Text Max MONTRE
Even the finest mechanical timepieces are not just about their inner values, but often about their appearance. Nevertheless, there are only a few well-known watch designers. Why is that? And what importance is attached to design anyway? Chapter asked around.
It was the end and a new beginning. With the fall of the GDR, entrepreneurial life slowly returned to the traditional watchmaking town of Glashütte in Saxony. Walter Lange was present and at the forefront of the comeback of Haute Horlogerie in the Ore Mountains.
In his memoirs, which were republished this year to mark his 100th birthday, the great-grandson of Ferdinand Adolph Lange, founder of the watch brand A. Lange & Söhne, recalls the reconstruction of the manufactory. And of the initial spark that led to the company’s return to the highest spheres of fine mechanical watchmaking, where it is today. »I am sure«, writes Walter Lange in When Time Came Home, »that the presentation of our first collection in the Dresden Castle was almost a sensation, and this is largely due to the innovative design of the Lange 1.« Today, this watch is considered an icon and one of the most sought-after models in the world.
This episode underlines how important the design of a timepiece is for its success, alongside its watchmaking performance. Haute Horlogerie is also about appearance. At the beginning of the 1990s, Walter Lange and his colleagues (they were actually all men) realized »that, in addition to their quality and precision, our watches needed an appearance that made them unmistakable at first glance«. It is quite possible that the Royal Oak (Audemars Piguet), Nautilus (Patek Philippe) and Tank (Cartier) models, which had already been elevated to design classics, were in the back of people’s minds.
One thing was certain: a unique selling point was needed. The result was the typical large date, whose unique design and function has since become a globally recognized feature of A. Lange & Söhne watches and a stylistic accent. Another design innovation and thus another striking feature is the Lange 1‘s decentralized hour display with the small seconds display and the power reserve indicator. A layout that has been copied many times but never equaled. »This makes it so unmistakable that it would be clearly recognizable as a Lange 1 even without a logo on the dial«, according to Anthony de Haas, the current Director of Product Development at the manufactory, in his interview with Chapter. The timepiece is now perceived as an icon thanks to its harmonious interplay of form and function.
The design of the Lange 1 follows a clear principle: all displays are arranged decentrally and form the shape of an isosceles triangle.
However, this was not yet foreseeable in 1994: »It is difficult to predict whether a watch will become an icon because it only becomes apparent over time. In this respect, timelessness is the decisive factor«, says de Haas, who also admits to having a problem with the term »icon«. It’s too distant, too static for him, he explains in conversation. Be that as it may, despite its status in the modern watch world, its designer, Reinhard Meis – »a watch expert and particularly knowledgeable in the history of Glashütte pocket watches«, as Walter Lange writes—was never given the same attention as his product. A fate that he—shares with many designers in the watch industry, with a few exceptions. Meis, a watchmaker and non-fiction author, developed the »genetic blueprint« of A. Lange & Söhne watches, as Armbanduhren magazine noted in an obituary for the designer, who died in 2023. Every detail was studied and determined by him with the utmost attention. But why was (and is) Meis not explicitly brought before the curtain by A. Lange & Söhne? The main reason is that »watches are not seen as the work of a single designer alone, but always as a team effort and a total work of art«, Anthony de Haas tells us. Designers, engineers, constructors — he leads a team of very different creative minds. »Our goal every time is to create a watch that has never been made before, that is timeless, and that is clearly recognizable as a Lange timepiece.«
Just a few steps down the street from the A. Lange & Söhne headquarters, you stand in front of the NOMOS Glashütte manufactory. The comparatively young brand also established itself in Glashütte after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It boasts its own distinctive watch model that can be recognized as a NOMOS timepiece even from a distance: the Tangente. Completely unencumbered by a historical company legacy, the company was able to get started in the 1990s. The design of the minimalist, flat watch Tangente was inspired by the clear design language of the Bauhaus movement. As far as the »inner values« are concerned, the company is committed to the 180-year-old Glashütte watchmaking tradition: »A design becomes iconic when it is characteristic and has a high recognition value«, explains Thomas Höhnel, who has been a product designer at NOMOS since 2012. He also takes a similar line to Anthony de Haas: »The watch should be immediately recognizable as a NOMOS, even without a logo.« Höhnel is a graduate of the Berlin University of the Arts and works at Berlinerblau, the design department of NOMOS in the German capital. Among other things, he has designed the Ahoi, the sporty sister of the Tangent.
Nevertheless, even at NOMOS, the design of a new model is usually a team effort. Technology and design are always considered together. Berlinerblau therefore works closely with the development department in Glashütte. However, the company also relies on external designers and appreciates their »objective view«, says Höhnel and admits: »It is sometimes difficult for us to ignore limiting factors such as economic efficiency or technological restrictions in the design process.« Well-known designers such as Mark Braun or Werner Aisslinger, with whom NOMOS has already worked, are not aware of these concerns—and can design free of such restrictions.
Bauhaus in the genes: Tangente from NOMOS Glashütte
»Our task is then to turn their watch designs into a NOMOS watch«, Höhnel explains in his interview with Chapter. It was also this desired fresh view from the outside that the watch world has to thank for some classics—and a designer who is now legendary in this cosmos: Gérald Genta. He designed the Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet, which in the early 1970s was desperately looking for something that stood out from the mass of boring gold wristwatches that were always the same. Legend has it that Genta was inspired by a diver’s helmet and the cannon muzzles of the HMS Royal Oak, a British warship, to create this design. Today, the Royal Oak is one of the most sought-after watches in the world.
Original sketch of the Royal Oak by Gérald Genta
1976 saw the launch of the Nautilus by Patek Philippe, another iconic watch designed by Genta: The bare screws of the Royal Oak had disappeared, giving way to a high-quality satin-finished bezel, the shape of which was based on the porthole of a ship, but slightly more oval. The most striking feature of the Nautilus, however, are the two »wings« on the side of the case. The cult surrounding this timepiece has grown so much in recent years that Patek Philippe decided to discontinue the Nautilus with the reference 5711/1A. The manufacture argued that it did not want a »star« in its range and said goodbye to the stainless steel version of the watch in 2021. In addition to the two timepieces mentioned above, Genta is responsible for other great designs, such as the Ingenieur, whose design he refreshed for IWC Schaffhausen in 1976 and which returned to the IWC collection a few years ago after a short break.
Cartier Pasha de Cartier: With its extravagantly graphic design, it is now one of the Maison’s most important collections in its own right.
The modern version of the Cartier Pasha de Cartier from 1985 is also the work of the self-proclaimed »world’s first watch designer«. With its sporty yet extravagant design, it is now one of the Maison’s own important collections.
In interview with Chapter, Alessandro Ficarelli, CMO of the Italian watch brand Panerai, explains Genta’s significance for watch design: »Gérald Genta played an outstanding role in sensitizing the watch industry to design. His vision went beyond pure functionality and brought design to the forefront of what makes a watch iconic.« Ficarelli also makes sense of why there are so few well-known watch designers: »Creating a timeless design is a job for the few, it’s an art.« Anyone, he says, can be a good craftsman, but there are only a few good artists. »Artistry is an innate gift.« Genta’s influence can still be seen today in the fact that modern brands continue to value both technology and a distinctive aesthetic in watchmaking and, like Panerai, constantly strive to combine functionality with design.
In the context of recognition value Panerai has an easy time. Its watch lines, essentially Luminor and Radiomir, have an unmistakable look. This has grown historically and has to do with the original military use of the timepieces for Italian combat divers. Ficarelli: »In the case of Panerai, it was functionality that created a recognizable design, and that’s why we never needed famous designers.«
The one with the bow above the crown: Panerai Luminor Submersible Luna Rossi
Rolex would probably fully agree with this statement. That is, if they were to comment on this topic at all. Which they don’t: it’s not for nothing that they chose the closed oyster as the »patent animal« for their products, they prefer to keep a low profile.
In fact, they once had a timepiece designed by Gérald Genta: the legendary King Midas. Around a decade before the Royal Oak and Nautilus, it was a futuristic, extravagant watch that stood out massively from the usual Rolex models. Today, it is no longer part of the range. This is probably because the Geneva-based company has been focusing on a gentle evolution from within over the last few decades, speaking less of design and more of architecture. It is, undisputedly, so striking that it does not need a »fresh look from the outside«. And if it did, it probably wouldn’t be publicized.
The Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch by Bulgari bears the most important features of the iconic Octo Finissimo and combines technology with artistic expression. Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani sketched the mechanics of the timepiece with lively and spontaneous stripes.
»A beautiful watch without mechanical sophistication is a failure. It’s the same the other way round: a technically sophisticated watch without aesthetics brings little«, the head of the Bulgari watch design center, Fabrizio Buonamassa, once told Swissinfo.ch. And it is not only Bulgari that has internalized this principle, but also its competitors. Hermès, for example, has established itself in haute horlogerie, despite a (still) rather modest watchmaking tradition. It builds manufacture movements that leave nothing to be desired and designs cases that pay tribute to the origins of the brand and the excellence it celebrates. The Arceau Duc Attelé, for example, presented at Watches & Wonders 2024 in Geneva, features several details that are reminiscent of the history of the Maison. For example, the highly polished hammers in the shape of a horse’s head, cogwheels in the shape of the wheels of the historic horse-drawn carriage »Duc Attelé«, rider frames in the shape of a horse with a mane… all in all, a piece with the much-cited high recognition value. Not to mention the inner values: a central tourbillon with three axes and a minute repeater in conjunction with the hand-wound Hermès H1926 movement. Not everyone can do that.
FIRST PUBLISHED IN CHAPTER №XI »TASTEMAKERS« — WINTER 2024/25
