THE CONVERSATION: INTEGRATED BRACELETS

Our stories this year about bracelets provokes a dialogue on a niche but important subset. The editors of WOW Singapore and Thailand trade blows between the lugs

- ASHOK SOMAN & RUCKDEE CHOTJINDA

Here is a not-so-bold claim. You probably have a wristwatch on right now; it probably sports a metal bracelet of some kind. If not, then you probably have at least one in your collection. Given that you are reading a watch magazine, this is hardly an exhibition of Nate Silver-esque statistical prescience. But, to add some uncertainty to this, what about the recently trendy integrated bracelet? Do you have a watch with that sort of bracelet? Is this even a proper trend? And honestly, it is only recent if you consider Rolex a new brand, because it got its start in the 20th century.

Then again, you might argue that Rolex does not have any models with integrated bracelets in production now. You would be right, of course, but only if you are a purist who believes that an integrated bracelet needs to be truly inseparable from the case. That is, after all, why it is called integrated. Fair point, but here is a wrinkle: what if the watch in question has some sort of quick-change strap system? While we are setting the stage here, here is another wrinkle: what about those vintage wristwatches with soldered mesh bracelets? Are those integrated? As you can see, there are so many points to argue over that we could not resist arguing amongst ourselves here…

Seriously though, we have spent many pages over several issues looking at bracelets, and this inevitably leads to a debate between our editors on the merits of the subject. By way of contrast, over the years, we have dedicated a tiny number of pages to this part of the wristwatch - we do not even shoot watches with bracelets as often as we do bands of any other sort. WOW Singapore is definitely trying to flip this narrative, and WOW Thailand has questions...many questions.