The ’70s Are Back in Tune

It doesn’t seem so long ago that we were still having a good old laugh about the 1970s, mocking everything from era-defining flared trousers, gold medallions and Zapata moustaches to avocado-coloured bathrooms, water beds and ‘mood rings’.

But now the zany colours, free-spirited thinking and slick designs of a time once dubbed ‘the decade that taste forgot’ have been re-assessed and found to be often rather brilliant – not least in the world of watches, with Gerald Genta’s greatest hits from the decade now being among the most coveted examples of collectable horology.

One of the first watch brands to spot the fact that a ‘70s resurgence could be on the horizon was Germany’s Glashütte Original, which launched its Seventies collection under the ‘Vintage’ line way back in 2011.

The Seventies range, which debuted with a three-hand model and evolved into the Chronograph Panorama Date, has now been expanded with a three-watch line-up called simply ‘The 70s’ which takes inspiration from another genre at its peak more than half a century ago and also enjoying a huge revival – analogue music.

A Hi-Fi State of Mind

Vintage hi-fi buffs love the amps, tuners, cassette decks and turntables from the 1970s not only because they produce a sound far more mellow and evocative than today’s digital gear, but also because of their high quality, tactile construction and period looks.

Glashütte Original has played on that with the first of the new watches in the ‘70s range, the Stereo Panel model which features a galvanised dial with brushed embossing in the style of those instantly recognisable hi-fi components that could once be found in homes around the world.

Three Watches, Three ’70s Icons

Although the hands are made from solid gold, they are coated black in line with the design’s black rubber strap and overall monochrome aesthetic - but treated with Super-LumiNova so the time can still be read when the wearer is chilling-out in the semi darkness of a listening room while soaking-up his or her favourite ‘70s tunes.

The next model in the line-up, the Tweed Amp, was inspired by the fabric used to cover guitar and bass amplifiers in the golden era of heavy rock. The most common of these materials were Tolex and Naugahyde, but amp maker Fender occasionally built units trimmed in a lacquered cotton twill that came to be known as ‘tweed’.

That translates on this piece from the ‘70s line-up as a brown, galvanic dial with red gold hands and a leather-lined strap in sand-coloured rubber.

The third model has been ‘dubbed’ the Vinyl Record and give a black dial with the distinctive ‘silk matt’ finish of a long-playing disc. Fitted with white gold hands, it is powered by the same Manufacture Calibre 36, 100-hour power reserve movement as the other models but, in the case of the Vinyl Record – which is limited to 500 examples – the hands are finished in black rhodium plating.

All three models retain the distinctive, cushion case design seen in the Seventies watches but in a reduced 39mm by 39mm form that is just 9.6mm thick compared with the 40mm square/ 14.10mm high dimensions of the Seventies Chronograph Panorama Date watches.

The new pieces – which are all available on bracelets as well as rubber straps - also serve to launch Glashütte Original’s new and patented Groove Lock system which comprises both an innovative quick-change lug connection and a clasp with a push-button lock that enables it to be easily removed for switching between straps.

All of which would have undoubtedly been called ‘groovy’ back in the ‘70s….