Three gimmicky watches you’ll either love or hate
H Moser’s Apple Watch lookalike, Aerowatch’s time zone watch and the Gorilla Fastback by Octavio Garcia will divide opinion, but certainly can’t be ignored
Art is a lie. Nothing is real. No, I haven’t disappeared up my own ironically detached, painfully post-modern backside. Rather, it’s tough to not be cynical in the year of Brexit, Trump, Ronaldo winning an international tournament and the false dawn of an Arsenal title challenge.
My sense of wariness has only increased with some of the timepieces released this year and, this week, we will talk about three that are not necessarily awful – in fact, in a way I love them – but leave one feeling slightly dirty for liking them.
We begin with the H Moser & Cie Swiss Alp Watch S. Yes, it looks like an Apple Watch. And yes, that’s deliberate. What started as an elaborate joke (we think, although, as I said, art is a lie, nothing is real) has now become something of a hot seller for H Moser.
The original Swiss Alp Watch was released in January as a humorous riposte to the Apple Watch that has been stalking the Swiss watch industry like Banquo’s ghost. H Moser initially released an Appley press release and video and created 50 pieces, presumably as a novelty never to be repeated. Fast-forward six months and, having sold out, H Moser has eschewed all attempts at satire and created the Swiss Alp Watch S.
Now, let’s get the bad out of the way first. The “joke” in aping the design of the Apple Watch as well as the way the po-faced tech company markets its products is, let’s be frank, pretty lame. But, if you can look beyond that, the Swiss Alp Watch S is simply a beautiful timepiece. The gorgeous midnight-blue dial has a smokey effect and wonderfully catches the light. The other highlight is the oblong shape, a novelty for an H Moser watch that really is something to continue. And, of course, for the purists, inside is an in-house HMC 324 calibre movement that pumps out four days of power.