THE BRIGHT STUFF

Want to be noticed? Nothing makes a statement like a splash of colour on your wrist

- Richard Holt

What sort of person buys a brightly coloured watch? Believe it not there are plenty of watch buyers out there who decide what brand they like, how much money they have to spend and then when it comes down to it, swerve past watches in regular tones and go for something horribly garish. And it's getting more common by the day.

Getting funky with the colour scheme didn't used to be an option. In the pre-electronic era, when watches were tools rather than trophies, you picked your metal and went from there. Almost everything had a steel case, so if you wanted something different you would have to go for gold - solid or plate, depending on your budget.

When watch companies started introducing colour it was more about functionality than fashion. Most watches remained monochrome, except for the odd bold slash of colour to distinguish an important function - like showing the number of elapsed minutes on a diving watch, or to differentiate the chronograph dial from the running seconds.