Integrated Bracelets Are the Latest Tricky Obsession in Watches
Integrated Bracelets Are the Latest Tricky Obsession in Watches
(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- For their new Streamliner collection of timepieces, leaders at the Swiss watchmaker H. Moser & Cie. wanted to create everything from scratch: the mechanism, the case, the dial—everything. So where did they start?
The bracelet.
The humble wristband might seem like the least glamorous part of a watch, but it can be the most difficult to craft. And it’s key to whether the whole thing seems dressy or casual, masculine or feminine, or even well-made.
Early in the Streamliner’s five years of development, Moser Chief Executive Officer Edouard Meylan imagined the watch as the bearer of the brand’s first integrated bracelet, a setup in which the case and first link are connected directly, rather than using a spring bar and lugs. It’s a challenge to engineer; in an age when personalization goes hand in hand with luxury, it defies the trend of offering interchangeable straps. (Think of how many options are offered with the Apple Watch.) Yet an integrated bracelet completes a timepiece’s design instead of simply complementing it.
For inspiration, Meylan looked to the 1970s and the future-forward iconography of designer Gerald Genta—specifically, his work on Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak. “I had the opportunity to grow up observing my father [former Audemars Piguet CEO Georges-Henri Meylan] as he took AP to the next level and seeing many beautiful Royal Oaks.” The bracelet is considered essential to the success of that watch.
Integrated bracelets feature in several of today’s most acclaimed, sought-after timepieces. Genta’s Nautilus for Patek Philippe may be the best-known, but others populate the portfolios of Vacheron Constantin, Rolex, Omega, Bell & Ross, Girard-Perregaux, Zenith, and Tudor. Lower-cost watchmakers such as Tissot have their own versions, too. As Moser introduced its in-house-designed integrated bracelet during Dubai Watch Week, which ended on Jan. 15, LVMH’s Hublot did the same.
The company is “trying to find the tension between vintage and modern-contemporary. That’s what we were seeking with this collection,” Meylan says. “We didn’t want a simple, flat bracelet, so we gave it three-dimensional curves. It looks a little bit like the rear of a Porsche Carrera.”
Meylan, the engineers, and the heads of sales and development researched and brainstormed. They analyzed the work of rivals. All this before settling on a single-link design and translating it into software. Then they searched for technological solutions to fabricate their vision, including 3D printing prototypes, and specialized machinery. Costs soared to the millions of dollars. “The architect will create something amazing—your dream house,” Meylan says. “Then you work with people who will actually build it, and they’ll say it’s impossible.”
“Many bracelets are still stuck in the ’70s,” says Moser in-house engineer Arnaud Lévy. “Other integrated bracelets are the combination of circles and straight lines. Our forms have different curvature levels. It made it difficult to develop and more difficult to produce.” Moser’s engineers went through hundreds of iterations. Meylan had envisioned waves, and that idea guided them from the bracelet into the design of the watch and its cushion-shaped case.
“We’re talking about aligning microns to see this continuity,” Lévy says. Linking the case and bracelet is the most challenging part; a successful seam conceals sharp edges and avoids abrupt lines. Matching the finish on both sides can aid the union.
Integrated bracelets must also fit various wrists comfortably. Key parameters include lug width and how each link joins. Ergonomic advances have kept the bracelet from becoming a design relic.
“The bracelet has to be both aesthetically outstanding and also comfortable,” Meylan says. “Most watches are round. As a result, a bracelet becomes a very strong element of differentiation for a brand.”
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Rovzar at crovzar@bloomberg.net, James Gaddy
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