From Bauhaus to Brutalism – the relationship between art movements and watch design

Buffy Acacia

The term “Renaissance man” is used to describe someone who has a wide field of interests, but all artists take inspiration from a huge variety of sources. Behind every art movement in history has been a specific philosophy which transcends mediums, whether it be Art Deco, brutalism or Bauhaus. That philosophy might not always remain intact by the time it’s commercialised for luxury goods, but watch collecting can be a much more accessible way of appreciating art than collecting paintings, sculptures, or furniture. Starting from the very foundation of wristwatches, this is how art has influenced watch design through the ages.

Art Deco

The movement was only named Art Deco thanks to an international Parisian exhibition in 1925, but its character began to emerge in the late 1800s after concrete reinforced by steel beams found use in architecture. What started as a technique to strengthen the buildings themselves evolved into a style, as the straight beams lent themselves to harsh, geometric patterns and an emphasis on verticality. Combined with the sheer opulence of the previously popular Neoclassicism and the economic boom throughout post-war Europe, the raw concrete surfaces were often decorated with depictions of Greek and Roman figures, as well as lush but blocky colour palettes with splashes of gold.

The first definitive Art Deco building is often cited as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by Auguste Perret, having been completed in 1913. However, Perret and his brother Gustave’s first concrete building was actually an apartment building at 25 Bis Rue Benjamin-Franklin, and it already showed all of the hallmarks of Art Deco grandeur in 1904. After wristwatches initially rose to popularity as women’s jewellery at the turn of the century, the First World War introduced their practicality and style to men’s fashion. Given that Art Deco was by far the most popular style at the time when it came to all things design, it’s only natural that wristwatches would utilise those cues.

Rectangular and tonneau-shaped cases were being produced by the likes of LeCoultre, Cartier, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and even Rolex throughout the 1910s. Intricate geometric engravings were common to see on cases, especially ones made in precious metals, along with colourful gemstones set into them. Many watch enthusiasts love to dismiss iced-out watches as a modern fad, but they’ve been around from the very beginning, as the Vacheron in the first picture of this section illustrates. Architecture inspired the watch cases, but visual art also had an effect on the dial designs. A century later, Art Deco is still a popular look. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is probably the most famous example, but there are budget-friendly options too like the Vario Empire. When the Great Depression struck at the end of the ‘20s, Art Deco’s lavishness was toned down and morphed into Streamline Moderne, which kept to simple shapes and polished surfaces.

Modernism and Brutalism

Art didn’t stop just because of World War II, but most of the world’s prominent watchmakers turned to producing military-spec watches for both sides of the war. This birthed several styles of its own, but they weren’t directly tied to artistic movements. The ball really got rolling again in the post-war years of the late ‘40s and ‘50s, mainly inspired by modernist ideas which believed humanity to have entered an entirely new era. With wide access to mass-produced construction materials, minimal buildings made of glass, steel, and concrete were a direct rebellion against the centuries of heavy decoration which came before them. Brutalism combined the Modernist approach of design with the practical need for large-scale buildings and housing after the destruction of WWII.

With the exception of extremely complicated watches, most of them were already quite simple things. Reflecting the modernist style came about with a transition from using numerals to indices, overall more spacious dials, as well as the rise of metal bracelets. Rules were there to be broken in the realm of visual art, but in the watch world there was more of a gentle push. Brutalism that trickled into watches during the 1960s and ‘70s had a much smaller impact, albeit a more memorable one thanks to the avant-garde case shapes it created. Examples include the Rolex Midas, the Piaget Polo, and modern watches like the Toledano & Chan B/1.

Bauhaus

Art Deco was a global phenomenon which was birthed in Paris, but Bauhaus can be traced back to a single building of like-minded artists. The Bauhaus (Building House) itself was actually an art school founded in Weimar in 1919 by Walter Gropius, which moved to Dessau in 1925, and again to Berlin in 1932. It was an incredible melting pot of multidisciplinary minds, allowing for exploration of all facets of design. The main focus had to do with functionalism, especially in mass-produced products which had found their way into every household. A design didn’t just have to be aesthetically pleasing, but also needed to prioritise the needs of the user. Looking at examples of Bauhaus architecture, visual art and furniture, you can see how everything was broken down into its constituent parts before being reassembled with caring precision.

The school itself was forcibly closed by the Nazis in 1933 because intellectualism and communism were heavily conflated, but the design ideals lived on. One of many notable students at the Bauhaus had been Max Bill, who became immensely influential in the 1950s as a graphic and industrial designer. His design for a kitchen clock was directly adapted to a watch dial by Junghans in 1961, its thin hands and markers summarising the Bauhaus style of function and style in harmony. Junghans still produces the Max Bill watch to this day, and it even reissued the original kitchen clock. Other companies who utilise the style include Nomos, Zeppelin, Stowa, and Laco.

Postmodernism, futurism and retrofuturism

Modernism sought to break away from ornament by cutting away nearly everything but the essentials, but by the end of the 1950s, many people were bored by it. Boundaries needed to be broken again, and postmodernism achieved that. It wasn’t exactly a style in its own right, but rather a philosophy which opened the door to many others. You could pull elements from ancient cultures and blend them with contemporary ones, or simply embrace the call of the abstract. It also allowed artists to look forward into possible futures, and explore the worlds which were becoming increasingly popular in sci-fi pulp novels and comic books.

When electric watch movements were invented, the connection with futuristic technology was obvious. The Hamilton Electric watches, unveiled in 1957, were the first of their kind. They debuted in striking asymmetrical cases and launched right into the scientific aesthetic. The Ventura is the classic example with pop-culture icons such as Elvis and Will Smith in Men in Black having worn it, but then there’s the 1960 Accutron with its see-through dial revealing green PCB and orange copper coils. Later nicknamed the Spaceview, the Accutron by Bulova really seemed like alien hardware.

Coming into the present day, the effect of those forward-thinking postmodernists has had a lasting impression on artists and designers. Instead of looking into our own futures, we can explore the aesthetic which the space race era dreamed up as the way of the future. In many ways, it’s a more optimistic and fun future to explore than the real one. The Citizen Promaster Skyhawk is a pilots watch which looks better suited to a spaceship than a fighter jet, and the Ulysse Nardin Freak bends more rules than quantum physics. You could even extend the ideas of retrofuturism to watches like the Tissot PRX, and certainly to many designs from the late ‘90s to ‘00s.

Pop art

Most links between watch design and art come from the school of architecture, because they’re two physical mediums with functional necessities. But dials have been an area of experimentation too. Although the vast majority of men’s watches had black or white dials for decades, it wasn’t too uncommon to find a pop culture figure printed on a dial. Disney favourites such as Mickey Mouse have adorned watch dials since 1933, mostly produced by Ingersoll, and they supposedly saved Ingersoll from bankruptcy during the Great Depression. Even though they weren’t great quality, being made to sell in department stores, many of them have survived the ages due to being cherished possessions. The Lone Ranger, Zorro, and photos of Elvis Presley are just a few more you can still find.

Perhaps the greatest pop art watch success story is Swatch, whose little plastic watches practically saved the Swiss watch industry during the quartz crisis. First launched in 1983, the emphasis was placed on fun, artistic designs which could be affordable to anyone. Plastic cases and quartz movements only served to elevate the artistic expression on those dials, and extended the use of colour out onto wrists. After just one year, the brand had produced over a million watches. Practically every aesthetic possible has been represented by Swatch at this point, and there have also been countless collaborations with some of the world’s best artists and galleries. At the time of writing, those highlights include Jean-Michel Basquiat, MoMA, René Magritte, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Botticelli’s paintings from the Uffizi Gallery.

While most people hear the words pop art and think of Andy Warhol, the movement has a much wider scope than consumerism in the ‘60s. Takashi Murakami is a brilliant example of a contemporary pop artist, who has pioneered his own superflat style. Operating within the world of haute luxury and art dealers, he has been able to make powerful social commentary on subjects such as wealth disparity and the Westernisation of Japanese culture. He’s an ambassador for Hublot with several collaborative models, and it’s up to you to decide whether buying one is part of the artistic statement.

Music is sometimes considered a universal language, but aside from minute repeaters, there isn’t really a way to combine a song and a wristwatch. Through a pop art angle however, musical genres and artists can absolutely be represented on a dial. From the fedora of Frank Sinatra to a luxury watch linked to the metal band Trivium, even DJs can have their moment to shine. All that’s needed is an eye-catching logo to turn it into merchandise, or there’s the Jaquet Droz approach of creating a mini stage for The Rolling Stones.

Whether you like it or not, hype culture has also had an immeasurable impact on the watch world. Born out of social media’s excessive worship of celebrities and marketing strategies, some of the most expensive watches in the world have only realised that price due to hype. It may have begun with watches like the Paul Newman Daytona, famous initially for the much-loved man who wore it, but now there are watches specifically designed to capture hype. As an extension of pop art, a hype watch may not be high-concept, but it does draw out visceral reactions.