Automotive: The Laboratory of New French Watchmaking

Paradoxically, while the mechanical watch is no longer of much use on the track, it can interpret the codes of the genre all the more freely. Materials, dashboard instruments, ergonomics, design or the fascination with speed embodied by legendary drivers, these watches designed for the asphalt draw on everything that makes automobiles so captivating. Several French watch brands are revisiting the world of racing cars with uninhibited creativity. Sometimes literally, sometimes in a more experimental vein.

When the watch was used for driving

Measuring, calculating, reading easily: in the early days of the automobile, watchmaking sought to meet the fundamental needs of the road. The chronograph carried out various measurements: lap time, intervals or average speed. It established itself in the 1960s and 1970s, with its contrasting dials, panda counters, tachymetric scales and perforated straps like driving gloves. In France, Yema and Lip respectively developed the Rallygraf and Rallye. Kelton, whose parent company is none other than Timex, entered into a partnership with Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi. Today, Yema is reviving this adrenaline-infused look with the Rallygraf Alpine, while Kelton’s RC2 successfully reawakens the spirit of the '70s.

Necessity fades, imagination remains

If the automotive watch was once an instrument, the mechanical chronograph no longer serves the same purpose today. Necessity no longer dictates the rules, the genre is freed up and draws at will on emotion.

Reservoir’s Kanister transposes the aesthetic of the rev counter to the wrist. The reference to the dashboard becomes the pretext for another way of reading the time, thanks to a retrograde minute display, a jumping hour in a window at 6 o’clock, and a power reserve indicator.

Arpiem’s Ride & Drive collection plays with the inclination of the historical dials of “drivers' watches”. The principle dates back to the 1920s and 1930s, with a surge in popularity in the middle of the 20th century. The diagonal dial allows information to be read while in the driving position. Thus, the brand’s rotating dials offer a “Rest” position and an offset “Drive” position, creating a complication of use based on historical ergonomics.

With the Autosport Racing Chronograph, Depancel multiplies references to the golden age of racing chronographs. This connection can be read even in the brand’s name, a contraction of Delage, Panhard and Facel Vega. While the codes no longer have the same practical use on the road, they are transformed into strong signs, immediately recognized as belonging to automotive identity.

From car to watch: experimental mechanics

French watch brands are not content merely to draw inspiration from automotive culture, but reclaim the various elements that make up new proposals. Yema and Kelton revive racing codes by drawing on their own heritage. Reservoir, Arpiem and Depancel reinterpret the aesthetics and characteristics of dashboard instruments and vintage drivers' watches. Others, such as Lorige and B.R.M Chronographes, look towards mechanical construction and materials to reinvent the genre.

Thus, Lorige transforms carbon brake pads from cars that have actually raced into watch cases. Part of the car becomes the watch, a particularly powerful symbol. At the end of 2025, the brand presented the BL-Evolution collection. The brake pads used for these pieces come from Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH prototypes that competed in endurance racing at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2025 and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2026.

B.R.M Chronographes builds its V12 collection according to the logic of automotive mechanics. The shapes recall pistons or even shock absorbers. With the Shock Absorber system, introduced in 2014, the principle of automotive suspension becomes a watchmaking solution. The brand also uses high-tech materials from the world of racing, such as titanium and carbon.

With these inspired watches, French watch brands draw from a kind of “cultural toolbox” of French industrial heritage. Their uninhibited creativity reactivates two of its historical components, watchmaking and automotive, in order to propel them further into the future.