Timex reissues vintage quartz watch

Timex retro quartz watch is straight from the 1970s — (Image credit: Timex)

Timex Watches is marking the 50th anniversary of its first quartz watch range with the Q Timex 1972 Reissue. The new watch comes complete with retro design codes of the original, including a vintage gold-toned stainless steel case and floating hour markers.

For Timex design director Giorgio Galli, it was important to faithfully recreate every detail from the original watch. ‘It was essential to pull from our archives for the details of the attachment, dial, and battery hatch. More so, we wanted to keep the integrity and authenticity intact as well, so that it feels like it would have in that era.’

Q Timex 1972 Reissue

The watch was originally created as a response to the quartz crisis of the 1970s, when affordable quartz watch production raised questions about the future of the mechanical watch industry. It encouraged the brand to embrace this accessible new direction for watches, with the design and reliability of the Q Timex Collection proving enduringly popular.

‘The quartz movement has broad global appeal – [the watches] are well known for being accurate, reliable, affordable. Aside from a battery change they don’t require much servicing,’ Galli adds. ‘The Q collection brings back an era of nostalgia. For us, our teams work hard to bring to life each watch through storytelling unique and specific to that time period. We want the user to feel part of the story, the era, the conversation.’

This new Q Timex 1972 Reissue encompasses the design codes of that time, from the deep red hue of the dial to the domed acrylic crystal and the coin slot battery hatch on the underside. ‘The major challenge was to maintain all the details of the original watch, and not just reproduce them. We wanted to make sure the soul of each watch was maintained as if it was just discovered in a drawer, left there intact since the 1970s. Production techniques have changed over time, and it's easier to produce the authenticity of the original product than to reproduce it. Our goal was to give the same vintage flavour and patina as the original. We had to look carefully at each component in a special way.’

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Hannah Silver is a writer and editor with over 20 years of experience in journalism, spanning national newspapers and independent magazines. Currently Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*, she has overseen offbeat art trends and conducted in-depth profiles for print and digital, as well as writing and commissioning extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury since joining in 2019.