the neck, a look recognizable to viewers of The Crown. Another dream, realized in 2016, was a Gucci show staged at Westminster Abbey, the sight of all English coronations since William the Conqueror’s ascent in 1066. Cool, Britannia.

ITALY. Gucci. Time to Parr. 2018.

Now we have these Martin Parr pictures, which—not to put too fine a point on it—are about perfect. Timely, technicolor, absurd and charming. From the company that sells four-figure jackets embroidered with the Yankees logo, commissioning the former president of the Magnum photography collective to shoot an Instagram campaign makes a perverse kind of sense. It’s the full glory of high-low.

But there are many British photographers. What bound Michele’s cavalcade of prints, ruffles and horse-bit everything specifically to Martin Parr is a two-part epoxy: one part robust Anglophilia, one part dense, referential, mordant wit. Parr’s work is most often described as anthropological and satirical. What are Michele’s silhouettes, pulled from Renaissance paintings, if not anthropology? What is an interlocked-G Gucci logo the size of a focaccia if not satire?

Rather than flying in a phalanx of models, Parr cast subjects via their proximity to Gucci’s chosen locales and, in the case of one Chatsworth House groundskeeper, for the proximity of the green of his jacket to Gucci’s own trademarked hue. The man, gray and gentle, sweeps the pavement. Peeking from beneath the sleeve of his fleece: a 38mm G-Timeless, its band a perfect match to the worn broom handle.

GB. England. Gucci. Time to Parr. 2018.

Another photo from Chatsworth is a portrait-of-a-portrait: two teens taking a selfie. They’re demure and apple-cheeked. The boy’s phone case, garish and worn, would give most art directors an aneurysm. But follow his hand down to the wrist and you see the juxtaposition: cheap plastic foregrounding Gucci’s Eryx G-Timeless, sitting as serene and golden as a sphinx.

Across the Atlantic, a different shot shows a woman head to toe in pink: clothes, nails, eyeglasses, jewelry, hairdo, notably taut face. Whatever she’s regarding is out of frame, but it could be one of LACMA’s Rodins—her hand clasps her chin in homage to the sculptor’s “The Thinker.” The watch, Gucci’s Le Marché Des Merveilles, is appropriately Pepto-Bismol, plus serpents, studs, and shoe-leather from one of Shirley Temple’s old Mary Janes.

HONG KONG. TOKYO. LA. NYC. Gucci. Time to Parr. 2018.

Was commissioning Martin Parr, famed for biting meta-portraits of the leisure class, to photograph luxury goods a wise idea? Can such a surfeit of irony—Gucci’s current retro-indulgence plus Parr’s wicked perspective plus The Internet—trick the laws of metaphysics, piercing through layer after layer of critique, parody and burlesque, and end up engendering the glamour that makes a buyer point to a bauble, and say, Mine?

And so one might wonder: Is this #TimetoParr campaign the best Anglo-Italian collaboration since Spaghetti Westerns?

Indeed, we say. Decisamente, si.

Champagne Wishes & Caviar Dreams

The resurgence of cocktail culture has brought a renaissance in classic mixology. Retro champagne recipes, like the French 75 and Royales—and even bubbly communal punches—are finding a contemporary audience. Elegant, crisp, sophisticated. Like a radiant gold watch. But let’s go a bit further.

Sparkling diamonds? Luminous dials? Smartly bronzed cases? They all bring the spirit of delightful libation. They also coordinate perfectly with gilded barware, perfect for whipping up chilled drinks and warm enchanted evenings.

So go ahead, indulge a little. Because, as F. Scott Fitzgerald said: “Too much of anything is bad, but too much champagne is just right.”


Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 2011 Champagne, $125; perrier-jouet.com

Carl F. Bucherer Manero Flyback, $18,000; carl-f-bucherer.com

L’Objet Bambou Ice Tongs, $95; l-objet.com

Alessi Bulla Bottle Opener, $50; alessi.com

Christofle Silver Plated Champagne Bucket Cooler, $75,500; christofle.com

Asprey Tell Me How Cocktail Shaker, $10,000; asprey.com

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller, $17,150; rolex.com

Georg Jensen Acorn Champagne Sabre, $3,000; georgjensen.com

Tiffany & Company Everyday Objects Crazy Straw, from $250; tiffany.com

Montblanc 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter Limited Edition 100, $27,500; montblanc.com

Gucci Tigers Large Round Metal Tray, $790; gucci.com

Georg Jensen Bernadotte Cocktail Set, price upon request; georgjensen.com

Patek Philippe, Ref. 5124J Gondolo, $21,000; patek.com

Craigellachie 17 Single Malt Scotch Whiskey, $186, craigellachie.com

Hermès Adage Whiskey Carafe, $1,140; hermes.com