CHOICE IS YOURS
Personalisation is not just for cars – it is changing the face of modern watches too
When the Model T Ford was introduced in 1908, there were several different colours, including green and bright red. But as production rates cranked up and prices came down, Henry Ford famously decided to make black the only choice. The message was clear: being picky is for the rich man, your average Joe will take what he’s given. The same thing went for most watches, until recently.
Back in the days of the pocket watch, the man in the street barely got a look-in, let alone a choice. In the 18th and 19th century it was standard practice to commission a bespoke pocket watch, perhaps adorning the case with your family crest, or a biblical engraving. Because watches were built largely by hand in relatively small numbers, individualising them was all part of the service, but you needed deep pockets.
In the 20th century, when the watch moved from waistcoat to wrist, production numbers soared. Suddenly ordinary folk could afford a watch, but this meant that personalisation was no longer the order of the day – as Mr Ford discovered, on a production line, consistency equals efficiency. A reduction in choice didn’t just affect the lower end of the market. Industrialisation, with ever-stricter technical specifications, meant designs were increasingly standardised. So even among posho brands, it became normal practice to buy a watch off the peg, in whatever spec the company deemed fit.
You could still find independent makers prepared to build a one-off, of course, but this only happened at the very highest end of the moolah scale – compared with the pocket watch days, during the 20th century bespoke pieces were a tiny proportion of the market.
Nowadays, the right to choose is everywhere – you can sit in the comfort of your home clicking through countless different colours and styles of case, strap and dial. Thankfully it is no longer the preserve of the wealthy – the online configurator has become the tool of choice for countless watch makers. So just as your city car comes with a bewildering level of trim options, watch buyers now expect to order exactly what they want, when they want it. Even if you have less than £100 to spend, exclusivity is within reach, and with a few clicks you can make sure nobody on earth has the same watch as you. Choice for the many, not just the few.