“Time is the fire in which we burn” wrote Delmore Schwartz in Calmly We Walk Through This April’s Day, but fortunately a good watch can make time’s passing a bit more bearable. I’d love to be a watch connoisseur, or rather, I’d love to have the money to be a watch connoisseur. However, in the absence of the cash, all I can do is peruse the likes of GQ’s Watch Guide 2012 which shows off over 90 great watches. Not all of them are costly with both Casio and Swatch appearing, but there are some eye-wateringly expensive models in the collection.
Regardless if you don’t know a tourbillon from from a touchpad or a complication from a compiler, the designs of some of these watches depart considerably from the two hands and 12 numbers model. Here are a few choice examples.
The Giuliano Mazzuoli Contagiri is modelled on a pressure gauge. Quite what happens when the dial reaches 12:30, I’m not too sure, but it’s great for those of us who has an “ish” view of time.
The De Grisogono FG One is in similar vein, but I’m uncertain which is the minutes and which is the seconds, or which is the hour and which is the date!
This relatively inexpensive Diesel model can tell the time in four different time zones, with three analogue dials and one digital. Not sure why you’d need to…
The Longines 24 Hours dispenses with the usual 12 hour dial, replacing it with a 24 hour one. What looks like 6 o’clock on this watch is actually 12 noon. Very cool.
The Girard Perregaux John Harrison commemorates William Harrison’s four-month journey from Portsmouth to Jamaica in 1761-2 to test his father John’s H4 chronometer, designed to calculate longitude at sea. Simply beautiful.
Enjoy looking at the rest of the watches in the article.