Watch of the Week - March 31, 2013
My last two watches of the week were rather conservative models from the 1920s, so I decided this week to jump ahead in time and take a look at one of the many imaginative designs of the 1970s. Whenever I reach for a vintage watch to wear, I go straight to the 1970s. These watches, with their big, bold, often quite colorful designs, make me want to do something fun.
The '70s were a time of breaking free from old design trends, opening the door to greater individuality in matters of taste and dress. Granted, some of those expressions of individuality were a bit, well, ugly, but many products of the 1970s remain today admired works of art and beauty, still influencing current design trends. The watches designed by Christian Dior continue to stand as something quite nice from the 1970s.
This watch was one of many designed by Christian Dior for Bulova Watch Co. throughout the 1970s. The numerous lines of Diors were constructed of varying materials, including solid gold and diamonds, sterling silver, and gold plated models. This example is from the Ms. Dior Sterling Silver Collection featured in the vintage advertisement included below. Bulova Diors were sold through fine jewelry and department stores. The ad below was published in Vogue magazine in 1974, which is also the date of this week's featured watch. Some of the Diors had 23-jewel movements--and appear to indicate that fact with "23" on the dial like this example--and some had 17-jewels. The advertisements I have for the Diors indicate that the watches were assigned numerical model identifications, rather than names. For example, #50504 is, according to the advertisement, the number assigned to this week's featured watch.
Dior designed watches for men too, but I have only ever seen one example of a men's Bulova Dior, and it was amazingly simple in design. In contrast, the abundantly available ladies' Dior models are strikingly contemporary and eye-catching. I find this line of watches to be an exquisite example of 1970s design trends, and I am proud to have quite a few models from the various Dior collections in my Bulova watch portfolio.
Please take a moment to enjoy this week's Watch of the Week. You will also find other Dior watches in my 1970s collection, and I have several more that will be posted in the coming weeks.
Details:
Solid sterling silver case and bracelet
23-Jewel 5BD movement signed "Bulova Watch Co.", N3 (1973)
Case signed "Bulova" with "N4" date code (1974)
