What makes an iconic watch? It should be important, not just to pop culture but to the market and to the overall practice of horology.
Let’s talk about icons. It’s such a casually used colloquialism that, beyond simply being “a good thing,” we’ve almost forgotten what it literally means.
Today we’re looking at the most iconic watches in history.
An icon is something or someone worthy of veneration. And, exposing my art history background, it’s also a visual symbol or a shorthand for something greater or more complex.
So, George Washington is iconic in one way. The guy on the pedestrian walk sign, or even an emoji, is iconic in another way.
When it comes to watches, I believe they should be a bit of both. The Submariner changed the game, but it is also a shorthand, a symbol, for dive watches in general. Some would say it’s a shorthand for sports watches in general.
I’m going to take us on a journey of a few esteemed models. They all boast fascinating stories and are guide posts for understanding why the watch world looks the way it does today.
9 Best Iconic Watches
My nominations for the best iconic watches status awards go to several timepieces, each with its own contributions to the watch world.
The Classic Field Watch
I want to start with a type of watch instead of a specific model. Soldiers in World War I, and especially World World War II, wore watches. If not for them, it’s possible men wouldn’t even be wearing wristwatches.
Remember that wristwatches were akin to jewelry at the turn of the 20th century. People viewed them as the feminine counterpart of the pocket watch. However, men in the trenches needed a more convenient timekeeping format.
Truly, these trench timekeepers played a pivotal role in wristwatches becoming style staples. Many menswear classics, like the trench coat or the service boot, started in the army. So it’s no surprise that the wristwatch also did.
Plus, nothing represents a good, honest, timeless design like a field watch. It’s accurate, durable, and legible — a distillation of the fundamental wristwatch.
The Germans were the first to wear pocket watches on their wrists. However, the American A-11, with its sword hands and railroad tracks, has a special place in watchmaking. Brands continue to use it as a template for field watches today.
The very brands that supplied timekeepers to our troops during World War II, like Hamilton and Bulova, frequently reissue similar models.
I particularly love the simplified cathedral hands on the Bulova Hack.
Santos de Cartier
While it was the utilitarian field watch that proliferated into the masses, it wasn’t the first men’s watch in history.
That milestone went to the Santos de Cartier in 1904.
Louis Cartier was good friends with pilot Alberto Santos Dumont. Just as soldiers felt inconvenienced by having to draw a watch from their pockets, Dumont expressed this likewise grievance to Cartier.
Not for nothing, but both pilots and soldiers were also arguably risking their lives with such a juggling act.
So, Cartier built him his namesake wristwatch. Though gender-bendy at the time, it was an objectively safer and swifter way to tell time when one was flying an aircraft.
Fortis Harwood Automatic
There are several legitimate reasons to choose a quartz watch over a mechanical. However, there’s no denying that automatics are a functional gold standard for watches today.
As such, the Fortis Harwood is worth spotlighting. It was the first wristwatch with an automatic winding rotor, and it came out in 1926.
British watchmaker John Harwood developed the timepiece. He modeled the caliber after Abraham-Louis Perrelet’s movement for pocket watches in the 18th century.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual
1926 seems to be a big year for watches. It was when Rolex gave us the first waterproof and dustproof watch, otherwise known as the Oyster.
Today’s Oyster Perpetual are direct descendants of this guy. They’re also the most essential Rolex, the blueprint on which all the other models are built.
The original Oyster’s claim to fame? Swimmer Mercedez Gleitze swam the 21-mile stretch of the English Channel between France and Great Britain with a gold Rolex around her neck.
Omega Speedmaster
Okay, so most of us know that the Omega Speedmaster was the first watch on the moon.
That’s why its official nickname is The Moonwatch. Even more, it’s an objectively good chronograph that left all other moonwatch nominations in the dust during NASA’s qualification tests.
But, I also consider the Speedy an American hero.
The Apollo 13 scare would’ve been a tragedy if not for astronaut Jack Swigert’s Speedmaster. When the craft’s oxygen tank blew up, timing the ship’s engine burn was the only way to get back to Earth.
It required hyper-precision. Otherwise, the astronauts would have perished upon hitting the earth’s atmosphere.
James Raglan oversaw the qualification tests. He mentioned that if there were a digital timer malfunction or communication issue, the Speedy would “be there for them if they had a problem”.
He didn’t know just how right he’d end up being.
Sturmanskie Watch
Though the Speedy was the first watch on the moon, the Sturmanskie from the Moscow Watch Factory was the first watch in space.
Yuri Gagarin wore it during an April 1961 mission.
This legendary Sturmanskie has a charming design, with a red secondhand and a 17-jewel movement.
Zenith El Primero
Okay, technically, this is just a movement. So, if you like, we can consider the Zenith Reference 384 for this entry. It was the first watch to run on the El Primero.
There was no movement like it at the time. Many know that the Rolex Daytona was powered by El Primeros before they went fully in-house.
More importantly, it’s the movement that brought the mechanical watch back from its quartz crisis defeat. That being the case, the El Primero played a big role in the luxury-ification of mechanical movements.
It was one of the first automatic chronograph movements, known for its high balance frequency, complexity, and slimness. It even had a 50-hour power reserve that exceeded the 30-hour standard for high-end timepieces.
Citizen CTQ57-0953 Chronomaster
This Citizen watch is one of the most accurate market-made timekeepers ever. Its A660H quartz movement is accurate at five seconds, give or take a year. Its perpetual calendar is good until the year 2100, and it’s made out of titanium.
It’s an icon of accuracy.
Even more, Citizen has Bulova in their family. In 1959, Bulova released their tuning fork movement. It was the most accurate watch in history at the time, with a deviation of a minute a month.
Clearly, Citizen are locked in the accuracy game. I’m a fan of the Citizen Bullhead Challenge Timer myself.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
With its exposed screws and tapisserie dial, the AP Royal Oak shaped the luxury sports watch market as we know it. Gerald Gentas was the designer. It debuted in 1972 with a huge (at the time) 39-millimeter case.
It took a minute to catch on. However, the legions of men who drool over Panerai or two-tone Submariners? This is likely the fruit of the Royal Oak’s labor.
3 Most Iconic Dive Watches
Dive watches are arguably the most ubiquitous sports watches. And hey, the Submariner is one of the most iconic watches in the world. Perhaps divers are the quintessential shorthand for watches in general.
Rolex Submariner
Ah yes. The watch with a thousand homages. The Submariner was the first commercial watch to boast 100 meters of water resistance. See, the Fifty Fathoms missed it by a hair, testing to just over 90 meters.
Most importantly, the Sub would become the standard bearer for classic divers for the next few decades. Arguably, no watch has dethroned it yet.
In addition to being a market and horological wonder, it’s also a pop culture icon. Like the 12 jerseys in the NFL, many great men wore it. The most important man, a fictional one, is, of course, James Bond himself. The most iconic is the 6538 that Connery wore in Dr. No.
Omega Seamaster 300M Professional
I’m partial to this Seamaster because it was one of my first-ever watches.
It cinched its icon status in three ways: through pop culture, with its design, and its role within the Omega brand.
An important watch in the film, this Seamaster was James Bond’s first Omega. He’d go on to make the full switch, earning itself a 007-shaped throne right next to the Submariners.
Second, the wave dial design and ‘90s bracelet are lively and almost toy-like. Most watches pledging into the classics fraternity exude more classic designs.
Still, despite not being a standard, the Seamaster managed to find a place in the Mount Rushmore of divers, creating a new standard
And third, Omega reeled during the quartz crisis. The Seamaster went through a huge identity crisis in the ‘80s. This watch represents a return to form of sorts.
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
The first Fifty Fathoms may have just missed the 100-meter mark, but divers today wouldn’t be what they are today without it. It predates the more famous Sub by a year.
Jacques Cousteau wore the pre-commercial military version in his documentary The Silent World.
And most critically, it brought the unidirectional bezel to the watch world. In this sense, Blancpain created the blueprint for the classic dive in a more fundamental way than the Sub did.
Conclusion: The Icons Club
Most watches undergo a long initiation process to join the icons club. Many modern watches are probably currently in the running, and we don’t even realize it.
The Rolex GMT-Master is arguably the most enduring travel watch. Meanwhile, the SKX007 started as a cheap alternative to the Sub and now has its following. (Not to mention that Seiko created the first Japanese diver.)
What are some icons you love that I didn’t mention here? Let me know in the comments!
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