| WATCH YOUR TIME
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© LUC BRAQUET
PATEK PHILIPPE 7340/1R-001. A pleasant
surprise for women who appreciate mechani-
cal watches: the Twenty4 collection welcomes
its very first complication, a perpetual calen-
dar offered in two versions. The model shown
here features the ultra-thin self-winding Calibre
240 Q, visible through a sapphire caseback and
displaying calendar functions and moon phases
on a silvered dial with both vertical and horizon-
tal satin finishes reminiscent of ‘shantung’ silk.
This rose gold watch with matching bracelet is
also the first round Twenty4 without diamonds.
Also available with an olive-green sunburst dial
(7340/1R-010).
W O M E N ’ S
By Paloma Recio, Editor of the R&E Magazine
Women's
Mechanical
Watches
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Since the end of the last century,
mechanical watchmaking has once
again developed with a focus on
women. An increasing number
of brands are offering watches in
this category specifically designed
for women, sometimes even
featuring grand complications. We
can say that mechanical watches
for women have regained their
nobility and earned their well-
deserved place in the spotlight.
ollowing the quartz crisis, mechanical watchmaking regained promi-
nence, initially catering primarily to men. The female population, once
thought to be indifferent to mechanical watches, was mainly offered
small quartz watches. However, women, who also appreciated fine horology,
expressed their disagreement by embracing men’s models. This was evident
in the success of Panerai, whose 44 mm-diameter watches were adopted by
women at the end of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st. Over time,
mindsets shifted, and today, a large number of mechanical watches for women
are available. Some feature complicated movements that brilliantly combine
horological mastery and aesthetics and this is a trend increasingly embraced
by brands. Optimistically, one might say that there is a significant push in this
direction, as if the watchmaking industry had rediscovered the female half of
the population and is striving to meet its demand, having realised that women
of the 21st Century are the major consumers, and that for them, the watch is
no longer just a fashion accessory, but an object that reflects social status and
personality, a manifestation of the power they exert in contemporary society.
A Symbol of Emancipation
The time when it was considered that women did not need to know the time
– and even that it was inappropriate for them to care about it – is long gone.
But, as happens so often, when something is forbidden or rejected, it becomes
a challenge. Carried by the winds of change that were beginning to fill the air
of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, women took the liberty of wearing
wristwatches long before men decided to follow suit – wearing a watch on the
wrist became a symbol of emancipation and even authority.
→
WOMEN’S