Sport-chic watches

Men's style makes a statement with a chic sports watch

Like the style of dress that gave it its name, sport chic comes in the form of luxury watches that are both elegant and casual, which quite often translates into a sporty design combined with careful finishing. To get a clear picture, one need only recall the 1962 James Bond / Sean Connery sporting his Rolex Submariner in all circumstances. That's the premise of the sport chic watch, luxury and assertive style at all times, comfort and casual class, with an indispensable touch of sophistication. While this trend - and therefore this type of watch - originated in the 1970s, it has continued to inspire major watch brands. Rolex is one of the most iconic, certainly and as always one would be tempted to say, but so many others have also signed iconic models. Impossible to be exhaustive! However, we think of watches like the Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet, the Nautilus by Patek Philippe, which have in common their designer, Gérald Genta, master of sport chic. How to choose? The answer is seemingly simple: adapt your watch to your style. The active city dweller who doesn't want to reflect the image of a backpacker can bet on a Field Watch of military inspiration, which is both robust, legible and reliable. The Hamilton Kaki Field Mechanical, the Rolex Explorer, the Seiko SNK 809 or the Glycine Combat Sub are worthy representatives in a wide price range. To mechanical movements, sportsmen may prefer a quartz watch for its lightness, and to metal or leather, a rubber strap, sweat obliges. In this regard, and even if lines like the Casio G-Shock have gained great popularity, the crown of the queen watch can be awarded to the TAG Heuer Carrera. Sea lovers more logically turn to a dive watch, and again, are spoilt for choice. In another set of clothing styles, the working boy in a suit can choose his sporty chic watch according to the following criteria: a thin case (to slip under the sleeve), a discreet diameter (38 mm ideally), a simple dial, a leather strap. This leads him, among others, to models like the Cartier Tank or the Calatrava by Patek Philippe. The steel watch, on the other hand, is more suited to those who prefer a more casual look at work, where it is the accessory that makes the difference. And there, the refinement imposes itself, the finishes are exposed, the chronograph is a must. Among the worthy representatives of this type of watches are the Omega Speedmaster or the Master Chronograph by Jaeger-LeCoultre, with its heat-blued hands. Like we said, it's all in the details!

Sport chic, in a feminine version

It has certainly taken several decades, but sport chic watches for women now offer well, an alternative between jewel watches and sports watches. New references or revisited icons, the watchmaking houses have indeed put themselves on the feminine time. Some have indeed chosen to revisit pieces that have already acquired their letters of nobility. Rolex, for example, is taking the Oyster case, cut from its massive block of steel, and reducing it to the 28 mm of the Lady-Datejust watch. This watch imagined at the end of the 1950s, more than 10 years after the Datejust is a true figure of style, between elegance, technical prowess and exclusive alloys. Omega, for its part, has declined the emblematic Seamaster in an Aqua Terra Ladies chronograph version, with brown and beige tones and a bezel hemmed with diamonds. Elegance and casualness are still the lines that guided the creation of the Carrera Lady Jeans at TAG Heuer, the Ladies Automatic Nautilus at Patek Philippe, or even the Royal Oak Quartz at Audemars Piguet. So many prestige watches for ladies... so many adaptations of originally masculine lines. For the past few years, however, some brands have been demonstrating that women too can maintain standing while displaying a rather cool style, and without having to "copy on the men". At Ulysse Nardin, the Lady Diver watch doesn't shy away from a 39mm case and is adorned in white, from the dial to the diamond markers and alligator strap. With BRM Manufacture, a luxury brand specializing in sports watches, the Golf line has as many female as male models, to be worn on the greens as well as in the city, as long as you assume the ultra-sporty look (the crown takes the shape of a golf ball) of the watch. One can indeed prefer more refined and glamorous models, like the Rado True Blaze and its glittering dial - a limited edition. But the female chic sports watch is also those codes that weave a link between watchmaking and jewelry. Thus Chopard, which declines its Happy Diamonds in the playful Happy Ocean, pushes casual luxury to the extreme by combining a Nato bracelet with a bezel set with topaz and sapphires, and diamonds dancing between two sapphire crystals, while presenting a little watchmaking marvel with an automatic movement and guaranteed water resistance to 300 meters. Indeed, the technical demands are just as high on models such as the Dior VIII and Chanel's Mademoiselle J12, where it is the arms of a comic character representing Coco Chanel that tell the time. The examples could actually multiply. They all tend to demonstrate how much the woman can both assert her character and elegance in a sporty chic style.