TOO PRECIOUS

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the competition among luxury watch brands looking to stamp their mark on the then-burgeoning category of high-end sports watches was rife and intense. As these horological heavyweights battled to out-flex each other, the oft-quoted expression ‘iron sharpens iron’ was demonstrated to rewarding effect. Because when the dust finally settled, the brands and, indeed, the horological scene at large were all the richer for it. The short and intense rivalry yielded an exceptional harvest. Several of those watches that premiered in those decades are now considered icons of watchmaking. Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak, Patek Philippe’s Nautilus and, of course, Vacheron Constantin’s 222 were among the then-newly minted stars of the field, challenging the status quo with fresh aesthetic approaches and non-traditional design codes. The 222 was introduced in…