THE FASCINATION OF TIME. THE WATCH CONTINUES TO GO STRONG AGAINST THE SMARTPHONE
More and more often, I hear of how mobile phones, thanks to the pure and simple indication of time, are eliminating the need for the modern man to wear watches. Yet, behind this seemingly irrefutable thought, there is a one hundred year old correlation which proves the opposite and is summarized in a single word: practicality.
In order to read the time on your mobile phone, you must first take it out of your pocket, activate the screen, and then put it back in your pocket. This reminds me very much of pocket watches, which for centuries had been man’s companion thanks to their practical, aesthetic, and technical evolution. Yet, in the early years of the Twentieth Century, the advent of the wristwatch, at first snubbed by men but adored by women, gained an ever stronger foothold thanks to its proven effectiveness in difficult moments of war when officers and commanders, when making strategic choices, could rely on a watch which showed them the time at a single glance. Thanks to this convenience, which only the wristwatch was able to provide, the pocket watch was slowly replaced. However, even if the pocket watch generally found itself shut in a drawer, it never ceased to exert a certain fascination, and although it is no longer an everyday object, it managed to resist until the social and economic boom of its successor in the 1980's.
Despite this last serious blow, pocket watches still evokes today, in an essentially digital era, a strong interest in collectors who know how to appreciate aesthetic, historical, and technical excellence. The same argument applies even more to the wristwatch which, in the short time since its birth, has attained enviable accomplishments for both its technological development and commercial success, rightfully becoming a fixture in the modern man's life. To the detriment of those who anticipate its premature demise, new wristwatch sales continue to remain steady, while vintage wristwatch sales continue to steadily increase.
Compared to its ancestor the pocket watch, for which the auction world demonstrates a lively and interested market that precludes its definitive disappearance, the smartphone will never hold the same fascination created by those tiny wheeled mechanisms which bring to life watches born from the skills of the masters of the past, and those created by the modern maison.
And so, it is my opinion that the classic watch, sustained by its enviable historical background and its intrinsic practicality, still has a long and flourishing future ahead.
by ENRICO AURILI
In order to read the time on your mobile phone, you must first take it out of your pocket, activate the screen, and then put it back in your pocket. This reminds me very much of pocket watches, which for centuries had been man’s companion thanks to their practical, aesthetic, and technical evolution. Yet, in the early years of the Twentieth Century, the advent of the wristwatch, at first snubbed by men but adored by women, gained an ever stronger foothold thanks to its proven effectiveness in difficult moments of war when officers and commanders, when making strategic choices, could rely on a watch which showed them the time at a single glance. Thanks to this convenience, which only the wristwatch was able to provide, the pocket watch was slowly replaced. However, even if the pocket watch generally found itself shut in a drawer, it never ceased to exert a certain fascination, and although it is no longer an everyday object, it managed to resist until the social and economic boom of its successor in the 1980's.
Despite this last serious blow, pocket watches still evokes today, in an essentially digital era, a strong interest in collectors who know how to appreciate aesthetic, historical, and technical excellence. The same argument applies even more to the wristwatch which, in the short time since its birth, has attained enviable accomplishments for both its technological development and commercial success, rightfully becoming a fixture in the modern man's life. To the detriment of those who anticipate its premature demise, new wristwatch sales continue to remain steady, while vintage wristwatch sales continue to steadily increase.
Compared to its ancestor the pocket watch, for which the auction world demonstrates a lively and interested market that precludes its definitive disappearance, the smartphone will never hold the same fascination created by those tiny wheeled mechanisms which bring to life watches born from the skills of the masters of the past, and those created by the modern maison.
And so, it is my opinion that the classic watch, sustained by its enviable historical background and its intrinsic practicality, still has a long and flourishing future ahead.
by ENRICO AURILI