Time for oneself

Exhibition at the SIHH 2004

To carry time on one’s person is an art that has never ceased to evolve while remaining rich in signification and implication.

The watch is a unique functional object whose practical purpose - to give the time - has gradually made it possible to structure life as a community.

And yet the watch tells another story, in apparent contradiction with the first: that of a gradual transformation from an austere measuring instrument to a beautiful and often precious artefact in which the ornamental today takes clear precedence over the functional.

From the fifteenth century to the industrial revolution, to have one’s personal timepiece was a privilege that nobles exercised in order to display their power, culture and intimacy with science and progress.

From its infancy the watch’s vocation was to be seen, and naturally it turned to jewellery for its beauty and elegance. It too was worn at the waist or on the chest, both parts of the body that are especially suited to showing off such adornments. The accessories that accompanied the watch reflected how it was to be worn, suspended from necklaces, sautoirs, pendants, chatelaines, and later fob chains.

As lifestyles were transformed by the industrial revolution, costume necessarily adapted to practical considerations. Thus, little by little the watch moved from the pocket or bodice to fasten around the arm. Still, whether for the pocket or the wrist, the industrially-manufactured watch was no longer reserved for a privileged few and, with rare exceptions, no longer valued as adornment.

From the early 1980s, watches and jewellery were designed for all times of day and all occasions. More than just adornment, they were chosen as an expression and extension of the wearer’s personality. This, the very nature of the jewellery watch, extended to men’s watches which took ornamental value from the perfection and elegance of their mechanical movements. The art of watchmaking was considered in a new light, as the key to its own future. Master watchmakers have imagined wristwatches in classic yet fundamentally reinvented forms. The most renowned jewellers have lent their talent to the creation of ring watches. Some again suspend watches from chatelaines and necklaces while others even nurture dreams of a modern-day pocket watch. Developments such as these are as surprising as they were foreseeable: in these days of omnipresent and ultra-precise time measurement when wearing a watch has become particularly superfluous, Fine Watchmaking has taken a decisive step by uniting time and beauty. Henceforth, a beautiful timepiece is once again a privilege and to wear it, an art.

Since 1995 the organisers of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie have honoured the spirit and creations of Master watchmakers. Once again they have entrusted Dominique Fléchon with a new exhibition, "Time for oneself", that reveals the art of wearing a watch through the ages. The watches chosen to illustrate this theme come from the companies that exhibit at the Show and from the main public Swiss watch museums. They show how the wearing of a watch has evolved alongside changing lifestyles and fashions, themselves largely shaped by progress in the widest sense.