CLASSICAL REVIVAL
By Mark Bernardo  
Excerpt from WatchTime Buyer's Guide 2012

After years of pushing the boundaries of case size, cost and complications, watch brands have rediscovered the appeal of
classically simple dials, modest dimensions and accessible price points.

"Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast
quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as
the crowning reward of art."  --------------  Frédéric Chopin

The watch industry reached something of a tipping point in 2008. Among the models that generated buzz at that year’s Swiss watch fairs were DeWitt’s WX-1 concept watch, a hulking timepiece that looked like a futuristic battleship and measured more than 72 mm long and almost 50 mm wide; Greubel Forsey’s Fundamental Invention No. 2, the first wristwatch with not one, not two, but four tourbillons; Romain Jerome’s Day & Night Tourbillon, a watch with no hours or minutes indication, which defiantly scoffed at the quaint notion that a wristwatch should tell the time; deGrisogono’s Meccanico dG, with its mechanically operated digital time display; Hysek’s enormous, multi-complication Colosso; and Concord’s high-tech monolith, the C1 Gravity Tourbillon. It seemed as if the new rules in the watch world had been set: that bigger is better, that complicated trumps simple, that price is no object, that the ability to read the time on a watch takes a back seat to mind-blowing design and technological savoir-faire.

Since then, however, in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent worldwide economic crisis, the winds have begun to shift, and the seeds of a contrarian counter-revolution of sorts have taken root....

In 2011, the classical revival showed no signs of abating. The Baselworld and SIHH watch fairs saw a plethora of watch brands introduce simple, classically designed, uncomplicated models, many of them in extra-thin cases or inspired by historic designs (many are both). Moreover, after years of pushing the envelope to 50 mm and beyond, most of them also sport more modest case dimensions. These are watches suited to a more austere time, an era of discreet taste following one of ostentatious wealth. (Of course, the rise of China as a luxury market, and the Chinese preference for thin, small-diameter cases and clean, uncomplicated dials also played a role.)

...while there will always be room — and we daresay, a demand — for watch companies to push the envelope with high complications, big cases, and wildly experimental materials and technology, there’s a reason why the classics are the classics.  Read the entire article.

 d.freemont Classic style watches include from left to right, Prescott, Santorini, and Airbatic.

d.freemont Ganymede serial #68 / 100 produced.  Watch is new – heat treated case and custom Lizard strap deployant buckle – beautiful 42mm with Valjoux 7750 / 25 jewel movement. Sapphire crystals front and back – Water resistant 10 ATM.

 $1930 Post Paid.
 

Available now!   Full color, 8 1/2 x 11 paperback
Collector's Guide to d.freemont Watches  $30 at Amazon.

 This is a complete pictorial history of the origin and motivation behind each rendition and an extensive text of each watch’s place in the collection.

d.freemont watches are limited production… each watch has a serial number. Collectability is established by limiting quantity.