While the first jewellery-inspired timepiece is thought to have been created in 1810, wristwatches only became a true phenomenon in the aftermath of the First World War. In 1914, they were a niche sideline of the watch industry and generally considered faintly effeminate. Little more than a decade later, they were outselling pocket watches. That shift triggered a burst of creativity that set the template for the next century, as makers grappled with the engineering and design challenges of what seemed a simple change in habit. Smaller, more exposed and more visible, wristwatches had to be far more robust and secure. They also had to look the part. As a result, an astonishing array of case shapes and dial designs emerged in the 1920s and ’30s, as makers looked to capture the new market.
This was all happening in a more self-consciously technological world, replete with films, telephones, aeroplanes and, of course, cars. Dunhill’s Motorities had already established the idea that driving was an activity in need of its own suite of accessories, selling everything the modern driver might need from goggles, gauntlets and compasses to those most pressing of requirements: cigarette lighters and portable cocktail sets.
Once cars were actually going fast enough to be worth timing, dashboard clocks and timers joined the list. They were, in modern parlance, at the very intersection of technology, lifestyle and branding. But if watches didn’t have to be round or have the numbers aligned with the strap or the crown in line with wrist, they did have to look modern and the “original driver’s watch” soon had a face: 1921’s Vacheron Constantin American.
Left: Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921, considered the first driver’s watch thanks to its offset dial.
Middle: Promotional photo of the Corum Rolls-Royce from 1976 with matching key chain and cufflinks.
Right: Patek Philippe ref. 524A showing the sloped design of the case. © John Behalf.
Of course, cars and wristwatches were always likely to converge, with designers in those early, freewheeling days, keen to shape what a “driver’s watch” look like. At minimum, these timepieces had to withstand the rigours of piloting machines that were little more than over-powered horseless carriages, hence the huge 46mm Patek Philippe bought by Count Trossi, the president of Scuderia Ferrari, in 1932.
Wanting something more explicitly automotive to offer, Patek Philippe created references 523 and 524, complete with asymmetric sloped cases and dials. This approach was also pursued with energy by the likes of Gruen, Hamilton, Bulova and Marvin, who all produced watches designed to be readable as the wearer gripped the steering wheel, whether worn on the side of the wrist (Gruen’s Ristside and Marvin’s Motorist) or with heavily curved cases and dials tilted up (Bulova’s Rite-Angle). That all these watches looked decidedly awkward to wear once out of the driving seat meant they were never likely to last, but then came the war – and a demand for no-frills watches that actually worked.
Another tack was to incorporate the look of the car into the watch itself, an idea first explored with pieces produced for Bugatti by Mido in the late 1920s and ’30s. These took the shape of the marque’s distinctive radiator grille, with crowns recalling radiator caps. Fewer than 100 pieces were ever made and very few still survive today, but Mido pursued the concept, creating similar designs for Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Delage, Hispano-Suiza, Lancia and Talbot.
If Mido’s niche approach didn’t survive the 1930s, the idea did, with Hamilton’s Ventura –conceived by automotive designer Richard Arbib, who applied a unified jet-age aesthetic to cars, watches and aircraft – popping up in the 1950s. In the 1970s, Corum’s Rolls-Royce watch took a more literal approach, transferring the marque’s portico shaped grill straight to the wrist.
Left: The TAG Heuer Monaco V4 Concept (2004) with mechanical transmission belts and a linear winding system.
Middle: HUBLOT MP-05 Black DLC LaFerrari where the movement is shaped as an engine.
Right: Chopard L.U.C Engine One Tourbillon with a dial design that resembles the covers of an engine.
However, it’s in this century that designers really invested in the idea. TAG Heuer’s Monaco V4 concept of 2004 replaced the traditional gear train with belt-driven transmission, explicitly referencing engine architecture. Parmigiani Fleurier’s Bugatti watches, beginning in 2008, reconfigured the movement to echo the layout of a Bugatti engine, an idea later reprised by Jacob & Co and Hublot in ever more theatrical forms. Elsewhere, Chopard’s L.U.C Engine One took a saner approach, using the visual cues of an engine block as a design motif, while Ralph Lauren’s 2014 Bugatti chronograph, with its wood bezel recalling the steering wheel of the Type 57 Atlantic, demonstrated that such references could be both evocative and wearable.
Richard Mille, the brand that was conceived to bring race engineering standards to wristwatches, has also followed suit. Its RM 40-01 Speedtail, nicely encapsulates the aerodynamic lines of McLaren’s Speedtail, with its tapered and sloped display. More recently the brand worked with Ferrari’s design studio on the impossibly slim RM UP-01, too.
Left: the impressive Richard Mille RM UP-01, a titanium watch only 1.75mm-thick, where case and movement work almost as one.
Middle: MB&F HM8 Mark 2 with its lateral display recalling futuristic designs from the 1970s.
Right: Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX 2 “Aston Martin” limited-edition automatic chronograph in titanium, PVD-coated. © Sotheby’s.
Similarly looking to car profiles as a design cue, MB&F has taken the idea even further. The HM5 was intended, as Max Busser explains, to be “a mechanical dashboard on your wrist, and because the HM5 was inspired by the Lamborghini Miura from the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, it clearly had that era’s vibe to it.” Later, HM8 models took inspiration from the overpowered “Can-Am” race cars and the HMX – with its engine-block movement and oil-cap crown – is pure supercar in feel. Intriguingly, they all use lateral displays recalling Girard-Perregaux’s 1970s Casquettte as much as the dashboard indications of the era.
The winner’s palm, however, goes to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s AMVOX 2 from 2006. Developed in partnership with Aston Martin, its dial uses the aesthetic of a dashboard, but offers real innovation in its operation, with the chronograph controlled by pressing the crystal itself, referencing the then-new start button prominent in Aston Martin’s cockpit design. Conceptually neat and mechanically satisfying, it blends the worlds of car-making and watch design like no other.
Author: James Gurney
This is one of the standout horology features in the 2026 edition of I-M TIME. Secure your copy of the most inquisitive watch magazine on the market for just £4.25, HERE.
Lead image: MB&F HM2 Mark 2 with its lateral display and a grade 5 titanium case with white Carbon Macrolon® body panels.
If you are interested in horology and in cars, you may enjoy reading our feature on clocks in cars: On the Dash.
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