In Its Own Way

It’s easy, low-stakes even, to praise a classically beautiful watch. How about trying to appreciate and understand timepieces with aesthetics that challenge?

-  GORDON NG

Watches are a bit like people in the sense that it's okay to not like how everyone looks. Tastes, after all, are subjective. But in the horological world, there are traditional and stubbornly held ideas of what constitutes beauty. Really, it's more of an instinct to hew to the known. Stray too far and into the territory of unfamiliar shapes, details and forms and you verge closer upon 'ugliness'.

Which is why it matters that there exists a cadre of modern haute horology brands that throw down the gauntlet when it comes to aesthetic choices. Instead of dancing around making more of the same, these brands are resolute in pursuing newness in their own way conviction as a quality all its own.

Consider a brand like Richard Mille. Despite how busy and complex its watches often look, this is a watchmaker that roots itself in the tradition of Swiss high watchmaking. That's more to do with intangible qualities like dedication and obsessiveness. Where Richard Mille departs, and where these qualities are enacted differently, is in its ambition, per its slogan, to create racing machines on the wrist. Not a car or a watch, mind you, but a racing machine.

It's a semantic difference, but it tells of how Richard Mille conceives its timepieces as an analogue to the pinnacle engineering of, say, Formula 1. It's about an impetus for cuttingedge technology, materials and techniques. A stellar example is the RM 65-01, which is the most complex automatic watch in the brand's history.