Old man fashion

Am I ahead of a fashion trend, or way behind? I will let you decide. I think that I am behind. Maybe the watch world is not fashion after all.

          According to the fashion industry consultants Heuritech, the fashion industry experience cycles in roughly twenty-year increments. First there is the “introduction” of the trend, followed by the “rise”. The trend will then experience a “peak”, followed by a “decline” and eventual “obsolescence”. Heuritech believes that these cycles may shorten in duration due to social media, but that 20 years seems to have remained constant.

          What then to do with all of these:

          They are mostly Speidel, but I also have J.B. Champion, Bellavance, and Kiefer Cadman. I buy mostly vintage watches and these tag along. I take them off, clean them, and put them in a drawer. I will wear one for a while, but almost always they get traded for leather straps.

          Expandable bands fell out of favor forty years ago. My father, now nearly 80 years old, wore them his whole life. He liked them because they didn’t wear out and never needed adjustment. If he was working on something he could flip the watch head to the inside of his wrist to protect it. The good ones were not depilatory, any more than other quality bracelets.  Some twenty-year cycle certainly would have brought these back, but they are decidedly still obsolete. They are old man bands.

          I told my watchmaker that I sometimes throw out the defective ones. He wants me to bring him every single one. His “old man” clientele needs to have individual links repaired and he stockpiles them so that he can do that. He noted that many of mine were gold filled. They were actually a quality product. How long can these remain just an “old man” option? When will some hipster company bring them back, even if ironically?

          Speidel is an interesting company. Founded in Pforzheim, the sons made their way to East Providence, Rhode Island. They were sold to Hirsch in the 1990’s, but fifteen years later they were an American company again. They provided the original “jangly” Seiko bracelets in the 1970’s. The Twist-O-Flex was introduced in 1959, but Speidel had scissor expandable bands in the mid-1930’s. Ian Fleming had his James Bond wear one on his Rolex. Speidel has never been able to return to such heights.

          Many Bulova and Hamilton watches originally came with expandable bands, so did the Omega Speedmaster. Kiefer Cadman supplied Doxa for years. This style of band dominated the market for decades and then we all decided that we would banish them to fashion jail for eternity.

          Will they ever come back? If they do, I will be ready.