VIRTUAL INTEGRATION

The wristwatch is only able to sit on the wrist by virtue of its humble band. Some watchmakers have dared to imagine this band as part of a cohesive whole. We set the scene for an overdue discussion on the many virtues of the metal bracelet

- ASHOK SOMAN

When you are used to wearing a watch, you notice its absence. It can be quite alarming to need a quick check on the time, look to your wrist for a bit of unobtrusive advice from old faithful and discover that – for some reason – it is not there. Most often this is because you have taken it off and forgotten to return it to its rightful place. If you have multiple watches, this is not unusual at all. If you have one watch that you really do call ‘old faithful’ then you will indeed be shocked to find it missing; perhaps you are on holiday at an onsen and have forgotten that you took off your watch along with the rest of your clothes.

A reasonable protest at this example is of course that you would never check your wrist for the time in such a situation, just as you would not do in the shower at home. One simply does not subject leather and fabric straps to such indignities. A perfectly reasonable objection, unless the watch happens to be on a metal bracelet. This is because such an accessory lends a timepiece a certain sense of invulnerability, however unjustified it might be. Onsens and spas (any kind of hot shower with a lot of humidity basically) are notoriously rough on the gaskets that keep moisture out of the case, and bracelets do nothing for that – a pity really because checking the time in a spa would be quite useful but that is a subject for another occasion. Also, non-reactive materials such as titanium and ceramic tend to tempt one into taking chances.