The watch world has long has strong associations with the automotive one, from ties to Formula 1 to models named after famous races and tracks – most famously Heuer with Carrera, Monaco and Monza – to collaborations the likes of Jacob & Co and Bugatti, or, launched earlier this year, Breitling and Aston Martin, and Bianchet and Maserati. Both worlds celebrate the mechanical, typically also cross-fertilising notions of high luxury and extreme performance.
But spare a thought for the less high-profile, more arcane collaboration. Take, for example, Seiko’s new tie-in with Honda. Not the Honda of the NSX or the S200 but of the Motocompo, the 49cc, petrol-powered folding scooter-cum-mini-motorcycle manufactured by the Japanese car giant for its home market and just for three years in the early 1980s.
Seiko’s 8000-piece limited-edition Seiko 5 Sports Field model could hardly reference the Motocompo more bluntly, sharing the scooter’s bright yellow colour scheme, accented with bold black lines and a Honda-branded dial, while the nylon strap echoes that used to secure the scooter in the boot of Honda’s City car. Seiko offers the model as a collector’s piece 'celebrating two legends of Japanese design' – though it speaks to the potency of the Watchmaking Automotive Industrial Complex that in its selection Seiko should make such a localised and arcane reference.
'The fact is that car nuts are just that – very knowledgeable about the most esoteric history. They would know about the Motocompo,' argues Michael Benavente, managing director of Bulova, which has just released its own limited-edition Shelby Racer chronograph – with aluminium case and mirror-polished dial – to mark the 50th anniversary of the aluminium-edition Shelby Daytona Coupe, an iconic design in the US, but less so further afield.
Carroll Shelby was the visionary racing car designer who engineering and helped style not only the Daytona but the AC Cobra and the Ford Mustang. He was, in fact, the only person to win Le Mans as a driver team manager, team owner and race car manufacturer, doing so twice with a Ford GT. Indeed, some may know the Shelby name from 2019’s movie Ford v Ferrari: that’s Carroll Shelby, played by Matt Damon. Many, though, won’t know his name at all.
'I think the movie helped the Shelby name find more of a place on the international stage, but what works is that there’s an authenticity to Bulova, as a US brand, collaborating with a name in US automotive culture,' adds Benavente, who notes that the watch brand was the first timekeeper of NASCAR in the 1950s and was worn by Shelby, according to his estate. 'As much as I love the cars, it wouldn’t make sense for Bulova to work with the likes of Maserati, for example. But it’s remarkable how much watches and cars speak to the same kind of people.'
Certainly less obvious, and more left-field, watch car collaborations are on the up. Casio too has teamed up with Honda to celebrate the Honda RA272, while German brand Stowa has just launched its second of its World Rally Championship collaboration watches. In January Seiko also releases a chronograph inspired by the anime character Keisuki Takahashi and his beloved Mazda RX-7 - with a triangular 12 o’clock marker inspired by the car’s signature rotary engine. This relationship cuts both ways too: Porsche may be a household name, less so the watch micro-brand Aera, though the two companies are now working together.
