The Integrated Sports Watch Will Never Die
I should preface this with two points so you know where I am coming from. First off, I don’t particularly like integrated sports watches. The rough industrialism of the Royal Oak does nothing for me and the post-industrialism of the Nautilus leaves me cold. And having a large wrist, being bound to a proprietary bracelet/strap system is a pain. So why do I keep buying them? After an 8 month wait I finally got the shipping notification for my Atelier Wen Perception this week. And what does all of this suggest about the likely future of the integrated bracelet trend?
The prestige that the Holy Trinity has poured into this design feature is undoubtedly the prime mover here. The immense residuals that a handful of timepieces carry has created something of a halo around their core design features. As they trickle down these things have come to take on a value that is now separate from the price that any individual model is destined to be sold at.
As a result, when the creative duo behind the Hong Kong/Paris microbrand Atelier Wen decided that they wanted to show off a hand-turned rose engine dial, it is not all surprising that they would go for something in the Genta inspired design vein. Nor does it hurt that these watches are a great platform for up and coming watchmakers to show off their tight tolerances and case/bracelet finishing skills. Done well they are a thing of beauty. Done poorly they can be unwearable.
Atelier Wen is not alone in choosing this type of platform to highlight their wares. The Christopher Ward Twelve comes to mind as another design flex. What it lacks in originality it makes up for in the sheer number of machine processes that they were able to cram into a sub-2K watch. Clearly Czapek didn't appreciate their efforts, but that was the point of the exercise.
At every level of the industry, from the top to the “up and coming,” we are seeing lavishly planned and executed designs. On balance these watches seem to be a bit more expensive than their traditional brethren, but with the various design upgrades on offer, they also offer some of the best value for money out there. One could multiply examples, but I think its sufficient to say that if you care about these sorts of things, it is actually difficult not to end up a with a couple of these pieces in your watch box.
All of which leads us to the second thing that is sustaining the trend, and will likely continue to do so for some time. Creative types on YouTube seem desperate for folks to move on to the next big thing (pro tip, it’s a “daring” 34mm dress watch in yellow gold that your dad wore to his law firm in 1983). They would very much like for everyone to forget about their “oversized” 40mm cases and integrated sports pieces. The very nature of fashion is that it changes, right?
Well, not always. At least not quickly. In microeconomics we talk about something called the “endowment effect.” If you show me a coffee mug and ask me how much I think it is worth I might say $5. If you give me the mug and ask me how much its worth I am going say $10.
We psychologically endow those things that we own with value that cannot be captured in the initial market transaction. And this effect only gets stronger if we have to pay our own money for the object, or we own it for some period of time, accumulating memories and experience with it. Hence the endowment effect affects durable goods much more strongly than consumable ones, but you see it practically everywhere.
Maybe the @Max is right and the Tissot PRX is just the horological equivalent of fast fashion. Give it a decade and those movements will have broken down, and everyone will discover that they aren’t super interested in servicing them. Sooner or later they will vanish from Instagram. Will the integrated sports watch trend vanish with them?
Consider everyone who sunk a small (or not so small) fortune into the Holy Trinity’s more sporty offerings over the last decade. Or the next level down, the IWCs and Zeniths of the world. Those things are still going to be in collections and their owners will be reminding us, at regular intervals, of the fact that their wrist shots look better than ours. Indeed, fewer low end imitators will likely increase the exclusivity (and hence desirability) of these pieces. Yes other trends will arrive. I for one do not welcome the appearance of our new gold toned 34mm overlords. But the economic and psychological value that the endowment effect creates suggest rather strongly that ghost of Gerald Genta will haunt our imaginations for some time to come.
A student of time and space with a watch on his wrist.
Great read. I own the PRX and love the watch but can see how it can be polarizing. The Atelier Wen is fantastic though.
It did for me.
Great read. I own the PRX and love the watch but can see how it can be polarizing. The Atelier Wen is fantastic though.
Hopefully the shipping/customs process does not take too long. I can't wait to wear that one for a couple of weeks and write a review of it here.
Nice write up. I absolutely love what Atelier Wen is doing and hope to grab one soon, so congrats on that pickup. I have not really jumped on the bandwagon, but the Wen and 12 have me a little curious.
Nice write up. I absolutely love what Atelier Wen is doing and hope to grab one soon, so congrats on that pickup. I have not really jumped on the bandwagon, but the Wen and 12 have me a little curious.
Agreed. There is a lot of good work going on this space. I would like to do a comparison but I don't own the 12. I will likely comparison with my FC Highlife, which is one of my daily drivers.
I love this watch. I picked one up in the initial batch and the wait was so hard, but the communication was first rate. Several small tweaks were made as they refused to say "that'll do" to any part of the finish or the process to get there.
I really need to do a review but I still feel I'm in the fanboy stage of ownership, and giving it 5s across the board isn't helpful.
I like the CW12 in dark colours, I like the PRX in lighter colours, but I have more than one watch with an integrated bracelet and the Perception's dial is a cut above, so I'm adding nothing to my collection. They have been added to my wishlist but with such a low priority that I doubt I'll ever get them😕
You're going to love this watch. The stock photo above doesn't do it justice. It's a tart of a watch, it's almost impossible to take a bad photograph of it.
Great choice.👍
TLDR
Maybe in 25 years China will have a reputation for quality, (I doubt it).
This specific watch is a little weird to my eye. It certainly has high aspirations but it falls short by a long way. If I didn’t know it was Chinese, I’d certainly suspect it was.
10 minutes spent reading scripted evangelism won’t convince me to deliberately spend more than £5 on a Chinese product though.
If you’re happy with it, that’s all that matters.
I'm a sucker for them too!
Of course it will never die, everything else but "Integration" of bands (be it metal or otherwise) is going to die if you as me. When watches became more about design than functionality the band became just as if not more import than the movement. Almost every luxury watch with mass appeal these days has a band with decent band well "integrated" (whatever the hell that actually means at the end of the day) in the case. This a trend that has been evolving for 5 decades now. The Royal Oak kickstarted it probably with a steel band in the 70s. Hublot popularised rubber in the 80s but got in to metal more recently. Of course there were many brands that followed APs trend, some more original than others but even established models the Cartier Santos got a neatly integrated band.
From there we got the 80s Constellations and the Ebel Sport Classic, later 1911 (which was a big deal then), in the 90s LVMH went into overdrive and made a dozen TAG Heuers (and Ebels) in that style. Even the Frack Muller and Richard Mille stuff has integrated bands. Recently we got a lot of lazy "heritage releases" but that's not a sustainable trend in m opinion.
IWC tried to reverse the trend on the Ingenieur... they made it from bad to worse. So that didn't work out. Nah, I think integrated bands is the only way forward. Lugs had a decent run but their time is up.
I'm a sucker for them too!
That is a great collection. And I love the green LE Perception. Still kicking myself for not picking that one up when I had the chance. So many watches, so little time....
Of course it will never die, everything else but "Integration" of bands (be it metal or otherwise) is going to die if you as me. When watches became more about design than functionality the band became just as if not more import than the movement. Almost every luxury watch with mass appeal these days has a band with decent band well "integrated" (whatever the hell that actually means at the end of the day) in the case. This a trend that has been evolving for 5 decades now. The Royal Oak kickstarted it probably with a steel band in the 70s. Hublot popularised rubber in the 80s but got in to metal more recently. Of course there were many brands that followed APs trend, some more original than others but even established models the Cartier Santos got a neatly integrated band.
From there we got the 80s Constellations and the Ebel Sport Classic, later 1911 (which was a big deal then), in the 90s LVMH went into overdrive and made a dozen TAG Heuers (and Ebels) in that style. Even the Frack Muller and Richard Mille stuff has integrated bands. Recently we got a lot of lazy "heritage releases" but that's not a sustainable trend in m opinion.
IWC tried to reverse the trend on the Ingenieur... they made it from bad to worse. So that didn't work out. Nah, I think integrated bands is the only way forward. Lugs had a decent run but their time is up.
Hi Puffin, thanks for your thoughtful comment. Something you said really resonated with me.
"When watches became more about design than functionality the band became just as if not more import than the movement. Almost every luxury watch with mass appeal these days has a band with decent band well "integrated" (whatever the hell that actually means at the end of the day) in the case."
This is so true. When I talk with people who try on a Rolex for the first time what almost everyone mentions is how much like the bracelets and how comfortable they are. That seems to have become a critical part of the wearing experience of the brand, which is somewhat remarkable given where they were in the 1980s. Even though their current bracelets are not "officially" integrated, in practice you are not taking that thing off and putting your new ceramic sub on a nato. Likewise, Grand Seiko seems to fall down for many enthusiasts in the same category (though in all honesty I never had issues getting a good fit with the Snowflake). So I think you are right. As watches march ever more towards luxury items the bracelet becomes ever more important. That might be something else pushing the trend forward.
Hi Puffin, thanks for your thoughtful comment. Something you said really resonated with me.
"When watches became more about design than functionality the band became just as if not more import than the movement. Almost every luxury watch with mass appeal these days has a band with decent band well "integrated" (whatever the hell that actually means at the end of the day) in the case."
This is so true. When I talk with people who try on a Rolex for the first time what almost everyone mentions is how much like the bracelets and how comfortable they are. That seems to have become a critical part of the wearing experience of the brand, which is somewhat remarkable given where they were in the 1980s. Even though their current bracelets are not "officially" integrated, in practice you are not taking that thing off and putting your new ceramic sub on a nato. Likewise, Grand Seiko seems to fall down for many enthusiasts in the same category (though in all honesty I never had issues getting a good fit with the Snowflake). So I think you are right. As watches march ever more towards luxury items the bracelet becomes ever more important. That might be something else pushing the trend forward.
precisely. In the case of a metal band it is also the part of the watch that leaves the first haptic impression on a potential client. If it feels shoddy that is a very bad start, especially to those new to watches.
When you look at what Rolex has done from 2000 to 2010 then it's steadily improving the bands. In the base range they kept the same 31xx movement for 30 years or so, but bought their bracelet supplier Gay Freres and started making solid end links first, then centre links to remove the wiggle/play and clasps. They also started paying more attention to the way the band and clasp sits on the wrist and tapered the bands more aggressively so that more links can be removed at 6 o'clock (e.g. 63200 vs 63600 Jubilee "upgrade" on the 116234 Datejusts). It was a decade pretty much only about the damn bracelet (they did launch two complicated watches in that time to be fair... and the green bezel 😉) but that is why they are so good. The last step was then to drill the holes so close to the case (so you can't really attach much else) and use extremely thin access points in the end links (so you need a super thin tool to remove the band) all making it even more unlikely that the band will come off. The Oysterflex has a proprietary fitting I think. For what it's worth, I think they have done a better job at visually pairing either of their bands with the cases than many expressly "integrated bracelet steel sports watches" have.
Great read. I own the PRX and love the watch but can see how it can be polarizing. The Atelier Wen is fantastic though.
I saw the Max PRX video. Fair enough about the non-serviceable movement, but does that mean you scrap the whole watch? Keep it for 10-12 years and when the movement wears out, have a watchmaker drop in another one. That watch and its history with you will soldier on. And the watch is beautiful enough for that to be an option. Also wrong about the PRX being the horological equivalent of fast fashion. The PRX is a reissue from years past. It's already a survivor. It sat for decades and as soon as it was revived, it was an immediate success. It's already proven its staying power across time.
I have a Tissot that is just beautiful and you're probably biased as well because of your watch, but man, that PRX is just a feast for the eyes.
I saw the Max PRX video. Fair enough about the non-serviceable movement, but does that mean you scrap the whole watch? Keep it for 10-12 years and when the movement wears out, have a watchmaker drop in another one. That watch and its history with you will soldier on. And the watch is beautiful enough for that to be an option. Also wrong about the PRX being the horological equivalent of fast fashion. The PRX is a reissue from years past. It's already a survivor. It sat for decades and as soon as it was revived, it was an immediate success. It's already proven its staying power across time.
I have a Tissot that is just beautiful and you're probably biased as well because of your watch, but man, that PRX is just a feast for the eyes.
Don’t get me wrong, I love all my watches and you can check out my WRUW how often I go back to the PRX. I am confident that it will last. I don’t think it’s fast fashion, just trendy. I also understand why people would not like one, and it’s not because of the movement. I have never needed to service a movement, and hopefully, never will have to.
Some people might not like the size, integrated bracelet, industrial looks, or just anything to do with Genta inspiration.
Lovely dial and bracelet !!