Credits: Article and images by Martin Green @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/01/07/the-death-of-the-dress-watch-is-it-time-to-write-its-obituary-reprise-2/
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Has the dress watch drifted out of fashion?
The cause of death for the dress watch is a complex one, but can mostly be described as becoming out of sync with modern-day style.
Or should we say that modern-day style has gotten more out of sync with the dress watch?
Comfortable clothing reigns in most closets, and events for which we once dressed up we now dress down. This is not the atmosphere in which a dress watch is at its best.
But there is one big “c” in fashion that puts a long nail in the coffin of the dress watch, and that is the c in “connected.”
Professional life was often where the dress watch was in its natural habitat. Here technology is taking over, and many professionals now prefer an Apple Watch or another connected device on the wrist real estate where once the dress watch proudly resided.
It helps professionals stay on top of things, or at least that is what they tell themselves.
In this ever more connected world, I find peace in a watch with no visible motion as I glance at it. The hands move, of course, but I am not haunted by them as they set the pace of the rat race that we make out of life.
This is yet another contradiction toward the demise of the dress watch, as many of us need to certainly have achieved some favorable results in that rat race in order to be able to afford to buy one of them.
Is there any hope for survival for the dress watch?
While it’s on life support, I doubt the dress watch will fully cease to exist as I expect it to become a niche.
Pocket watches went down the same road dress watches are heading down now, yet they are still being made in smaller numbers for an appreciative group of dedicated enthusiasts.
Manufactures that now greatly depend on dress watches will need to find a new direction for their collections as clients for their dress watches are just not as plentiful as they once were.
The status of the Cartier Tank and the Piaget Altiplano will ensure to some extent that they remain in production as icons of the industry.
That is at least some good news because as resident gentleman of Quill & Pad, and an avid collector of dress watches, this is one obituary I hope never to write.
* This article was first published 13 April 2017 at The Death Of The Dress Watch: Is It Time To Write Its Obituary?
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Credits: Article and images by Martin Green @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/01/07/the-death-of-the-dress-watch-is-it-time-to-write-its-obituary-reprise-2/