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With the biggest week on the Spring Racing Carnival looming, it’s time to extract your suits (while panicking about your winter paunch), revisit your tie collection, reconsider your yearly Panama purchase, polish your oxfords and, most importantly, assess your wristwear, ensuring you stand out amongst the birdcage bourgeoisie. Of course, standing out means doing so for the right reasons – without being the loudest person in the room. Thus, when picking out a timepiece for the races it’s important to decide on something that’s equal parts timeless and sophisticated, with the type of pedigree that earns you a nod from even the most astute collector.
With those themes in mind, here are eight classic timepieces that will elevate your outfit, and wrist game, come Spring Racing.
Santos de Cartier
The Santos de Cartier is a classic example of the French-founded watchmaker’s clean design language, with a simple white dial contrasted by exploding Roman numerals. This example is a large size, with a stainless steel case that measures 39.8mm in width and 9.38mm in thickness, powered by an automatic movement with a date display at 6 o’clock.
While it’s one of Cartier’s sportier options that work great with jeans and a t-shirt, its highly polished case and bracelet give it enough elegance to pair perfectly with a suit or even more formal evening wear. It arrives with the stainless steel bracelet you see here, as well as a brown leather strap that you can easily swap between thanks to the Cartier “QuickSwitch” interchangeability system.
IWC Portugeiser Automatic 40
The IWC Portugeiser Automatic 40 is one of our favourite recent releases from IWC, first announced in early 2020 and signalling a return to classically proportioned dress watches for the brand. Featuring a 40mm stainless steel case, the sunburst blue dial is a real eye-catcher that is nicely complimented by polished hands and applied hour markers.
Powering the IWC Portugeiser Automatic 40 is the in-house 82200 calibre that contains no less than 192 components, serves up 60 hours of power reserve and is finely finished with Côtes de Genève and perlage. You might think of pilot’s watches when you think of IWC, but that doesn’t mean the Schaffhausen-headquartered watchmaker can’t make a great dress watch.
Piaget Polo Date
As its name suggests, the Piaget Polo Date has a close connection to the sport of kings, originally designed by Yves G. Piaget back in 1979 as a timepiece that exemplified sporty chic. While the Piaget Polo has been seen in many different forms over the decades, today it remains one of the most compelling integrated bracelet sports watches in the game thanks to its wearable dimensions and high-quality movement.
Featuring a stainless steel case that measures 42mm in diameter, the flat surfaces of the case have been horizontally brushed in line with the texture of the dial, while the facets of the case are finished with a high polish. Inside, it’s powered by the in-house Piaget 1110P self-winding mechanical movement with 50 hours of power reserve and expertly applied Circular Côtes de Genève finishing.
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Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classic Monoface Small Seconds
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classic Monoface Small Seconds is another angular classic, which actually has a history linked to equine sports. The Reverso was originally developed to be worn by British polo players during the 1930s, who needed a watch that would be protected against an errant polo mallet during the heat of competition.
With its unique reversible case construction, the Revero is both an icon within the watch industry, as well as a living time capsule of Art Deco design. Powered by a manually wound mechanical movement, it arrives on a calfskin strap from the Fagliano Collection that completes the elegant look.
Patek Philippe Calatrava ref. 6119R
The reputation of Patek Philippe precedes it as one of the best watchmakers in the world today, with a history of creating some of the most important and valuable watches of all time. In Patek Philippe’s most distilled form, the Calatrava is an expression of simple and refined excellence, as a quintessential dress watch that only gets better the closer you look at it.
Boasting a 39mm rose gold case with a guilloched hobnail patterned bezel (known as Clous de Paris), the silvered matte dial serves as the perfect canvas for the matching rose gold hands and hour markers Visible through the sapphire crystal exhibition caseback is the immaculately finished calibre 30‑255 PS, which requires manual winding and delivers 66 hours of power reserve.
Grand Seiko SBGY013
While Grand Seiko is today known for its high-performing and robust sports watches, the first timepiece ever produced by the Japanese watchmaker was a classically proportioned dress watch. With such a history, it only makes sense that Grand Seiko still knows how to create universally wearable dress watches, which is exactly what we’ve got with the SBGY03.
The Grand Seiko SBGY013 features a discreet 38.5mm stainless steel case that is just 10.2mm thick that has been satin-brushed matching the finely linked steel bracelet that it arrives on. The crisp snow-like texture of the white dial is the real show, however, with the timepiece powered by Grand Seiko’s proprietary 9R31 Spring Drive movement.
Laurent Ferrier Classic Micro-Rotor Autumn
Among the world’s finest independent watchmakers, Laurent Ferrier is up there with the very best as a classically trained craftsman creating traditional timepieces, the old-fashioned way. The Laurent Ferrier Classic Micro-Rotor Autumn is a quintessential example of his watchmaking, powered by a natural escapement calibre and with all the precision finishings you’d expect from a watchmaker of his calibre.
Featuring a polished 40mm stainless steel case that is 11.1mm thick, the real eye-catcher is the sparse red gold-toned dial with a seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. The movement in question is the calibre FBN229.01 which arrives with a solid gold micro-rotor, a silicon escapement and 72 hours of power reserve. If this is your companion for the Spring Racing Carnival this year, you can guarantee you won’t see another one.
Rolex Day-Date 40 ref. 228238-0061
There’s a good reason the Rolex Day-Date is the choice of US presidents, captains of industry and anyone who is comfortable making a statement to the world that says, “I’ve made it”. It’s unambiguously a symbol of success and achievement and in 2022, the 40mm expression in yellow gold with a Rolex-green dial is the one to own.
With a solid gold case and bracelet, the overall appearance of this Rolex Day-Date is elevated by the fluted bezel and faceted Roman numerals that play with the light like nothing else. Beneath the attractive green dial is the Rolex in-house calibre 3255, which has a guaranteed accuracy of -2/+2 seconds per day and 70 hours of power reserve.
Check out our BossBook Hub for spring racing betting and style tips as well as race day previews.
Below Nick looks at some alternate Spring Racing watch choices with Kennedy.
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