For Baume & Mercier, Chopard and Hermès, the interchangeable nature of the Linea, Happy Sport and Heure H straps is well established and each new season brings new creations flaunting a whole new colour palette. Other brands have however succumbed more recently to the vogue of interchangeable straps. A brief anthology of feminine watches that thereby offer several models in one…
Happy Sport © Chopard
Heure H © Hermès
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Bulgari opts for color and personalization as a full-fledged style element with its Bulgari Bulgari Lady and Serpenti collections. While epitomizing the timeless nature of Roman style, these watches also adopt their owner’s changing moods thanks to a whole panoply of interchangeable straps. The new Serpenti models are for example sold with two leather double wrap straps that can be complemented by a wide choice of additional colors – why not royal blue or ruby red ? The Bulgari website offers an extremely convenient configurator enabling one to try on almost all the straps available for a given watch.
Glashütte Original does likewise with its Pavonina collection and its 20 or so colorful straps in leather or satin. The same goes for Jaeger-LeCoultre, via its Atelier Reverso. It is however the supremely feminine Rendez-Vous collection with its top-flight horological functions that reigns supreme in terms of elegant transformations by means of numerous alligator, ostrich or satin straps.
Rendez-Vous Night & Day © Jaeger-LeCoultre
All brands are jumping onto the (watch)band-wagon
Another Fine Watchmaking ladies’ model, the Blancpain Calendar Moon Phase by Blancpain comes with five interchangeable straps. Whoever said that Haute Horlogerie is not compatible with a joyful touch ? Nothing could be simpler than to remove the black satin strap and fit another in red, midnight blue or sky blue alligator leather, in order to enjoy a brand-new watch ! And how about the elegant and sporty Overseas small model by Vacheron Constantin, sold with a steel bracelet plus leather and rubber straps ; or the new Reference 7140 Ladies First Perpetual Calendar by Patek Philippe delivered on a gray strap, accompanied by an additional turquoise strap ?
Reference 7140 Ladies First Perpetual Calendar © Patek Philippe
Hublot has even added its patented interchangeable strap-change system to the name of several collections. Be it the Big Bang One Click Cuddly Cuff, with its leather and fur cuff straps, the flashy One-Click Pop Art, or the One Click Steel White Diamonds with its rubber strap, they all reveal a range of fascinating facets.
Big Bang One Click Cuddly Cuff © Hublot
The Shine “Etoile” by Raymond Weil also features a patented strap-change system activated by rotating the caseback. No tools and no risk of spoiling your manicure ! These smooth and easy move frees the watch from its attractive steel corset and enables it to team up with a a pleasingly light black or pink Repetto leather strap.
Shine « Etoile » © Raymond Weil
Renowned fashion experts, Ralph Lauren and Louis Vuitton have adopted accessory-style straps as a natural showcase for their timepieces. The classical RL888 is accompanied by a colorful range of leather or satin straps, while the French-based Maison is innovating with an interchangeable strap concept suited to all its Tambour models, including older ones.
The Tambour Moon and its array of interchangeable straps © Louis Vuitton
Smart bands from smart brands
Smartwatches naturally deserved to be customized, notably via their bands. The Modular 45 from TAG Heuer, Summit by Montblanc and Tambour Horizon by Louis Vuitton also appeal to women, while Frederique Constantin offers its E-Strap that can be fitted to any given watch in order to connect it. This strap available in several colors features a discreet connected module integrated via the buckle.
The E-Strap is available with a buckle in stainless steel or pink or yellow gold-plated steel © Frédérique Constant
As Baume & Mercier’s signature semi-casual dress watch, the classically resourceful Clifton is able to play host to a pretty vast array of complications — all from easy GMT and moonphase screens, to perpetual calendars and this crazy minute-repeating pocket watch. Therefore it should come as little surprise that for 2017, as in years’ past, the entry Richmont manufacturer is leaning on the Clifton’s versatility to showcase their latest technology: an in-house made manual-winding movement equipped with a distinctive system meant to boost accuracy.The Baume & Mercier Clifton Manual 1830 is the first Richemont group watch to deploy this new tech, known as TwinSpir, which will be centered around a new type of proprietary ion hairspring developed by the Richemont Research & Innovation team. This new spring is comprised of a distinctive, composite structure that unites two layers of silicon, alternatively oriented and jumped through a layer of carbon dioxide. The goal was to create a hairspring that was not only resistant to the typical effects — corrosion, magnetism, etc., but one which was also largely resistant to changes in temperature and infinitesimal variances in pressure while it oscillates.Now, phoning TwinSpir the foundation for a thermocompensated mechanical movement could be something of a gross oversimplification, but this isn’t far from the premise, either. However, instead of actively adjust for changes in temperature, this system mutes them. For instance, in which a typical hairspring might demonstrate varying levels of elasticity (and thereby subtly differing oscillation speeds) on the wrist on a warm afternoon, vs. sitting on a bedside table, the fundamental assumption of TwinSpir is to create a more consistently stable hairspring that is mostly immune from these thermoelastic variances regardless of the watch’s ambient temperatures. Furthermore, as the hairspring contracts and expands through its typical oscillations, the layered arrangement is designed to create a perfectly even and more constant oscillation, removing any subtle irregularities in elasticity (or “elastic anisotropies”) that would also adversely influence the chronometric rate — a known functionality characteristic exhibited by many conventional hairsprings.