The Italian powerhouse impresses with high-end timepieces that demonstrate their ambitions in the highly competitive market of luxury watchmaking
I don’t know about you, but to me, Gucci timepieces were all about the G. Designed by Tom Ford when he was creative director for the Italian fashion house from 1990 to 2004, that distinct “G” logo made wearing one of their timepieces feel like you weren't just sporting a watch, you were part of a movement. The Tom Ford movement.
During his reign at Gucci, Ford oversaw the purchase of the Severin Montres watchmaker group in 1997. It was a move that gave the Italian company total control of the design, production and distribution of its watches. And with the securing of a strategic alliance with luxury retail group Pinault Printemps-Redoute (PPR) in 1999, Gucci watches went from mere fashion to items of fascination and high-end craftsmanship.
Photo: Gucci
Ford may now be long gone at the Florentine fashion house, but Gucci continues to redefine luxury. Having just celebrated their centenary last year, the brand is now forging ahead into its next 100 years while continuing to celebrate the creativity, Italian craftsmanship and innovation that have been its core values since 1921.
Since 2015, Alessandro Michele has been in charge of the designs at Gucci, including its watches. Famed for adding decorative bees (a symbol of European nobility) to the design, Michele has gone upscale in recent years. First with the skateboard-inspired Grip collection in 2019, and now in 2022 with central tourbillons, animated dials and sapphire cases that emphasise the luxurious direction that Gucci timepieces are currently taking.
The new pieces impress with their intricacies and delicate, creative decorations – appropriate given that they also mark 50 years of Swiss-made Gucci watches. To celebrate this milestone, the luxury house has introduced the spectacular Wonderland collection.
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Photo: Gucci
The kaleidoscopic collection is inspired by a magical fairground, where the most refined watchmaking specifications appear alongside rainbow-like gems and celestial wonders. Entering this enchanted universe is like being catapulted onto a thrilling series of rollercoaster rides. In short: a lot less Tom Ford and a lot more Alessandro Michele.
A pioneering addition to the high-end watchmaking genre, with its halo of 12 princess-set gemstones circling the dial, the G-Timeless Planetarium is one of the stand-out items from the new collection. It also contains a show-stopping special power: the gem-set wheel is activated at the touch of a button, rotating around the dial in a gala of light. This delightful on-off control is made possible by a groundbreaking invention: the Dancing Hours Flying Tourbillon, a new Gucci-exclusive movement with a hypnotic diamond star at its centre.
The watch is offered in white, rose, or yellow-gold variations with its rotating wheel of green tsavorite, blue tanzanite, or yellow beryl gemstones.
Photo: Gucci
Gucci takes the carnival of time to the skies with the G-Timeless Moonlight. A beautifully decorated moon waxes from gleaming sliver crescent to pearlescent whole on the dial before beginning its celestial journey all over again. Created around the new Gucci movement, the sheer technological precision of the watch allows it to dictate its own time, following the 29.5-day lunar month. This timepiece only needs to be adjusted every 360 years, a feat of high watchmaking excellence.
It is presented in pink gold and white gold, with a natural meteorite dial, where fairground planets spin and stellar diamonds shine.
In 2022, Gucci presents new diamond-set additions to its family of G-Timeless Dancing Bees tourbillon timepieces. In homage to historical 'en tremblant' jewellery styles, where jewels were exquisitely engineered to move in rhythm with the wearer, 12 bees shimmer around the diamond-set dial as the wrist moves. Experimenting further, master craftsmen have heightened the natural, glossy sheen of two rare opal varieties – pink and green – to form rectangular ‘bricks’, from which they have created a miniature chevron pattern on a mother-of-pearl dial. The natural markings of the opals render each dial design unique, while the mirrored caseback allows for a personal message to be engraved.
Each marquetry edition is presented either in white-gold and yellow-gold bracelet or in alligator straps variations.
In 2022, Gucci adds two vivid mint green variations to its signature Grip Sapphire mechanical collection. The transparent, cushion-shaped watch case is expertly cut from a cylinder of pure sapphire crystal using a specialist machine. The case is then polished to pristine transparency. Adding to its complex nature, the Grip Sapphire houses a Swiss self-winding jumping hour movement. The dial also features two windows through which the hours and minutes ‘jump’ playfully into view.
Two mint green Grip iterations are offered, each with a transparent caseback. The first sports two laser-cut turquoise hours and minutes discs for tone-on-tone modernity, while the other showcases mauve-pink discs. Each design is fitted with a transparent mint-green rubber strap and sapphire crown.
With its impossibly sleek, 8mm-thick case and captivating see-through dial, the Gucci 25H Skeleton Tourbillon arrives with a new flying tourbillon movement made exclusively for the Italian brand. Because the watch is designed around the movement, it creates a fantastic illusion of the mechanics floating above the brushed and polished titanium bridges that cross the base of the dial. This feature regulates timekeeping while its sparse technical design adds a contemporary, decorative touch.
Created in 100% recycled gold – in white and yellow bracelet variations – and in slate-grey titanium with a rubber strap, the watch is a retro-futuristic time machine for the wrist.
Taken together, the new collection is a hugely impressive statement of intent from Gucci. The Italian powerhouse is showing just how seriously it's taking luxury watchmaking – and long may it continue.