a History of Time

This superb illustrative journey shows a visual history of iconic timepieces spanning over 100 years of watchmaking. Starting in 1904 with the Cartier Santos Dupont the poster takes you on a journey through time in 49 intricately detailed hand-illustrations of the most prominent and notable watches of the last century. These horological icons have been seen in films and on the wrists of presidents, celebrities, and cultural icons.

Featured watches include the Cartier Tank as worn by Muhammed Ali, Hamilton Ventura worn by Elvis Presley, Tag Heuer Monaco as Worn by Steve McQueen, The ‘Paul Newman Daytona’ and the Rolex Datejust worn by Martin Luther King Jr. As you can tell this a long and distinguished list! This fabulous collection of watches has influenced or defined the design of the modern era of watchmaking in the 21st century.

A History of Time is available as an 18″x 24″ print on 192 g/m² paper shipped unframed allowing you to choose the mounting and frame of your choice.

As an exclusive treat for our readers, you can get a 20% discount on this using the discount code ‘Wristworthy’ at the checkout!

Available from:
Website: VeryOnBrand.com

Art-of-Horology

However taking things up a notch, if you’re looking for something a little more unique and personal but can’t afford to buy that special person a speedmaster, how about buying them a poster of their grail watch or alternatively, a favourite watch in their own collection?

For the past three years, Art-of-Horology have been producing these fantastic posters which have been featured in GQ magazine, within many watch shops worldwide and behind prominent YouTubers (including Theo & Harris and Bark & Jack amongst many others) – so its possible you have seen these before but not known where to get them.

Their collection of watch art posters are each digitally re-created by Liam and with over 50 watches and designs to choose from there’s a great choice on hand. These include horological icons from the infamous Seiko SKX & Casio F-91W to the AP RoyalOak, Omega Speedmaster, and Rolex GMT Master II amongst many others.

Each poster is available as a high quality A2 print on 180 gsm premium silk stock. These are shipped unframed allowing you to choose your mount and frame while keeping shipping costs to a minimum .

Furthermore, if the watch you would like as a poster is not available, Art of Horology can make it for you. This not only allows you to have a digitally recreated piece of artwork of any watch of your choosing, but also if you wish; a commissioned representation of a precious heirloom is equally possible.

One last and beautifully unique touch, each piece of art can be adjusted to the specific time and date of your choosing – this allows you to provide a truly personal gift imparting a memorable time and date of an event like a birthday, anniversary or celebration for example.

Art of horology are in fact 3 years old today, and after having shipped more than 1500 pieces of art to 57 countries, we’re delighted to celebrate with them! For a limited period of time, our readers can get a 15% discount a using the promo code ‘Wristworthy’. So if you’ve been considering one of these for yourself, or perhaps a birthday or Christmas gift for that watch lover in your life, now is most definitely the time to buy one!

Unfortunately we can attest to the impact of these posters first hand – we bought a Tudor BlackBay GMT poster some time ago, and just over a month ago ended up buying a Black Bay GMT! You might want to be careful which poster you buy as your next purchase could very easily be much more expensive!

Available from:
Website: Art-of-Horology
Instagram: @the_art_of_horology

One Hour Watch

However, if youre looking for a one-off hand drawn piece of art, look no further than the incredibly talented Lee Yuen-Rapati.

Based in the UK, Lee is a designer from Canada who specialises in illustration, type design, and industrial design. He holds a Master’s degree in typeface design from the University of Reading, and a Bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary design from NSCAD University.

In 2014 Lee began the series One Hour Watch which involves creating an original watch drawing every day in one hour or less. The series currently stands at more than 1800 drawings and ranges from his personal creations to recreations of iconic favourites. Lee has worked as a commission-based illustrator for a wide array of clients ranging from an international community of watch collectors and enthusiasts as well as for established watchmakers such as Roger W Smith, and Urban Jürgensen.

Each piece of art is individually created by Lee usually to a standard size of 12x15cm however he’s happy to work within a clients request as essentially every piece is commissioned and bespoke.

Lee doesn’t sell any of his existing “One Hour Watch” pictures which are kept as a library and catalogue of some of his work so far, however he is more than happy to re-produce any of them as commissions if there is one in particular that you would like. Below is a small selection

Contact Details:
Website: watchtype.net
Instagram: @onehourwatch

We hope that this will provide a few options for those already thinking about Christmas presents. You should have plenty of time to order these for delivery before the holiday season. In addition, look out for our forthcoming article on watch accessories which may include some more gift ideas as we head towards the holiday season.

Have you seen or discovered watch art elsewhere? let us know in the comments below which is your favourite and why.

Firstly lets start with the visual appeal. We found the slightly dressier aesthetics of the auto made for an extremely versatile watch. The watch had an uncanny ability to be suitable with almost any attire. The stepped dial adds a level of texture and detail without becoming fussy.

Wearing the auto with a suit highlighted its versatility. The presence of the polished bezel allowed the watch to feel classy without drawing attention to itself. The brown leather strap that Hamilton provided was an almost perfect pairing with white stiching. The leather took very little time to contour to the shape of the wrist and was extremely comfortable and the flat tang on the buckle is curved to allow the strap and buckle to sit flatter when fastened which maximised comfort. As the watch is only 11mm in height it tucks under any cuff easily and seamlessly. The auto also includes a date complication which is invaluable at work. We liked the way the date was displayed on a white background contrasting the black dial which aided readability at a glance on a smaller dial.

It also paired beautifully with jeans, brogues, oxford shirts and sweaters to transition beautifully to casual attire without looking out of place. Here the brown leather strap continued the understated theme looking good without drawing attention to itself

On the beach paired with a rubber strap it was completely at home. One of the key differences is the auto has a 100m Water resistance whereas the mechanical only has 50m. This is a huge differentiator as a 50m water resistance means it is splash/rain resistant but not suitable for swimming whereas a 100m rating means it is suitable for recreational surfing, swimming, snorkeling, sailing and water sports. This brings with it a level of comfort knowing not only can you continue to wear the watch while you’re enjoying recreational activities, but if you accidentally end up in the water you don’t need a new watch!

At the heart of the Filed Auto is Hamiltons H10 automatic caliber. This is a highly modified derivative of the ETA 2824-2 in which amongst other things, the vibrations per hour have been lowered from 4Hz to 3Hz (28,800vph to 21,600vph) as well as controversially removing the traditional regulator to make a more robust movement with less variance. The result of this fettering is that is that the watch now has an 80 hour (3 days and 8 hours) power reserve allowing you to put the watch down on a Friday evening with the confidence it will still be running on Monday. While the movement cannot be regulated and is not COSC certified, it performed admirably within a few seconds of COSC requirements. Given this, Hamilton’s decision to remove the regulator and make an even more reliable movement that will stand up to the rigours of a hectic lifestyle was a good choice. The added display caseback allows you to see the movement which is a nice touch and here you can see the H10 Rotor denoted by the presence of an ‘H’ cut into the middle of the rotor.

Overall we spent a number of weeks with the Hamilton Khaki Auto in a variety of settings and found it to be an understated, dependable, versatile watch that not only served well as a daily wearer but a compelling choice especially at this price point. The additional water resistance, presence of a date, open caseback, leather strap and a whopping 80 hour power reserve add up to a substantially higher value proposition especially when you understand the cost difference. The retail price for the Hamilton Khaki Field Auto 38mm is £390 – a mere £15 more than the mechanical and we think this delivers quite frankly an incomparable value proposition.

This takes the ‘ultimate weekend watch’ characteristics of the mechanical and ups the ante delivering an everyday watch that’s as home in the office as it is at the beach, and everywhere in between. At under £400 it represents incredible value from a Swiss manufacturer with an in-house movement.