TELLING TIME
Seeking an investment timepiece? Heritage brands are crafting unisex watches in stainless steel at prices from entry level to aspirational.
Steel watches from heritage brands that will steal your heart.
Stainless steel has become the go-to metal for luxury watches today, especially as gold prices have become ever more prohibitive, which is great news if you’re interested in adding a “serious” watch to your wardrobe. These days, every high-end brand is blending its best heritage styling and automatic movements with the accessibility of stainless steel to create more options for a broader range of budgets and taste levels. Even better: The case sizes and details reveal a focus on gender-neutral timepieces. It’s about time.
AUDEMARS PIGUET Audemars Piguet is debuting a version of its iconic Royal Oak ($32,670) in a 34 mm stainless-steel case that houses a blue-grey guilloche dial highlighting the brand’s signature Grande Tapisserie pattern. The applied indices are crafted in white gold, and other features include a bezel set with 40 brilliantcut diamonds (totalling .71 carats), a date window at the three o’clock position and a stainless-steel bracelet.
CARTIER The Pasha de Cartier, named for Thami El Glaoui, the Pasha of Marrakesh from 1912 to 1956 and a longtime client of Louis Cartier, was introduced to the house’s collections in 1985. The latest design ($8,850) has been crafted with a new audience in mind. The three-hand automatic timepiece features a 41 mm stainless-steel case, is water-resistant to 100 metres and comes with both a stainless-steel bracelet and leather straps, which are easily interchangeable via Cartier’s QuickSwitch system.
ROLEX Anyone who thinks Rolex is staid hasn’t seen the new dial colours of the iconic brand’s Oyster Perpetual 36, including the bold yellow on this 36 mm style ($6,550) crafted in Oystersteel, Rolex’s proprietary steel alloy. The indices on this three-hand watch have been treated with Chromalight for a luminescent display that lasts for up to eight hours.
CHOPARD The Alpine Eagle collection is Chopard’s take on unisex timepieces in stainless steel. This 41 mm Alpine Eagle Large model ($17,000) is crafted in the jewellery house’s proprietary Lucent Steel A223, a stainless metal that’s both scratch-resistant and designed to reflect light. The self-winding chronometer features a date window just past the four o’clock position on a blue dial that has been crafted to resemble the iris of an eagle.
OMEGA This stainless-steel timepiece ($8,250) is part of Omega’s Constellation Gents Collection, but its 39 mm case size puts it squarely in genderneutral territory. The stainlesssteel bezel is engraved with Roman numerals, and the hands, indices and other details on the rhodium-grey dial are crafted in the brand’s 18 karat Sedna gold.
TUDOR A sleek silver sunray dial gets a sporty-chic treatment in the newest Tudor Royal timepiece done in satin and polished stainless steel ($2,955). Details on this 34 mm self-winding watch include a notched stainlesssteel bezel, a date function at the three o’clock position and a 38-hour power reserve.
RADO The deep-emerald dial and matching high-tech ceramic bezel stand out on the latest Captain Cook Automatic by Rado ($2,800), inspired by a 1962 design. This 37 mm watch is housed in a stainlesssteel case and features a date display, SuperLuminova on the hands and indices and an 80-hour power reserve. The stainless-steel bracelet can be switched out for an included leather or NATO textile strap.
PIAGET By its very nature, a skeleton watch is about showcasing the craft of watchmaking— highlighting the intricacy of a movement while also striving to display how horology can sometimes be a miniature art form. Piaget’s ultra-thin Polo Skeleton ($38,300) blends those ideas nicely as it contrasts its inner workings in blue against slate grey. This self-winding two-hand watch includes a 44-hour power reserve, and the stainless-steel bracelet can be changed out for an alligator-leather strap, which is included.