Clutter or not clutter, that is the question

Do you know the song Messy from Lola Young that goes “And I'm too messy, and then I'm too f****g clean”? It's about an unbalanced girl who's at the end of her rope with her man who's never happy and keeps asking her to always be something else. Beyond his dysfunctions and bad faith, he's torn. He doesn't know if he wants a nice, proper girl or a wild one. I'm like him... as far as watches are concerned. I'm never sure if I prefer a clean, pared-down, bare-essentials—and therefore classy—watch, or just the opposite. A busy dial, with an elaborate bezel, lots of printed stuff and a handful of visible functions. Let me give you an example of how many tastes reside in my brain, and then try and think how that relates to the rules of design. And remember to “ cut me some slack, who do you want me to be?”

Clutter is good

Design is where form and function converge. If functions are plentiful, then form must assign spaces to all o of them. In watches, the matter is then one of arranging indications. In this regard, I've always been a fan of the Navitimer. In that watch, barely altered since its inception in 1954, I love the slide rule, even though I'm never ever gonna learn how to use it. I adore the seven concentric scales that eat up almost half of the opening. I'm partial to the simultaneous presence of the Breitling logo, the Navitimer logo and the brand's airplane logo. And I adore the never-altered tri-compax chronograph layout with many subdials, contrasting in color and the whole shebang. It's a lot of information, I can't read most of it without glasses, but I've been harboring a desire for that piece for decades. Breitling just reactivated the collection with their Miles Davis tribute that's still a jungle of a timepiece with an oddly satisfying feel. Its form follows function in the best way possible.

Not clutter is good too

At the other end of the spectrum, an object with limited functionality can be treated with much more freedom. Creativity has more wiggle room, but there's a school that dictates it should then be as simple as its use. In this category, the uncluttered one that is, I'll wear a Parmigiani Tonda PF Micro-rotor—the one with no date released in 2024—any day of the week, come rain or come shine. This watch has a light dial guilloché texture, indices so short they're hardly even there, and skeletonized hands that are like a shadow. It's pared down yet not totally naked. It's clean but not empty. It's dressy and yet versatile. And the brand logo is as discrete as the brand is confidential. To me, it is the epitome of class, the understated kind, the IYKYK kind. Taste in its purest form.

I am not gonna make up my mind

In a world where categorization is the default setting, where judgement comes all too naturally and cliques and clans and sides seem to be more important than balance and reason, there's a case to be made for eclecticism and non-partisanship. The watch landscape is vast and immensely diverse, as is that of design in general and both are animated by similar issues. All styles, trends and genres cohabitate, as do cluttered and uncluttered watches. The same is true of its designers and of course, its customers. I'm just like them, I'm just like you. Sometimes torn between extremes, carried by my fancies and elated by the gorgeous propositions that currently abound. So I like one thing and its opposite, and I acknowledge that fact. I'm a diverse person, with wide-ranging taste and “I wanna be me, isn't that allowed?”