Window shopping with the watch world

Window shopping with the watch world Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. There are times when it seems as if some guiding, albeit slightly mischievous, spirit of the watch industry has whispered identical words of inspiration into different ears at different maisons, and then sat back to watch the fun. If there is such a spirit flitting between factories then he/she/they have been very busy, as 2025 has witnessed the most remarkable resurgence of one of the most esoteric of timepieces: the guichet. The watch is distinguished by its blank plane of metal through which hours and minutes are read via small windows rather than by the sweep of traditional hands. At the beginning of the year, Louis Vuitton launched its Tambour Convergence. And then at Watches and Wonders Cartier reintroduced its historic Tank à Guichets, while Bremont, perhaps the most surprising of all, presented its bronze-cased Terra Nova Jumping Hour. Each takes a distinctly different approach, yet all share the same fundamental principle. Louis Vuitton pink-gold Tambour Convergence Watch, £32,500 Bremont bronze Terra Nova Jumping Hour, £4,900 To understand this horological curiosity, we must journey back to the beginning of the 1920s, when “montres à guichets” emerged. The construction and design did away with the fragile watch glass, and in the context of the nascence of what would become known as art deco they were aesthetically satisfying in their sleek minimalism. Cartier made its first Tank à Guichets in 1928. “When Cartier launched that watch, it was very innovative. Other companies made the guichet in the same period, but Cartier made a guichet with precious metals. The construction of the case is very interesting, and it has a very flat movement. After almost a century, it’s still contemporary design,” says Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s director of image, style and heritage. He explains why the maison has chosen this moment to revive the design: “We thought that the Tank à Guichets, among all other watches created during that period at the time of Louis Cartier himself, is probably one of the most meaningful in terms of Cartier’s philosophy of watchmaking design.” The new collection features models in yellow gold, rose gold and platinum; true to the original, they sport a crown at the top of their cases and house a manually wound movement. Alongside these historically faithful renditions, Cartier has created a 200-piece limited edition in platinum that repositions the hour display to 10 o’clock and the minute display to four o’clock, creating an asymmetrical layout. This arrangement is not merely aesthetic but functional, says Rainero: “It corresponds even better to the way you read the time.” Cartier platinum Tank à Guichets, £55,000 1928 Cartier gold Tank à Guichets Whereas Rainero revels in the archival accuracy of this year’s Cartier revival, Jean Arnault, watch director at Louis Vuitton, is happy to be unfettered by history. He described LV’s Tambour Convergence as a blend of vintage inspiration and modern execution. “What I love about what we’re doing at Louis Vuitton is the ability to reinterpret vintage designs without having the pollution of a watch that existed in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s,” he says. Unlike Cartier’s jumping-hour mechanism, where the hour changes instantly every 60 minutes, Louis Vuitton opted for a “dragging hour” display, where the hour is moving constantly at the speed of the conventional hour hand. “We wanted to make the watch as thin as possible,” says Arnault. “That’s why we didn’t go for the jump hour. We have the movement ready if we want to do it, because we have jump hours in the collection, but it would make for a thicker watch.” While Cartier and Louis Vuitton are making the most of the elegance of the guichet. Bremont’s Terra Nova Jumping Hour offers an unabashed tool-watch interpretation in the brand’s aluminium-enriched bronze alloy. CEO Davide Cerrato believes that the Terra Nova connects the guichet with a military form. “In the first world war they were called trench watches. A protective metal cap was used instead of glass or crystal sapphire to make the watches less fragile. So, there was also a very nice link with Bremont’s military history and DNA.” The front of the Jaeger-LeCoultre pink-gold and enamel Reverso Tribute Nonantième, £68,500... ...and the reverse side of the watch Unlike Arnault, Cerrato is besotted with “the magic of the quick jump”. Working with [movement supplier] Sellita, we were able to ensure that the jump is done in less than one-10th of a second – it’s very sharp and very crisp and very quick. And that’s the magic of the thing. If you are in a place that is quiet enough, you hear when it makes the shift.” Jaeger-LeCoultre has also been swigging the guichet Kool-Aid. Its Reverso Tribute Nonantième “Enamel” shows the hour through a circular aperture with a rotating minutes disc set below a day-night indicator, all against a background of star-strewn midnight blue. I find it mesmerisingly beautiful. However, it craftily avoids full commitment to the guichet aesthetic as all this detailed gorgeousness is on the reverse side of the watch, while the front is more conventional. You could argue that it is two distinct types of watch in one case, meaning the £68,500 price tag will be amortised twice as rapidly. 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