Why The Coolest New Watches Look Like Vintage Grails

Brands like Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Cartier are dusting off decades-old designs and reimagining them for the modern connoisseur, says GQ watch columnist Nick Foulkes.

- Nick Foulkes

ONE OF THE most beautiful new watches to emerge this spring doesn't actually look very new at all. It's the Patek Philippe reference 5172G-010, a white-gold, hand-wound chronograph with a gorgeous salmon dial. It's a fresh model that borrows some of Patek's most venerated design moves. In fact, when I first saw the watch, I thought I knew it already. The new 5172G almost teases the wearer with a sense of déjà vu: The protruding box crystal, syringe hands, and stepped bezel and lugs look ripped from the pages of vintage Patek catalogues. As Patek Philippe president Thierry Stern explains, “It looks like it is from the past, but it is made for the present, underscoring the push at the company to update its iconic design history for a new customer. At Patek, this sort of watchmaking is known as a vintage-contemporary.