5 Watches That Will Become Future Icons

The 2020s were to be the apotheosis of cinematic futurism. The most influential of all future-set films have predicted the decade as the setting for hypermodern societies with overpowering neon, like in “Blade Runner” set in 2019 or a period in which sight-impaired extraterrestrials wipe out humanity in 2020, as depicted in “A Quiet Place”. Producers of “Mission to Mars” also felt comfortable to picture it as the year for humans landing foot on Mars. We also get glimpses of a dystopian junkyard of a planet in 2029 survived by traces of the human race in “The Terminator”. Well, we’ve lived some years and are fast approaching some. Yet, what the silver screens promised decades ago hints at nothing but the dystopian dream deferred. So, no flying cars, no moon colonies and no robots serving every whim. Burdened with issues that feel eerily familiar: climate change, social inequality and the ever-looming threat of global conflict, we are still a society grappling with the contradictions of progress.

Why I chose the above as the lead to my article on “future icons of the watch world” is because the time ahead is going to be not too disparate than what holds the relevance and regard reigns now. I don’t see 2050 as a world where only designs in a similar vein to the Urwerks, HYTs, MB&Fs and Ulysse Nardin Freaks would populate our wrists or the wrists of our AI overlords. What the watch community could attest to is the permeating affinity of traditional, practical and meaningful watchmaking, although the allure of avant-garde undeniably holds sway. To spit facts, who would imagine a technology as obsolete as a carrier pigeon being contested for high stakes in a world that trusts AI to predict lifespans and operate on tumors. That’s strange! So, on the matter of watches that have icon potential and as we have already hinted at a surgical toil, let’s first dissect the word icon itself and understand what makes anything “iconic.”

What makes an icon?

Although being rooted in the marketing lingo of commodities and even people for that matter, the makings of an icon are different to what usually transpires in conventional marketing. As significant asides from the standard norms of feature, quality, reliability or technology, icons despite offering all of these, win in terms of ‘culture share.’ Here, symbolism takes the upper edge and the strategic focus lies not in the brand’s performance metrics, but in its profound symbolic identity. These icons win in competition not on analytical merits, but on how fierce a connection they forge with the culture they serve. Here the driving element of customer value is something more compelling, resonant, tangible and relevant. Thus, an icon is sustainable in reason and omnipresent in culture.

This is what exactly merits the following watches to become icons of the future.

Iconic watches of the future

The horological standouts from the 1960s and ’70s have fiercely captivated their culture share as evident by the supercharged demands for the Daytona, Royal Oak and Nautilus. These have lasted for the better part of or even more than half a century and in a way have defined the ideals of design, execution and marketing even in a transient phase of the watch industry. These are icons that make their bearers experience continual gratification in way of their omnipresent relevance and want. These watches have compelled generations of collectors, including the ones who weren’t even born when these were first conceived, to make them a part of their lives as these have laid out the vision of a higher echelon of possession that masses aspire. Thus, they are desirable in all regards and surpass the confines of mere scenario-based timekeeping to become cultural icons.

Now, about the watches currently still in their infancy, that might create major buzz in let’s say the 2050s - here are five watches that have icon potential.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic

The eight-edged Bulgari Octo Finissimo occurs as a rarity in the world of watches. Today we know the Octo Finissimo collection for its redundancy exploits, but if we ignore its already easy to ignore dimensions, therein lies one of the most important modern watchmaking inceptions combining design and technology like no other. In watchmaking standards, the record-breaking Octo Finissimo collection which debuted in 2014 is still a recent genesis and thus best categorized as a potential icon of the future.

Each of the iterations of the Octo Finissimo still exists in the current catalog, and if I’ve to pick one as the purveyor of its essence, it’s got to be the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic of 2017. This execution concretizes the strictly lean, angular and multifaceted spirit of the line-up with immense potential to advance it towards the next decades. This mass-market pudding of the collection elevates the desirability sentiment despite not being the most technologically novel in the lot. This is possible only when you attach symbolism to an idea that becomes an icon in any form, and this form is doing just fine to be iconic for the furthest future.

Tudor Black Bay 58

Tudor is a nostalgically directed Manufacture where despite heritage being a celebrated prestige and novelty emanating from inspiration, originality remains unquestionable. Although the Tudor Black Bay 58 is already a modern icon, it is a fitting contender for sustainable desirability that will last the better part of this century. To be honest, it is the most eligible entrée in this log. What makes it so is something it strictly shares with the proven icons of now, i.e. a dominant perseverance to a core aesthetic with the right ingredient adjustments to keep it that much interesting and a persistent market desirability making it unconditionally viable over an extended epoch.

In the aggregate perception of collector communities, the delectably downsized BB58 of 2018 suffices the prime criteria upon which the blueprints of a truly refined timepiece are drawn: ideal proportions, in-house movement, heritage, good value and iconic looks. These irrefutable attributes establish the Tudor Black Bay 58 as something much more than a sustainably iconic watch. Hear me, I’ll even call it the perfect watch.

Grand Seiko “White Birch” Ref. SLGH005

For the masses, their introduction to a Grand Seiko watch was with the emotionally revered “Snowflake.” But that’s already iconic as the unofficial flagship for the Japanese Manufacture. Although subtle tailoring here and there can make it iconic even more, but that’s for later. What the “Snowflake” established, despite its deficiencies, was the mass-revelation of the culture of innovation and high finishing brewing within Grand Seiko. Collections and many limited editions later, the Evolution 9 series announced in 2020 defined a new design direction for the brand.

The Evolution 9 epitomized in the “White Birch” Ref. SLGH005 of 2021. On every front with the White Birch, there's more energy that surpasses what you get with the “Snowflake.” You’ll not find Swiss watches in its price range that have so much handcrafted content, and the dial here is not only meticulously crafted but also wonderfully rich in local character. Coupled with the hi-beat automatic movement, this watch is a technical and artistic tour de force. Its caliber 9SA5 offers features like a full balance bridge, a free-sprung balance with high refinements like an overcoil hairspring and a proprietary double impulse escapement that reduces friction, extends power reserve and improves precision. It’s like the Chronergy and Co-Axial escapements packed in one! 

This watch makes the wearer feel in presence of something much superlative in refinement resulting from the distillation of accumulated artisanal and technical expertise. Part of Grand Seiko’s core collection, the “White Birch” Ref. SLGH005 is here to last, and it will last to attain iconic status, for which I will raise a toast I even hope in grandpa years.

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Self-Winding

It is after literally hours of self-convincing and emotional restraint that I finally select the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Self-Winding for my list of five potential icons. It won a close contest with the Patek Philippe 5236P and to be honest, I take pride in choosing a handsome watch. Playing in the same field as Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Self-Winding attracts universal affinity and is a fitting choice for men who prioritize horological substance over hype. Although it might not be the patient zero for the phenomenon of integrated bracelet steel sports watches, it goes above and beyond its competition in the sense that it better embraces the spirit of the brand, avoiding the otherwise and thus preventing becoming the brand itself.

Although not even remotely undiscovered, this watch originally conceived in 1996 and currently in its third generation, still represents good value. Its fluid cohesion of classic and contemporary reunites the watchmaker’s two and a half plus centuries of fame for mechanical refinement with horology’s shock-hype of the 70s aesthetic. The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Self-Winding is a timepiece of inherent iconography. Agreed, Vacheron Constantin’s chief hurdle is brand recognition. But hear me, as the competition among prestige watchmakers gets tougher every year, buyers who want a recognizable product will gravitate towards Patek Philippe or Audemars Piguet and those that want something niche might go the independent route. While this definitely leaves Vacheron Constantin hype-deprived, for those who hunt for real value, the Overseas becomes a pretty good deal. If it gets even half the marketing pump of PP or AP, it has immense potential to be no longer underrated and actually be iconic as the best high luxury sports watch that too from an older and more traditional brand than you know who.

A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk

The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk is an anti-tradition masterpiece (on its dial side at least). It offers a digital display of time while working on an analog blueprint. For something driven by medieval tech, it has sustained a concept-watch spirit for a decade and a half now. The Zeitwerk traditionally realizes an avant-garde purpose, making it appear like a prototype watch with looks as if borrowed from the future. This world’s first jumping hours and minutes wristwatch is a steampunk inception that links the highest level of classical Saxon watchmaking with a future-ready execution. Its styling remains as fresh and striking now as when it was released in 2009 and I don’t need any crystal ball to previze its sustainable differentiation in a pool of million alikes. What we call tradition now was novel 200 years ago and in that way the Zeitwerk builds tradition. It’s distinct now, it will be iconic later.

Don’t wish. Act!

Yes, this is all speculation. I don’t have a time machine nor any crystal ball. If I did, forget watches, I would’ve strictly urged you to buy Bitcoin in 2010, but that ship has long sailed. This is just a thought focused on learning the definition of these few watches - why they exist in the first place and why we enjoy them. Or at least we’re supposed to. In the sense of lasting prominence, these examples are surprisingly ‘simple.’ Human ingenuity has always failed to devise inventions more beautiful, simpler or more to the purpose than what nature does. In nature’s inventiveness, nothing is wanting, and nothing is superfluous. Likewise, these watches avoid excess and exhibit the mastery of simplicity through a minimal selling proposition that is destined to maintain enduring relevance. Their creators have sort of cracked the culture code by getting very close to it - in a way, they look far beyond consumers as they exist today.

Can’t give a better hint!