The ’70s Classic

TIMEX have been creating affordable watches that stand the test of time for generations. And to celebrate 50 years of the 1972 Q Timex piece, we chat to Chief Executive Creative Director, GIORGIO GALLI…

From the streets to the runway, our obsession with the 1970s is showing up everywhere, including on our wrists. American watchmaker Timex is at the forefront of the seventies revival, revisiting icons from its extensive archive for a new generation of wearers. “The seventies was a big change in everything: music, politics, civil rights…” says Timex design director Giorgio Galli, chatting via Zoom from his home in Milan. “It was the beginning of real change in the watch industry in terms of technology but also in style and design.”
This technological change would be the quartz movement, the single biggest development in watchmaking during the 20th century. Suddenly, mechanical watches could be replaced with more reliable and inexpensive quartz movements. For Swiss makers it was a nightmare. However, for affordable watchmakers it was a new golden era. Quartz watchmaking proved to be more than just a way forward for Timex – it fulfilled the company’s promise to deliver accurate and affordable wristwatches widely around the world.
The 1970s saw the company launch its first quartz timepieces, aptly called the Q Timex collection. And this year, Timex is celebrating 50 years of the quartz watch that started it all – the 1972 Q Timex.
With its bold red face and striking gold tonneau case, the colours are a slice of ’70s glamour. “Gold was the trendy colour of the day,” explains Galli. “It made watches more valuable in the eyes of consumers.” Retro lovers are sure to snap up the 1972 Q which boasts some seriously groovy floating hour markers.
Thankfully, Timex held off on bringing her back out until the big 5-0, right in time for the return of going places in our new post-COVID normal. Also turning 50 in 2022 is The Godfather and Bowie’s seminal Ziggy Stardust album, alongside historic moments like Nixon’s visit to China and the Watergate scandal.
Few brands have refined the art of reissuing and reworking their watches for younger consumers more than Timex.The company struck gold in 2019 when it reissued the 1979 Q Timex, one of the biggest horological hits of the year. It also almost single handedly made Timex cool again.
So what is it about these nostalgia machines that continues to resonate? “The Q shaped Timex history,” says Galli. “We’ve taken it back and it’s becoming very important to our collection. Our watches were stylish for the era but, as our wildly popular recent reissues have proven, those originals had ageless qualities.”
In addition to toasting the 1972 Q, Giorgio is celebrating a more personal milestone – 15 years since taking on the design director role at Timex. In that time he’s not only overseen the development of watches, but created his own classics, such as the lauded S1 Giorgio Galli series. On that note, he makes sure to hint that Timex has several new timepieces in the works to add to its ever-growing archive. “It’s not just a reissue: it’s a celebration of 50 years of Q and a new era. But we’re not stopping there. We’re launching more in the Q family including a new chrono.”
For now, Timex continues to ride the nostalgia wave including a very meta Stranger Things-inspired collection. It’s all part of a much larger task for watchmakers, which is how to engage with younger consumers raised in a digital age. As Galli points out, “For younger people now, a vintage watch may be their first analogue watch that’s not a smartwatch.” Brands are approaching this challenge in different ways.
Just look at the recent collaboration between luxury watchmaker Omega and affordable brand Swatch. While the launch resulted in massive queues from Sydney to Singapore, one wonders if the stunt hasn’t caused irreversible damage to Omega’s prestige. Galli is diplomatic on this front. “For Swatch it’s great news and gives them new blood [but] for Omega it’s a fine line. The good thing to take from that is that analogue watches are back in a big way.”
It raises the question: what is a mid-range watchmaker like Timex to do to stand out in the increasingly crowded watch field? Based on the success of its Q reissues, the only answer, it seems, is to stay true.