The following, from the Wall Street Journal, is food for thought for horophiles
By KEN KESSLER
As an indicator of one's status or taste – or lack thereof – watches have become the new shorthand. Since the Great Watch Revolution of the 1980s, when mechanical timepieces returned in force as a backlash against cheap-and-nasty quartz, and when vintage watches started to appear in auctions in greater numbers, awareness of the wristwatch has acquired a new significance.
Journal Report
Read the complete Watches and Jewelry report.
Previously, anything more obscure than a Timex or an Accurist was appreciated only by cognoscenti. Watches were far too small to be in-your-face indicators of serious wealth – not like the Ferrari 212 Barchetta or Maserati 300S that a Porfirio Rubirosa or a Roberto Rossellini might have parked in front of Monaco's Hotel de Paris.
John Weber
Take Rolex. While everyone now recognizes the name, back in the 1950s and 1960s the brand was known almost exclusively by the pilots and professional divers who actually needed the functions the watches offered. Today, watch literacy has soared and the hugely popular television series, Mad Men, even uses watches to trace the ascent of hero Don Draper. By Series Three, Draper is seen wearing a Rolex Explorer.
As for brands such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin and even the ineffably famous and recognizable Cartier, they were only understood by aristocrats and the gentry. Yes, there were exceptions: Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Gene Autry, Howard Hughes (allegedly) and other iconic celebs wore Patek Philippes. Marlon Brando and Che Guevara owned Rolexes, while Steve McQueen foreshadowed the modern watch fanatic with his Rolexes and TAG Heuers. Now, the red carpet at the Oscars is a watch-lover's orgy. But this is not to suggest that populism nor egalitarianism have overtaken the prestigious image such watches impart. What has changed is that now everyone from the cab driver to the doorman, to the dentist to the divorce lawyer – especially the divorce lawyer – knows the difference between fine timepieces and those sold to mere mortals.
As a result, one's choice of watch is as important as the quality of the handbag, the cut of one's suit, the appropriateness of a tie's pattern, the height of the heel. If such things matter, you might consider watches fitting both your personality and the occasion.
The Italians advise three timepieces at the very least: One that suits your occupation, a dress watch for sober, formal or evening wear, and a robust watch for sport or holiday. And as for finding a watch to suit your personality, or even the one you wish to project, read on. And if you are still in doubt, just buy a Rolex Air-King.
The Fashion Icon
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Dior VIII (from £3,050)
John Galliano's psychotic outbreak notwithstanding, Dior is on a roll, especially with its watches. It is part of a welcome trend wherein the fashion and jewelry houses making watches have decided to offer something worthy of an illustrious name, rather than put their logos on sub-par swill sold through shopping centre jewelry stores.
Dior VIII
Of course, in fashion, the name is everything, and The Fashion Icon will have her own preferences: For Dior, you could also read Chanel, Chaumet, Cartier (the absolute perennial favourite), Graff, Harry Winston or another great label making serious timepieces. But Dior VIII, a family of watches with heavily faceted bracelets and bezels, available with or without diamonds, in two sizes (33mm and 38mm), and with automatic or quartz movements, offers something else dear to Fashion Icons: It's so new that it's tomorrow.
The Traveller
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Vogard Timezoner (from £3,500)
What distinguishes The Traveller's timekeeping needs from those whose forays abroad are less frequent? For one afflicted with wanderlust, nothing less than a 'world-timer' will suffice, for it allows The Traveller to know the time, at a glance, in any time zone on the planet. And while nearly every watch manufacturer produces a wristwatch able to show the time in two or more zones, Vogard makes nothing but world-timers.
![[SocialTravW]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/EB-AH285B_Socia_D_20110321163048.jpg)
Vogard Timezoner
Two features in particular make the Vogard so appealing. The first is the watch's patented method of changing the home or destination time so quickly and easily. The second is the option for ordering the watch with any of 24 cities or locations engraved on the bezel.
The Banker
Patek Philippe Calatrava (from £12,980)
Patek Philippe Calatrava
Given the current public mood, the banker should err toward the style of his pre-1980s forebears: That of sobriety. Whereas once bankers and other executives in the financial sector were encouraged to 'power dress'. To do so today is inadvisable. Bankers now rate somewhere between al Qaeda and lawyers in the public eye. In these straitened times, The Banker must possess an air of discretion, of solidity, of dependability. To achieve this, there is one, and only one watch: The Patek Philippe Calatrava. In continuous production since 1932, born in the Depression, as it were, the Calatrava combines no-nonsense functionality with elegance. To the untrained eye, it is anonymous. To the individual who knows, it says that the wearer prefers Romanée-Conti to, well, anything else.
The Entrepreneur
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Richard Mille RM038 (£380,000)
Unlike The Banker, The Entrepreneur has to inspire potential investors, and nothing suggests pending success like existing success. Better still, The Entrepreneur knows the value of a personal detail, such as a watch, for breaking the ice. Amongst the high-fliers in an exclusive bar in Tsim Sha Tsui, in the nose of the 747 or at the links at St. Andrews, a bold watch speaks volumes.
Richard Mille RM038
You don't need to know anything about watches to appreciate that a Richard Mille timepiece is something out of the ordinary.
This particular Richard Mille oozes high tech. It is a tourbillon made to withstand the shocks and abuses of The Entrepreneur's most important selling tool: A round of golf.
Developed for Bubba Watson, to wear on the links, the RM038 follows on from another Richard Mille watch subjected to cruel and inhuman punishment: Rafael Nadal wore one while winning
Wimbledon.
Wimbledon.
The Bohemian
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Van Cleef & Arpels (£77,500)
Inspiration? The free spirit with limitless imagination. Execution? A blend of techniques, including champlevé enamel and mother-of-pearl inlay, as mastered by one of the world's greatest jewelry houses. The 19th Century writings of Jules Verne, the father of science fiction, have stirred Van Cleef & Arpels to create a series of limited edition timepieces with dials illustrating four of his novels, but most notably, Five Weeks In A Balloon.
Bohos love whimsy. Is there any mode of transport more evocative of the so-called century of Bohemianism than a hot-air balloon?
At the dial's centre, the balloon rises slowly above Zanzibar. What better than its anchor and a seagull to act as retrograde hands for minutes and hours?
A white gold case, a Jaeger-LeCoultre 846 mechanical movement, severely limited production – this is the watch of an individualist.
The Daredevil
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Panerai Luminor Base Logo (£3,100)
As the name suggests, The Daredevil is fearless, probably to the point of absurdity. No challenge is too threatening, no risk too great. Hang gliding, surfing, off-roading, snowboarding – think Tom Cruise rock climbing at the opening of Mission Impossible 2.
Panerai Luminor Base Logo
The watch to withstand all that has to be either incredibly cheap-and-cheerful (Casio sells millions of G-Shocks for good reason), or over-engineered and, well, scary.
Designed for the Italian Navy's underwater saboteurs in the 1930s, Panerai's Luminor re-surfaced to become THE cult diving watch of the 1990s and onward. Its patron saint? Sylvester Stallone, who wore them in a number of his more macho films. Not only that, but he gave one to Arnie, who featured it in Eraser. Go on: Try breaking one.
The Spy
Bremont Supermarine 500 (from £2,995)
Bremont Supermarine 500
Imaginative James Bond inspired watches with built-in lasers, homing devices, suspension cables, magnets and the like are, alas, pure fiction. And, as any real spy would not want to call attention to his or her presence, anything too large or too flashy would call attention to the wearer. Equally, a spy's watch must be dependable, functional, accurate to the second and able to serve a number of roles in difficult situations. So, if the Bremont Supermarine 500 is rugged enough for Bear Grylls, precise enough for chronometer certification, legible underwater, secure to 500m and resistant to magnetism, it should survive Messrs Bond, Bauer, Bourne and the like. And Bond himself would appreciate one other feature: It's British.
