WIS ("Watch Idiot Savant") - a derogatory (probably) term that watch enthusiasts like to wear like a badge of honour to represent their obsession with watches, a pointless piece of wrist accessory in the 21st century. Typical behaviours of the WIS includes, but are not limited to, a tendency to ramble on about things that most people don't care about or spending more time on watch forums than they do parenting their 3 year old child.
An Unlikely Encounter
I chanced upon an extremely interesting vintage Bulova Longchamp cosigned watch from the 1970s one rosy afternoon on my daily auction check. With a Bulova manual wind movement ticking inside, a steel TV case, and a grey hobnail dial, this watch was sufficiently quirky and cheap enough for me to purchase it for shits and giggles (as one usually does). The watch was a pleasant surprise - it was well designed, actually ran well after a basic service, felt like a nice vintage watch of decent quality, and looked slick. This ultimately piqued my curiosity and led me down to the rabbit hole of the fashion watch of the past. I kept my eyes peeled, and started hunting down more “fashion” pieces for research purposes (much to the delight of the women in my family well-acquainted with these names).
Conceptualizing the Fashion Watch
Understandably, the concept of a ‘fashion watch’ still remains elusive and iffy to many till today. After all, watches are, well, fashionable pieces of accessory at its core. The ‘fashion watch’ terminology has long been used (almost in a derogatory way at times…) to refer to mall shop watches or watches that might look purely aesthetically pleasing but with little substance to back it up (think Fossil, Shinola etc). These watches are typically easy on your wallet, capture the latest fashion trends, and come with a huge array of design options. Unfortunately, these watches, while relatively affordable, are typically constructed like $5 watches one can buy off Temu. Clearly, one can pay less but can never escape the mark ups. On the other hand, we have luxury fashion houses that also make watches and they put in more attention to whatever they are churning out typically. I suspect the folks at Hermès would rather be caught dead than stick a cheap Chinese quartz movement in their watches.
Defining the ‘fashion watch’ is tough and frankly speaking, pointless, but I will mostly aim to approach the whole topic by viewing the ‘fashion watch’ as watches that have been created by brands with no concrete expertise in watchmaking, be it historical or present. Following that definition, a brand could have been considered a maker of ‘fashion watches’ in the past, but could also not fall under that umbrella today. Typical examples of such brands might include the likes of Hermès that have significantly improved their watchmaking capabilities post the acquisition of a stake in Parmigiani Fleurier. That is to say that the ‘fashion watch’ definition is not exactly primordial and develops with the intention and efforts of the brand, and it is clearly not so black or white (Is Chanel now a serious watchmaker? Perhaps? Perhaps not? Define it however you’d like).
High-end fashion houses have sold watches for the longest time (see numerous examples of cosigned early 20th century watches from Dunhill or Hermes), but the 1970s was the period when many fashion houses got their foot into the watch business. As Malaika Crawford had pointed out in her article on Hodinkee¹, this was most likely due to the proliferation of affordable movements brought forth by the Quartz Crisis that made this venture a lot less risky and appealing for these fashion houses to step into. It is also conceivable that with the Quartz Crisis in the 1970s weeding out a big chunk of the traditional watchmaking industry, fashion houses saw a vacuum in the market outside of the conservative and traditional giants that had survived the debacle and coupled with a lowered barrier to entry, this could have been an attractive entry point - but that is just a conjecture.
Bulova in Paris
Many fashion houses that were looking to launch their own line of watches in the past naturally sought the expertise of watchmaking houses. Bulova, for instance, had interesting collaborations with both Christian Dior as well as Longchamp, both well regarded European fashion powerhouses, and this collaboration is fairly well documented and hence a good case study for our discussion today.
Bulova Dior collaboration advertising
Source: mybulova
The Christian Dior Collection by Bulova was first known to have been launched in 1968 with a pilot run. This information can all be found in an extremely well written article on Watchonista by Tanya Dukes on the forgotten history of Bulova and Christian Dior². These double signed watches seem to have been extremely varied, with quality ranging from inexpensively made to decadent. The original launch, which was the The Christian Dior Collection by Bulova, seems to probably have been on the latter side of the spectrum with these watches coming in well crafted solid gold cases, occasionally adorned with diamonds. Vintage advertisements of these watches showcase the flair that these watches had, almost reminiscent of the Piagets of the era reeking of ostentatious cool. These watches were bougie but not boring, and Christian Dior certainly added a spark that Bulova alone could not achieve.
With the success of The Christian Dior Collection by Bulova, it seems that Bulova launched a more affordable range of watches known as the Dior Boutique Collection by Bulova. The prices were far more affordable, but this also meant that the quality of the materials used suffered. These watches seem to have come predominantly on chrome or gold plated cases while still maintaining the fashion forwardness of Christian Dior.
The liberated watch for the liberated woman. These watches seem to have been the more modern and affordable of the bunch.
Source: mybulova
One could also argue that the designs in the Dior Boutique Collection were far more experimental and modern, while the Christian Dior Collection felt more like an attempt at haute jewelry. The Dior Boutique Collection even came with a fresh and empowering tagline: “The liberated watch for the liberated woman” - reflecting the zeitgeist of the 1970s perfectly well as the second wave of feminism had a far-reaching impact on the very idea of womanhood. One can only imagine that such a marketing strategy was probably very apropos, and probably had its fair share of success.
The design of the box is very "Longchamp" with a stirrup on the front, giving a little nod to the brand's equestrian heritage.
Source: mybulova
Unlike the Dior collection where resources are easily accessible online (comparatively - these watches still do not have enough coverage or interest today), Bulova also had a collaboration with the Parisian fashion house, Longchamp, which is a bit more elusive. Some speculate that this collaboration was purely for the European market, while the Dior collaboration was targeted towards the American market. The only clue that really seems to exist out there on the internet is that the advertising material I have seen with the Bulova Longchamp cosigned models were all European advertisements targeted at markets such as Italy in the 1970s. Another evidence to support this thesis would be that in the mybulova database (extremely nifty by the way), there exists a Bulova Longchamp cosigned watch in 9k solid gold and English hallmarks - unmistakably a watch made for export to the United Kingdom. Those would have had their movements imported from the United States, and cased with British made cases. While I cannot 100% assert that these Longhchamp watches were exclusive to the European market, some reasonable evidence exists out there through first hand accounts of owners on the mybulova database and other sources.
The Case of the Rest
While Dior was borrowing Bulova’s watchmaking expertise and dishing out watches of their own, they were not alone. Brands like Pierre Cardin, Lanvin, and Yves Saint Laurent (all notably French) also brought their design ethos to the wrist. However, not every house took the same approach as Dior did for instance. Yves Saint Laurent notably had a licensing agreement with Citizen (covered by Hodinkee’s Malaika Crawford) that started in 1975 exclusively for the Japanese market, in which the French luxury house took charge of the design and the Japanese watchmaker, the manufacturing. This collaboration was known to be quite successful, and gave many a more affordable entry into their favourite fashion brands. Some vintage Yves Saint Laurent watches from this period such as the “Reversible” (very much their take on the Jaeger Lecoultre Reverso) have captured the attention of a few hardcore collectors and dealers who value them highly for their rarity and uniqueness.
Yves Saint Laurent "Reverso" (I), Pierre Cardin Espace (II), Lanvin bangle watch (III)
Sources: Heirloom Gallery, AnalogShift, Vintage Voyage
The likes of Lanvin and Pierre Cardin however seem to have taken a markedly different root, keeping themselves as “French” as possible. The 1970s pieces by Lanvin could best be described as futuristic and avant garde. Many examples can be seen with 0.925 silver or chrome cases with some very interesting use of materials (such as wood bezels and bakelite) and distinct shapes reminiscent of brutalist and futurist architecture. These pieces also came with very commonly used FE (France Ebauche) calibers such as the FE68, the movement of choice for many simple french made watches of this era such as the Pierre Cardin x Jaeger watches that have gained more attention recently. The Pierre Cardin x Jaeger watches were even bolder than the Lanvin pieces, utilizing lucite as a case material and coming in shapes ranging from oval to triangle. The similarity between the two brands was that they did not conform to the traditional constraints of what made a watch a “watch” be it in shape or composition - they were unapologetically bold and contrarian, capturing the imaginations of the Space Age consumers.
Looking at the watches made by these brands in the 1970s, it somehow feels quite romantically nostalgic when you see the words “France” printed on the dial amidst the sea of “Swiss Made”. I hate using the phrase Je ne sais quoi because it sounds like a very lazy and cheap way to seem sophisticated, but these vintage French made fashion watches do carry a certain charm. Most importantly, these watches are a reflection of our society and the human imagination in the 1970s, and objects that tell a story in our modern history.
Collecting Vintage Fashion Watches
The collectibility of these pieces in today’s market remain suspect. This is due to the fact that many of these pieces were not exactly built to last from a quality perspective and their seemingly outdated designs in today’s market is more of a matter of personal preference. However, that is not to say that these pieces have not been garnering attention. After all, GQ literally talked about the Pierre Cardin x Jaeger Espace line of watches as one of the hottest watch trends of 2023… If GQ is saying it, then yes, the trend has already seen the light of mainstream. This is evident also from the prices of these Pierre Cardin x Jaeger prices have increased exponentially, with some trading in the low 4-figures range - a number that was absolutely inconceivable a few years ago because these watches were viewed as putrid pile of crap. Does that mean that one shouldn’t look out for some of these pieces? Well, I don’t think so. Pieces like the Pierre Cardin x Jaeger Espace or the Yves Saint Laurent “Reversible” have had their fair share of the spotlight in recent years, but I believe there remain many undiscovered gems out there that are fun and inexpensive in this vintage luxury fashion category that we discussed today.
It doesn’t have to be expensive to be fun!
Source: Generalist
Some of my finds from this journey include the aforementioned 1970s Bulova Longchamp, a very neat hexagonal Celine with a Swiss manual wind movement and a beautiful burgundy dial, a very fun Waving Mao watch by Shanghai Tang that utilizes a neat Shanghai factory movement (which I have covered previously, and I happen to just own 2 for fun), and a funky watch by Japanese retailer United Arrows. While quality might differ across the board, all these watches have been extremely fun to wear and admire, and given their price point, they serve as very good companions for an easy day or a quick trip out. While I do have a core lineup of pieces in my collection that are what one might call fine or “high-end”, learning about these pieces and toying around with them brings me as much joy and brings out the child-like inquisitiveness within me. It keeps me grounded, and whisks me away from the horological dick measuring contest out there today about who owns what. I think there is far more value in that than just being able to afford “nice things” - after all true collecting is a hobby that is meant to be fun and meaningful beyond the superficial gratification that comes with owning a watch.