Ladies' Choices

Women have been showing a growing interest in the intricacies of complications on top of their demand for exquisite jewellery craftsmanship, observes luxury timepiece brand Patek Philippe

- Patek Philippe

In the world of haute horlogerie, the race for complications (or functions other than telling time) seems to be done for the pleasure of men. Chronographs, perpetual calendars, moon phases, minute repeaters—they have debuted on men’s watches. More complications are easier to put together in bigger and thicker faces—although there is a growing competition here as well as to who can make the thinnest watch. However, the perception seems to be that complicated watches are the turf of men.

History says otherwise. One of the earliest recorded purchases in the archived 1839 sales register of the luxury timepiece, Patek Philippe, noted the sale of three watches by a woman named Mrs Goscinska. Less than three decades later, the Swiss manufacture made its first woman’s wristwatch for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary in 1868. Similar to a triptych, it had two diamond and gold panels on each side of the timepiece. This started the trend for bejewelled bracelets, the watch reduced to a mere accessory.

This did not last for long. Women began to admire the intricacies of complicated wristwatches even though they continued their fondness for exquisite jewellery designs. True to their nature, one might say, they want it all.