An insane piece from the Italian-French fashion designer Pierre Cardin’s 1971 ‘Espace’ line of wristwatches
The Espace collection drew inspiration from space exploration and travel, a well known obsession of Cardin’s. A line of wristwatches reminiscent of space shuttles and their instruments is just as unusual today as it was in the early 1970s
Made not of just steel and gold, some models employed perspex and lucite to further enhance the line’s space age feel. It’s quite evident Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ was just as significant to Cardin and his watch design as it has been to directors and their films
Collectors remain unsure as to whether these pieces were made in collaboration with the Swiss company Jaeger-LeCoultre or the French brand Jaeger, or whether they were even separate entities at the time.
Despite Edmond Jaeger and Jacques-David LeCoultre’s first collaboration in 1903 and the subsequent merging of the two family names, it’s been suggested that watches were produced by Jaeger France as a way of Jaeger-LeCoultre to distribute some of its lesser-known movements
This piece features a minimalist porthole style dial with black baton hands and an angled stainless steel bezel
Of course the watch’s most unusual feature is the layer of orange lucite sat upon the stainless steel base. The case back can be removed and the lucite spun round and reset to expose a semi-circular portion of the base
The case-back features fixed lugs and is clearly stamped ‘Jaeger’ alongside ‘Pierre Cardin’
The watch is set and wound by the original Pierre Cardin stamped winding crown
Fitted with a new nato strap
The Jaeger signed FHF 36 manual wind movement has just undergone a full and comprehensive service. It runs smoothly and keeps excellent time
Case width - 45m
Case height - 45mm
Lug width - 30mm
Strap length including head - 28cm
