DentaltownUK October 2017 - 60

lifestyle

Does Size Matter?

by Tejaswi
Mellachervu

From the early 2000s onwards there was
a growing trend for watches to get bigger
in size. Spurned on by celebrities sporting
larger than life watches on their wrists, the
big watch fad had taken off and was here
to stay. Even women started to wear men's
watches & companies started to produce
more fanciful designs that would generate
attention whoever wore them.

Royal Oak Offshore
The first truly oversized watch was in
fact launched in 1993, the Audemars Piguet
Royal Oak Offshore. A luxury sports watch
and hybrid of the original Royal Oak line.

Terminator 3 Royal Oak Offshore Limited edition
watch by Audemars Piguet. To wage a war against
the machines you might just need this watch!

limited run of a 1000 pieces only and is today
highly collectable on the preowned market.
The only problem with the Offshore, like so
many other big watches, was that it didn't have
an in-house movement, and many viewed it
as simply having a standard sized movement
in a larger case just for the sake of it.

IWC Big Pilot

The original 'Royal Oak Offshore' by Audemars
Piguet. Greeted with shock & awe upon release. Not
the biggest by today's standards at'only' 42mm.

It became an instant hit and could be seen
on the wrists of young affluent men everywhere.
Its size back then was shocking, but it was
beautifully made with its brushes and polished
surfaces and elaborate movement finishing.
The early 2000s saw a few limited edition
offshores, starting with the 'End of Days'
made specifically for Arnold Schwarzenegger
in the movie 'End of Days'.
The most outlandish one was also made
for Arnie to wear in the movie 'Terminator
3: Rise of the Machines'. This was a 48mm
gargantuan timepiece made from titanium,
with crown & pusher guards. It was made as a

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OCTOBER 2017 // dentaltownuk.com

IWC Big Pilot Ref 5002. A clock on your wrist!

In 2002 IWC released one of the largest
watches ever made, and with good reason.
The Big Pilot ref 5002 was a tribute to the
pilot watches of the 1940s, which at 55mm
were designed to be worn over the sleeve or
jacket. They had a large 'onion' shaped crown
to be able to be gripped even with gloves. The
2002 big pilot, although smaller at 46mm,
was still very large, but its understated dial
layout with vintage appeal meant it could be
worn by those with smaller wrists.
The Big Pilot wasn't a watch that was
large just for the sake of it. Inside the watch

ticked the largest automatic movement ever
made, with a specially designed pellaton
winding system, which meant it could be
wound from the crown in both directions,
and the efficiency of the system meant it
built up 'power' very rapidly. It featured
anti-magnetic protection & a huge 7- day
power reserve.
So there we have it. The battle of the
giants. Although the race to make the biggest
watch has long died down, big watches are
here to stay. Currently, the trend is heritage
watches that recreate the feel of watches made
in the past, but that too will be a passing fad.
Ultimately, as wrist sizes get larger and people
do more activities with their watches, they
expect a certain level of robustness from
their watches, and large watches can deliver
this in abundance. Bigger cases to protect
the delicate movements inside, chunky
buttons which can be activated during any
sport or activity and water resistant to a
good depth too.
For the purists out there, however, a
gentleman's watch will be no bigger than
40mm and anything bigger is perceived
tacky and gaudy.
Just sometimes, however, a watch comes
along that goes against everything we know
is right, and we hate to admit it, but it looks
rather good too! ■

Hamilton Khaki Sub-zero watch as worn by Matt
Damon in the movie 'The Martian' and Dwayne
Johnson in 'Central Intelligence'. A 46mm
1000m water resistant behemoth.
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