Published on April 22nd, 2013 | by neversa3
0The Evolution of Watch Styles
The first wrist watch was made by Swiss watch maker Patek Phillippe for a Hungarian Countess in 1868. Despite being designed to tell the time its primary function was to be first and foremost a piece of decorative jewelry for the countess to show off. It may be a 145 years since Phillippe designed that timepiece but the idea of watches being a piece of decorative jewelry hasn’t changed. Watches have never been just about telling the time but a reflective statement about who you are and your style.
The only difference between the Countess’s watch and watches today is fashions ever changing tastes in design and aesthetics, because of this very few watches ever remain truly timeless but there are a few exceptions to this rule. The first is the Hamilton Ventura. The American watchmakers created the Ventura in 1957, it was the world’s first mass market battery powered watch. To accompany this technological marvel the company asked industrial designer Richard Arbib to design the now infamous asymmetrical sold 14k gold case which reflected the 1950’s design aesthetics. The Ventura had changed the face of watch design forever.
In the 70’s and 80’s came the trend for digital watches and with it the desire to combine technology and design. A prime example of this was the Citizen scientific calculator watch 49-9421. Unlike Casio’s attempts this watch was the height of geek chic with its focus on design and functioning technology. The Citizen was more than just a calculator watch it was a scientific calculator watch, with 40 buttons surrounding the dial enabling wearers to make a variety of scientific calculations any where at any time. The Citizen is considered the holy grail of calculator watches for collectors.
Now in the 21st century you wouldn’t think there is much in the way of innovation left for the humble wrist watch, but you’d be wrong. Step forward Ressence with their new Type 3 watch. They have taken the design aesthetics pioneered by Ventura and the technology driven ideas of Casio and Citizen to a whole new level, thus dragging the analog wrist watch kicking and screaming into the 21st century with just a few simple tweaks.
Between the watch face and the inside surface Belgian designer Benoit Mintiens has filled the space with a clear refractive fluid. This makes the watch face resemble a magic 8 ball inspired high end timepiece. Another break from tradition is the lack of hands, the watch instead uses engraved discs which rotate to line up with the numbers on the on the rings surrounding them in order to tell the time.
Along with the revolutionary design there is also a revolution in the materials used to construct the piece; the majority of the watch is made up of titanium. The only exceptions to this being the sapphire crystal and 28 gears. Ressence has also come up with a unique way of winding the watch instead of a crown it features nested rings built into the back of the watch which the wearer twists to set the time. The Ressence is truly a timeless watch.
This article has been sponsored by UK’s largest Watch Website.
