Watches
Square Watches Are Taking Wrists by Storm
There are plenty of reasons why mechanical watches are round. But that doesn’t mean they look best on the wrist.
Photographer: Danny Kim for Bloomberg Businessweek; Prop Stylist: Kody Pangburn
Shortly after the French-Brazilian aeronaut Alberto Santos-Dumont became the first European to achieve sustained flight in 1906, he complained to his friend Louis Cartier that he didn’t want to be fumbling for his pocket watch to measure time in the air. In response, the legendary jeweler invented a small clock to be worn on a leather strap, one of the earliest wristwatches for men.
It was square.