Fancy a quick update to your watch collection? You need to check out Carpenter Watches, inspired by founder and industrial designer Neil Carpenter’s love of his family’s antique pocket watch collection. Comprised of venerable American brands such as Elgin, Illinois, Waltham and Hamilton, the young Carpenter found them beautiful, appreciating how each watch told its own story through the patina of age and wear. The pocket watches had fulfilled many purposes; they were both status symbols and practical tools, precision machines and objects of beauty. They made an indelible impression that guided the design and development of the Carpenter’s Field model.
The Concept
It has been said that soldiers in World War One invented the modern wristwatch by welding wire lugs to their pocket watches and strapping them to their wrists for quicker access. In the same era, early pilots used their wristwatches for both timing and navigation, often in harsh conditions. These watches became known by their German name ‘flieger’ (pilot).
Carpenter says: “I wanted to create a practical timepiece that would suggest affluence and good taste, and become a cherished heirloom. The watch would honour the past but be thoroughly modern, not simply a recreation of an antique. It would have a contemporary, minimalist design that would seamlessly transition to a variety of casual and formal occasions. It would also be constructed of the highest quality materials available, yet it still had to be affordable.”
The Watch
Inspired by the local vernacular of Park Slope, Brooklyn, the Carpenter Field draws its inspiration from its early 20th century ancestors. Modest and utilitarian, all excessive ornamentation has been eliminated to optimise legibility. The case and lug design echoes the welded wire on those early converted pocket watches. The heart of the Carpenter Field is a Miyota 821A, which is a proven automatic movement requiring no batteries.
It is powered solely by kinetic energy, propelled by the natural movement of the wearer’s wrist. The case is constructed of 316L stainless steel alloy and a double-domed sapphire crystal provides a vintage look, with superior scratch resistance. It is water resistant to a depth of 50 meters, or 165 feet. The Field model is offered in three case/dial combinations: a white or black dial with a polished case and a Solid Bronze case with a black dial.
From approximately £460; carpenterwatches.com
