Timeless Sport Watches
Much like your favorite well-worn jeans and loafers, these classic, no-nonsense sport watches are go-to pieces for any watch wardrobe. Newly revamped sport collections faithfully update time-honored favorites with pure designs that eschew high-tech complications for clarity, look sharp dressed up or dressed down, and stand up to some hard knocks.
This year, Vacheron Constantin reinvented its Overseas collection, which debuted in the mid '90s. Five new models include a clean three-hand version with or without date (shown at left, $19,900), ultrathins, a chronograph, and an ultrathin perpetual calendar. No ordinary sport watches are these. Their three new automatic movements qualify for the Hallmark of Geneva (a.k.a. Geneva Seal), which dictates a number of specific quality finishes and performance standards. A soft iron "Faraday cage" core encases the movements to protect them from performance-altering magnetic fields.
The handsome design, with its distinctive six-sided bezel, features versatility, thanks to interchangeable bracelets and straps that include a beautifully crafted steel bracelet as well as rubber and alligator straps that switch out with the press of a button—no tool required.
When it was introduced in 1972, Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak was more iconoclast than icon. Gerald Genta's radical design paired a beefy sport watch in steel with the finely finished movement of a gold dress watch—and with a price to match. It was a daring move when the Swiss mechanical watchmaking industry was being decimated by cheaper quartz technology. The brand's flagship design has undergone many adaptations and even gave birth to the brawnier, edgier Royal Oak Offshore line in 1993. This year's Royal Oak lineup is outfitted in warm, yellow gold, which appears refreshing after years of rose-gold dominance. It includes a technically groundbreaking Openworked Double Balance Wheel skeleton and a complex perpetual calendar. A downscaled 37mm three-hand model (center, $44,100) preserves the purity of the original's design in minimalist fashion, with a nod to the recent popularity of vintage watches, which were smaller.
IWC took to the skies this year, revisiting its popular pilot watch range with several new models, including the entry level Mark VIII (right, $4,950 on steel bracelet), which gets back to pilot watch basics. The clearly legible black dial is appointed with Arabic numerals and an arrow at 12 o'clock. The robust movement is also protected from magnetism in a soft iron core.
By focusing on restrained, essential design, these watches prove that amid fashion trends, classic never goes out of style.
