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Good taste in watches is not a fixed rulebook: the same design can look playful, expressive, beautiful, or vulgar depending on who is looking and where. The more useful question is not whether a watch is objectively tasteful, but what its design communicates—and how much of that meaning comes from the watch, the wearer, or the observer.
Why luxury and kitsch now sit so close together
Luxury has often been associated with rarity, beauty, and exclusivity. In Lex Stolk’s 2023 Fratello essay, “The Frayed Edges Of Good Taste In Watches — Has Kitsch Become Chic?”, he considers a different luxury aesthetic: watches that are large, shiny, jeweled, or deliberately theatrical. His argument is cultural rather than a neutral account of the watch market; it asks what happens when prestige embraces visual excess.
Stolk quotes philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky, speaking to El País about Kitsch in the Hypermodern Era: “Luxury was the rarest, the most beautiful, the most expensive, and, therefore, the most desirable.” Lipovetsky also argues that some prestigious brands now flirt with “kitsch, bad taste, the ugly, even the vulgar and the obscene.” These are interpretations of luxury’s changing image, not objective standards for judging a particular watch.
“Kitsch” is itself a judgment. A watch that one person finds excessive may strike another as funny, daring, or genuinely beautiful. Calling a design kitsch says as much about the observer’s expectations as about the object.
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What a watch can signal—and what it cannot prove
A watch is both an object someone chooses and a sign others may interpret. Depending on context, its design, brand recognition, and visibility may suggest wealth, status, specialist knowledge, affiliation, or a desire to stand apart. Those readings are not reliable evidence of the wearer’s personality or motives.
Josh Sims’s 2021 MR PORTER discussion of watch status describes conspicuousness and understatement as potential status codes, with meanings that shift across social settings. A recognizable luxury logo can be legible to many people; a less familiar watch may carry significance mainly for people who know the brand or its design history. Neither kind of signal has a universal meaning.
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It is tempting to say that a loud watch reveals an inner void or insecurity. Stolk flags that kind of psychological explanation as an oversimplification. A large or gem-set watch may be a status display, a personal pleasure, a playful choice, or simply the wearer’s preferred design. Looking at the watch alone cannot settle which.
Restraint and spectacle are different design choices, not a ranking
A sober dress watch and a bright, oversized, or gem-set design occupy different aesthetic territory. The first may align with conventions of restraint; the second may draw attention through scale, shine, novelty, or theatrical detail. Those descriptions help explain why people react differently, but they do not establish that one is inherently better made or more tasteful.
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Stolk’s essay uses a deliberately varied group of watches to explore the tension. His examples include the G-Shock 40th Anniversary Carbon Edition GCW-B5000UN-6, Hublot Big Bang Integrated Tourbillon Full Carbon 43mm, Cartier Panthères et Colibri, Roger Dubuis Knights of the Round Table Titanium Damascus, Chanel J12 Cybernetic, Bell & Ross BR 01 Cyber Skull Bronze, Rolex Daytona Leopard, and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph. They are the author’s illustrations, not an objective list of tasteful or tasteless watches.
That range also shows why a single label can flatten the discussion. A design may challenge conventional dress-watch expectations through color, materials, imagery, or sheer visual intensity. Whether that makes it expressive or excessive depends partly on the observer’s taste and partly on the setting in which it is seen.
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Fashion-led design does not automatically mean shallow watchmaking
“Fashion watch” is often used dismissively in collector conversations, but a design-first identity does not by itself tell you how serious a watch’s mechanics are. Anthony Traina’s 2023 Hodinkee discussion argues that design-led thinking can coexist with substantive watchmaking. That is a reason to evaluate a particular model on its own merits rather than treating a brand’s fashion or jewelry associations as a verdict.
The reverse is true too: an elaborate complication, prestigious name, or high price does not automatically make a design beautiful or demonstrate discernment. Watchmaking and visual taste are related questions, but one does not answer the other.
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How to develop a point of view without turning taste into a test
Taste can be practiced. In his essay on developing good taste, Tony Traina emphasizes comparison, attention to detail, openness to unfamiliar work, and learning from trusted people and sources. A coherent collecting interest can also help: it gives you a way to notice what you value, whether that is proportion, legibility, historical references, unusual materials, or mechanical ingenuity.
- Compare designs directly. Notice differences in scale, color, finishing, ornament, and visual balance instead of relying only on a brand name or reputation.
- Separate your response from a universal rule. “I find this too busy” is a clear preference; “this is objectively bad taste” claims more than an aesthetic judgment can establish.
- Learn the design and watchmaking context. A model’s references, construction, and mechanics can add meaning, but they need not determine whether you enjoy looking at it.
- Stay open to a changed opinion. Familiarity may reveal details you missed, while closer comparison may also confirm that a watch is not for you.
Traina also notes that judgments of taste are shaped by culture, class, and identity. That makes humility useful: people may disagree because they bring different codes and experiences to the same object, not because one side has discovered a single final standard.
The useful question is what you value in a watch
“Good taste” in watches is best treated as a conversation, not a pass-or-fail test. Understatement can be meaningful, and so can exuberance. A watch may communicate status to one observer and personal expression to another; its appearance can invite interpretation without revealing its owner’s inner life. The more grounded judgment begins with visible choices and ends with an honest account of what you value.
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