Watches In The Wild _ Paris, Ep. 1_ Fashion And Watches

Welcome to Paris, a city where fashion enthusiasts like myself gather from across the globe to see the most anticipated collections of the season in clothing, accessories, and watches. I think the way people express themselves, especially young people right now, are through clothing and accessories and watches in that universe. We're wearing friendship bracelets, monsieur. We both have Explorers. It's very discreet and easy, you know? Yeah. On this season of Watches in the Wild, join me, Malaika Crawford, on my journey through the fashion capital of the world to discover the crossover between style and watches. I think it's super interesting to take your passion for watches and to bring it to everything, like a t-shirt, the length of the fiber of the cotton, or the shoes, where the leather is coming from, how it's made. I think you realize that there's something interesting in everything that's made by humans. Firstly, I'll introduce you to some cool collectors who play important roles in the fashion space. So if I have a really nice watch, I tend to wear a cause or something casual and cool. I love that juxtaposition. And at the same time, if I have a really cool outfit that's refined, I love to put a swatch just to be like, hey, you know? Yeah. I'm still really into the fashion. And all the time, I'm like, okay, which kind of watch can I put in this outfit? So I don't care if it's a quartz movement, a simple movement, or something really complicated. I'm only looking for design. I'll take you on a tour through a few of my favorite showrooms, a few of my favorite stores, and to my ultimate Holy Grail museum. Everything Saint Laurent has done has been referenced time and time again. You see it in the same way that Genta's sort of big designs come up and are referenced again and again. Maybe Saint Laurent is like the fashion equivalent of Genta. I'll bring you along on a stroll through the scenic streets of Paris as we explore the intersection of style and watches. Fashion was completely mixed in our creation. And for example, look at that cuff watch. Gorgeous. The treatment of gold is like a piece of cloth. I think fashion is always trying to move forward and it's almost like the watch world is almost trying not to move forward. I think it is changing, but the pace of evolution is glacial compared to fashion. But I think that's also why watches become something that's sort of reliable in a crazy fashion world. Historically, watches, like jewelry, have often played a major part in fashion and design. Today, the role they play is even more prominent, especially during events like Men's Fashion Week, where the worlds of style and watches merge. But for some people, like myself and like my friends Gautier and Julien, that combination of interests is just a part of everyday life. I think it's super interesting to take your passion for watches and to bring it to everything. Gautier is the co-founder of one of my favorite French fashion magazines called L'Etiquette and the creative director of heritage brand, Fursac. We're pretty much aligned and come from things at a very similar angle. After all, he's not only a fashion savant, but a watch collector too. I guess my whole thing is really finding that middle ground between style and watches. I think that you are proof that the two can go together. So what's really like your approach to, I guess, the watch space or collecting or how you talk about it in the magazine? So the magazine, we have two issues a year. So we choose one subject, one vision or one idea about watches. And we try to talk about all the good models that could be one. And to me, it's a good style because for the magazine, it's the style magazine. So at first, we were not really comfortable about talking about watches because it's really, you don't think about it as a fashion item at first. It's really a nerdy thing. And we think that it's the best way to finish a silhouette. And that's really the way I collect watches is to think about the watch with an outfit and with a place to go or something to do. But it's funny that you say we don't think about fashion and watches together because really... It's exactly the same thing and I don't understand why. So that's why we decided to do it in the magazine. Yeah, me too. I guess my whole MO is like watches to me are like just another accessory. You're not going to have 10 guys talking about bracelets and rings and jewelry because for them, it's like, oh, no, it's not for us, it's for the ladies. But the watch is like a strong man thing, you know, like it's well-made and it's referenced and it's technical and there's history. So it's easier for them to start with this. And I think step by step, you start with the watches and then maybe the shoes and maybe the jeans and then the jacket and then the glasses. And then you're a fashion victim. And then you buy this. If you think about it, watches really are just accessories to fashion. It's all one in the same, really. The watch just adds a little extra sauce to your outfit, similar to how jewelry or a handbag can complete a look. But just as with any accessory, there's a clear difference between vintage and modern. But that's sort of besides the point because it's on you to figure out how each could complement your style. That doesn't mean you shouldn't pair your watch with whatever outfit you want. You kind of have free reign here. Like this fellow Explorer fan. Really, we're wearing friendship bracelets, monsieur. We both have Explorers. So you're a photographer. Yeah, exactly. And tell me a little bit, do you wear watches every day? Every day. Every single day, this one. This Rolex Explorer. Yeah, I love it. Why do you like this one so much? It's very discreet and easy, you know? Yeah, and it goes with everything. Exactly. I think it's really chic. Yeah, I think it's chic too. Low-key, chic and low-key. Is that how you see your watch? Like it's an accessory or is it more like an extension of you? It's both, I think. For me, it's both. I'm not judging people about watches. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, my friend has a reverse. She says, oh, it's really chic though, good taste. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey Julien, what's up? What watch are you wearing? I'm wearing an old Air King 5500. And then we have Alex, who's wearing a... Hi, Reverso. He's wearing a Reverso. So let me introduce you, Shiro, two years old, and Juno, eight years old. My babies. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my watch twin and his very adorable dogs. And as I walked towards my next destination, I was joined by Julien, who told me a little bit about his personal collecting journey. We've been good friends ever since. So what made you get into watches then? So I used to work into the fashion industry for like almost 10 years. Yeah, you told me you worked at Comme des Garcons. Yeah, exactly. I used to work for Comme des Garcons. And I was always into watches, like selling, trading, but just as a collector. During a month, I was like, OK, I'm going to sell a couple of my watches. And I was like, damn, I'm pretty good at it. So I'm going to keep it that way. And that was that. Yeah, and then I was like, OK, I'm going to do it like full time. Yeah. But you're a fashion boy at heart. I'm definitely a fashion boy. Definitely. As a fellow fashion enthusiast at heart, I could understand Julien's perspective, which we'll learn more about in a future episode. But in order to understand the basic parallels between fashion and watches, we first need to take a deep dive into the past to try and understand where all of this comes from. As I began my tour of a museum dedicated to the revolutionary fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, I realized that he and Gerald Genta, one of the most respected and revered Swiss artists in horology, actually have a lot in common. So I guess we're looking at the studio or like a recreation of the studio. He was like a foundational designer. So like people forever and ever have like copied everything that he did. I suppose it's interesting to think about where, you know, the crossover lies between sort of the prolific watch designers and then prolific fashion designers. I mean, everything Saint Laurent has done has been referenced time and time again. You see it in the same way that Genta's sort of big designs come up and are referenced again and again. I guess it's not too dissimilar and maybe Saint Laurent is like the fashion equivalent of Genta. This is so cool. I think what's really charming as well is that you get a real window into his kind of thought process and like you see all the kind of sketching on the binders and it's almost like childlike, but it feels so authentic. And I just really see him as like the original. But for me anyway, and for what I'm into as like the springboard for so much that happened in fashion. So it's like very cool to be looking at this. Do not cross the line. Yves Saint Laurent was a designer in the mid 20th century who changed the entire landscape of fashion. He contributed greatly to women's fashion and couture and he worked alongside Christian Dior until 1957 and then became his successor. And he founded his own brand in 1962. And every stylist, every designer, everybody in and adjacent to fashion has some link back to Monsieur Saint Laurent. If we look at some key overlaps, I think the use of black is really interesting and the contrast of black and white is something Yves Saint Laurent used time and time again. But it was always done in a very modern way and I think black often stands for like sort of extreme modernity in a sense. So if we think about Coco Chanel in the early 20th century and her sort of democratization of clothing for women and the little black dress, but done in the Chanel way with sort of the string of pearls and the little two-tone shoes and what have you. I think Yves Saint Laurent took that idea and pushed it even further. And then when we look at watches, you have watches starting with white dials and silver dials, sort of traditional pocket watches right up to sort of dress watches in the early part of the 20th century. And then we see around the 50s, especially in Rolex sport models, this use of black dials coming through. And I think today watch brands often do that sort of full black ceramic PVD coated as a like expression of modernity. Today it's like common to see colored ceramic or rainbow bezels, but that's something that is relatively recent. Whereas if you look at Saint Laurent's couture collections from the beginning, even like the Mondrian inspiration, it's like always kind of big, bold primary colors or like hot pink or like deep red. And that's, I think, something that's only kind of just coming into the watch space. It reminds me of sort of gem setting, but also Rolex stellar dials in that way of taking a classic silhouette or a classic oyster perpetual case and putting like deep saturated color. It's like that playful contrast. After spending a few hours absorbing everything there was to see about the life and work of Yves Saint Laurent, I was off to meet with someone else who brings that crucial human element, albeit in a slightly different way to his trade in the modern era. Antoine de Maceda has been a watchmaker since 1991 and his taste, which is impeccable might I add, has prevailed through trends in the vintage watch market ever since. So I'm visiting his shop, located on Rue Madame in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where we discuss the link between fashion and watches while examining just one small part of his vast collection of rare and vintage watches. Yes, the Crash is super, super iconic. And very fashion too. Yeah, and very fashion too, exactly. And then we can maybe move on to, I picked this one because I like shiny things, but this is a special Benlach. Yes, it's a Tutti Frutti. Tutti Frutti. Enfin, c'est un petit Benlach. Ce qui est intéressant avec Cartier, c'est quand on arrive à mélanger le joaillier et l'horloger. Et cette montre-là est vraiment le… Pinnacle. Oui, voilà, c'est ce qui rapproche le mieux les deux. Parce qu'on voit un travail avec ces pierres de couleur qui est typiquement Cartier, et en même temps une forme baignoire qui est unique. C'est-à-dire que cette forme baignoire, quand on regarde bien, ça a souvent été copié, mais jamais personne n'a réussi à faire une montre avec ces galbes, bien sûr. Et en même temps, c'est une des plus jolies montres de femmes qui soit. The Cartier Crash and Tutti Frutti theme watches have definitely made a statement in the watch world, especially on the wrists of popular celebrities in the entertainment industry, like Jay-Z or Tyler, the Creator. It reminded me of how fashion designers often create bold and unique silhouettes using their garments of choice, something that goes all the way back to the Art Deco period of the early 20th century. I mean, it goes back further than that, but we'll start here. Watchmakers joined the Art Deco movement also, designing some of the most fascinating models to date, including the Reverso. It's in grey-gold. Ah, grey-gold? Grey-gold, white-gold. Ah, OK, white-gold. White-gold and yellow-gold. Two-tone. With a very pretty engraving. And this one has the particularity of having a triple signature, that is, the Reverso, the Jaeger and the Mappinanweb. The numbers are typically Art Deco, and we find them on the Jaeger Primitives. Yes. I mean, on the Reverso Primitives. Antoine's diverse collection of watches really speaks to the versatility and preciseness of watchmaking. And fashion is, of course, hardly any different when it comes to bringing something from the human imagination to life, despite common misconceptions. But wherever your tastes lie, it's important to realise that the clothes on your back and the watch on your wrist were fundamentally someone's labour of love. I think you realise that there is something interesting in everything that's made by humans, you know? If it's well-made. I don't really like when someone really doesn't care at all about clothes or anything and thinks it's like, oh, it's not for me, it's just for... But the watches, look, I have the Franck Muller and I have the... Oh, Franck Muller! No, you know what I mean? Or this very special thing, handmade, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think it's super interesting to take your passion for watches and to bring it to everything, like a T-shirt, the length of the fibre of the cotton, or the shoes, where the leather is coming from, how it's made. So I think, to me, this is a good link with fashion and watches. It's completely okay if you don't care, but if you care about the watches, you might find the same pleasure with clothes. So, dig into it. You can have exactly the same reflection, the same way of thinking about a watch or a clothes. For example, this bomber jacket, the patina that's completely pink, that was burned by the sun while the pilot was conducting his plane. It's exactly the same thing as a watch, you know? So you have the reference, the metre reference, the date, 1958, so you can date it. The fabric is different from today, so it's exactly the same thing when you see tritium, or different fabrics, or lacquer, or blah, blah, blah. You can have the same thing with the garments, and I think it looks pretty cool. And, yeah, you can look at the watch the same way you look at the garments. So is this, like, your inspiration room? Like, what goes down in there? Yeah, that's where I design with my team, and my stuff is there, but I have 2,300 pieces, I think, I have to count again. So it's all upstairs in some rooms, and this is just my favourite pieces I like to live with. And sometimes I just try it on, or when I go out, I just pick one, and I'm collecting everything that's coherent with my story, and what I do, and what I like, so I don't collect everything, anything. It has to be very focused on the way I do things. So I'm not really, like, a fancy or, you know, extreme guy in terms of design, but I like the thing that you cannot take anything off, you know, it's just perfect. That's something that really speaks to me. Yeah, I think sometimes, like, for people who aren't super familiar with the watch world, they only see what's at the top, and they maybe don't know so much about the other price points, and there are cool things. I think the top doesn't exist to me. You can say the more pricey, or the wearer, or blah, blah, blah, but the top is easy, the top for yourself, for who you are, how you live, where you're from, blah, blah, blah. This is, I think, the most elegant way of seeing the watch collecting. Speaking of elegant and refined taste, Gaultier's watch collection contains many beautiful pieces, like a Patek Ellipse and this Piaget Alteplano given to him by his wife. He's got a number of Rolex watches too, which reminded me of my tour of the Musée du Saint-Laurent. For Gaultier, they're also a reminder of a special moment, but perhaps with a more emotional connection. I have the green one too, and I offered it to my best friend who just had a child, so I had her son's name in the back engraved and gave it to her, the green one. And yeah, these two colours are really nice and makes me think of my tricks, you know, with the pills. Red pill, blue pill. Yeah, exactly. So I think it's cool. What pill are you? It depends on the day. Today, because you arrived, I became blue, but this morning I was really red. So I changed a bit. Do you usually hold on to things once you buy them? Or are you happy to let them go? My wife always said that my pleasure is not to possess, but to acquire, and that's really true. Well, that's cool. So I give a lot of watches. Okay. Yeah, well, I mean, you gave your green dial. Yeah, and I gave three Piaget around me to my best friends, Lapis Dials, Lapis Lazuli Dials. Like in the last five years, I gave three of them because they are really good friends and at some time they didn't have the money to... You know, it was a different part of our lives. So it's like, oh, you need a good watch, we'll go to this party, and I give it to him. Not because I'm... It's not like that. It's just like object to me has to be shared, otherwise it's not really interesting, and I don't like to possess to possess. Clothes and watches are both items that can hold sentimental value for us in one way or another, as Gautier has just shown us through his own collections. Later on, I spent some time wandering around Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Eventually, I found myself at Café de Flore in search of one of my favourite people in the fashion industry. And so I decided to sit down with her and talk about how she'd be covering Men's Fashion Week. I think the way people express themselves, especially young people right now, are through clothing and accessories and watches in that universe. Willa Bennett is the Editor-in-Chief at Heist Nobiety, a globally renowned fashion and lifestyle media brand that covers everything from celebrity style to up-and-coming indie designers. And watches. You're like always fast at kind of breaking that sort of news, which is fun. Yeah, I think we're really... Our strength is being really quick and really fast and having not only like, oh, he's wearing X, Y, Z, but this is Y and taking it the next step. And I'm really proud of Heist Nob for continuing to be that. I mean, even at the LV show, it was our Super Bowl and we covered everything from like Rocky and Rihanna to Beyoncé to the clothes to the watches. And I think that's all part of the picture. We care so much about fashion. And so it's like I put on my outfit and then I'm like, okay, what's the jewelry? What's this? What's the necklace? I think in the luxury space, watches is just the natural extension of that. Yeah, so you see it as just an extension of personal style, right? Yeah, it's really personal. It's obviously an investment piece. Like these watches aren't cheap. So it is something that you are planning to have forever to pass down to your kids or, you know, godkids or some sort of... It's going to outlive you as an item. So I think, you know, I look at this Rolex and I'm like, yeah, this is literally... My kids are going to have this. For Willa, the Rolex Explorer is definitely her go-to watch. But more than just the Explorer, Rolex as a brand holds a kind of sentimental meaning. Rolex, especially like for that generation that was like growing up in like the Mary-Kane, Ashley, the Lindsay Lohan. That early 2000s. There was this like rise of women who would kind of wear these like baggy, more mass clothes with watches. And I love that. So even you look at like old men's fashion magazines from that era, specifically in the 90s, like there was always a Rolex. And I think their marketing was just so specific that it kind of worked. And so, yeah, years later, I've never actually purchased a watch myself yet. But, you know, when I do, I think Rolex has that on me. Like they have that hold. And don't you also have a watch given to you by your dad? Yeah. Yeah, my dad definitely collected watches. He loves watches. He has a couple of vintage Rolexes but I'm trying to, I'm like, it's time. You'll get that. Do you have siblings? I have three siblings. There's not a chance in hell I'm getting any of them. But the vintage Rolex thing is something in our family. I think it's like, I would love one. And why do you think Rolex speaks to you? Is that just purely because of dad? Or just like, is it like just kind of a brand that has the most appeal to you? I think honestly, growing up during that time, it was such a thing of women wearing menswear and men's watches, which is so interesting now that so many men, this is like not even new, like men wear women's watches and prefer them because of the sizes. And I think that's so interesting. Yeah, wait, what's your hot take on this? Because I love a hot take on this. Maybe you don't. There's no hot take. I'm like, women and menswear, like what? Yeah, it's just, because people in fashion have been doing it forever. Like we are like interchanging. We don't think about it anymore. Like I'm sure you didn't think about it. I didn't think about it. I buy what I want. And so it's kind of interesting to me that men are wearing women's watches and it's become such a big deal. Yeah, so it's like whenever I see the headlines, I'm like, that's not news, bro. But you know, I'm like, everyone should wear everything and experiment with clothing and expand their personal palette and what they define as their style. So I'm all for it. Regardless of your opinion on the trend of men wearing so-called women's watches, it really isn't anything new. Smaller sizes, dressier styles, and fluid designs gain popularity among men in the early 20th century. And there is a massive demand for them in today's climate. In fact, it's less of a demand and more of a reality. But one thing's for sure, whether it's involving textiles or timepieces, we're drawn in by certain brands for one reason or another. And at the end of the day, all of those reasons are valid for sharing our passions with others and building a sort of community. I have this amazing analogy that's like the watch world, the way people geek out on certain watches is kind of similar to the way fashion people geek out on tabbies. But anyone outside of fashion would not know what a Margiela tabby is and would call it, I think my friend called it a goat shoe. Yeah, and I was like, oh my God, that's what the watch world is like. It's like, if you know, you know. But we're so in it that we kind of forget that it's... Totally. Fashion's the same. I mean, the LV example is perfect. All my friends are like, are you so excited for Paris? What are you going to do? And I was like, well, the LV shows, the first night, big deal. They were like, why? And these are people who are plugged in. They're in TV. They're in Hollywood. They're actors. It just is a very circular, smaller, it can often be an echo chamber, but it is a small community. And I think what's cool is like, when you're wearing a watch, it's like, if I'm standing in line to come to the high snob party, you're going to be like, we see that. And so I think clothes are such a way to communicate that. Yes, agreed. And even me wearing like Max by Ferragamo right now, like people who know Max's work will get it and see it and say something to me. But the average person on the street, you know, cool tie. Yeah. Willa makes a good point about using her clothes as a way to communicate. An outfit is a great way to make a first impression and watches are just another part of that. It seems that the romance between fashion and watches is a little complicated. It's a relationship that has thrived for many decades and it has a rich history of merging ideas and drawing inspiration from artists of the past like Saint Laurent and Gerald Genta. The fashion and watch communities might appear totally separate, but people like Gautier, Antoine, Willa, myself, and pretty much everyone I've spoken to throughout my journey in Paris so far are proof that these things can exist harmoniously. So why not enjoy both? On the next episode of Watches in the Wild, we'll discover how design plays a major part in both fashion and watches. I'll be taking a ride on the Paris Metro to attend a fashion presentation. I'll meet up with a couple of watch collectors with roots in the design industry and I'll explore the collection of a brand famous for its success in combining jewellery design and watchmaking.