Dennison x Collectability Edition | INTRODUCING

Zach Blass

• Dennison, based in 1874, has carved out a definite lane within the current market with very reasonably priced stone dial watches (all beneath US$700).
• Its current designs come from the thoughts of legendary watch designer Emmanuel Gueit, finest identified for the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore and Rolex 1908.
• Collectability was based by John Reardon, a globally recognised skilled on Patek Philippe and former Worldwide Head of Watches at Christie’s.

As curiosity additional rises in wristwatches, the pool of watch patrons worldwide has grown, and the watch fanatic base has by no means been extra knowledgeable. This implies extra diversified budgets and extra people questioning how value-driven choices are. The issue for longstanding, distinguished, conventional, greater manufacturers – nevertheless you wish to describe them – is that they should keep their positions. For higher or worse, they’re caught on the Mount Olympus of luxurious, unable to return again right down to earth.

This has created a spot for microbrands and smaller independents to satiate the bigger market’s thirst for high quality watches at a extra approachable worth. Now we have additionally seen a shift away from sports activities watch tunnel imaginative and prescient, with watch shoppers now revisiting extra design-driven items that deviate from the everyday, and an urge for food for bolder dials (each in color and texture) that has led to a resurgence in stone dials. That is the place Dennison has discovered lightning in a bottle with its ALD lineup, providing design-driven watches, typically with pure stone dials, and at all times under US$700 at retail.

Dennison, initially based in 1874, has a longstanding status as a celebrated casemaker that has labored with a variety of revered manufacturers similar to Rolex, Omega, and Longines. Although the model has a wealthy historical past in producing strong circumstances, such because the 13 Smiths watches taken by Sir Edmund Hillary and his group to summit Mt Everest (which used Dennison Aquatite circumstances), in its revival within the fashionable period, the model centres round dressier items designed with legendary watch designer Emmanuel Gueit – most well-known for his creation of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, and extra not too long ago, the Rolex 1908.

At this time, nevertheless, a 3rd eager eye enters the combo with John Reardon and Collectability. A globally recognised skilled on Patek Philippe and former Worldwide Head of Watches at Christie’s, Reardon, who can also be well-known for his love of the Golden Ellipse watch, has teamed up with Dennison to create a collaborative version – the first-ever watch creation to bear the Collectability identify.

Although cited as an ode to the magnificence of ’60s design, Reardon’s fondness for Patek’s Golden Ellipse has undoubtedly had some affect over the selection of a powerful blue sunray dial and dealing with Dennison and its cushioned ALD case design to create Collectability’s first-ever watch collaboration. Reardon did take a cheeky stab at Patek’s well-known “you by no means actually personal a Patek Philippe watch, you merely take care of it for the following era” tagline in how he expressed one other motivating issue for teaming up with Dennison: affordability and entry. “This collaboration breaks the mould, providing a design and worth level that make the proper watch not a future aspiration however a right away actuality,” John Reardon explains. “It’s not for the following era. It’s for NOW.”

Followers of current-generation Dennison watches will recognise the handset and the cushion profile of the case, which, in each the metal and gold PVD variants, measures 33.65mm in width, 37mm in size, and a really slender 6.05mm thick. You additionally nonetheless have a recessed crown that creates a extra pure and unobstructed cushion type. Although most identified for its stone dial items, Dennison can also be at the moment no stranger to sunray-finished dials. However, the twist – apart from the actual fact there is no such thing as a Dennison branding on the dial – is the actual fact these collaborative editions have two-tone blue sunray dials with a stepped centre medallion. You can see two completely different shades of blue used, a bolder, extra electrical blue within the centre framed by a paler blue border, the step above. This step, and the border it creates, additionally has a case-matching metallic body that creates additional visible intrigue.

Whereas gearheads and watch snobs is not going to discover a Swiss Ronda quartz-driven watch all that fascinating, those that are pushed to watches by the exterior look and recognize historic design will definitely have an interest on this Dennison x Collectability collaboration (and Dennison’s broader catalogue as nicely). Although there is no such thing as a stone dial to additional drive house the worth proposition, the two-tone sunray dial and its stepped and polished-frame format stand to entice these on the lookout for magnificence at a much more approachable worth than standard luxurious manufacturers can afford to ship.

Dennison x Collectability Editions pricing and availability

The Dennison x Collectability Editions are each accessible now, with an order window of 5 days through which all orders should be positioned. Value: US$690