As far as hobbies go, cycling and horology have a good deal in common. There’s a fascination with gears and intricate machinery, a taste for functional design, and the obsessive pursuit for technical and aesthetic perfection. And yet, unlike motorsports or aviation or diving, cycling has not inspired a strong tradition of watch design. So how is the cycling enthusiast with an interest in horology supposed to find watches that express his/her tastes?
To be clear, there are a myriad of electronic devices for cyclists that track mileage, speed, power, heart rate, etc… Most sport cyclists own one of these devices. They’re often equipped with GPS and sometimes look like a watch. The Garmin Fenix is an extremely popular (and well-designed) “watchish” bike computer. But just as a diver may enjoy wearing Seiko or Rolex watch in addition to a diving computer, I would love to own well-designed watch inspired by cycling.
Tissot sells several chronographs with Tour de France co-branding, but other than the use of the Tour’s colors (yellow and black), they are not meaningfully different from the brand’s other offerings. Festina sells cycling chronographs, too, but again there is nothing in particular to distinguish them from other $200 quartz chronographs (it should also be noted that Festina is associated with one of the most notorious pre-Armstrong doping scandals. Just Google “Festina affair” – it’s quite a story). And I have to admit that the quartz thing bugs me. I know that turning up my nose at quartz watches is the worst form of snobbery, but I want a cycling watch to be interesting in some way or another because of its human-powered movement (bikes are human-powered, too), or for some other cool reasons.
In the “fashion watch” arena, the London-based Camden watches produces casual quartz watchesthat integrate cycling aesthetics (such as spokes) into a Bauhaus-ish design. While I applaud the effort (and while these watches are better than the cheapo image-printed-on-a-watch-dial Ebay offerings) they don’t particularly capture my imagination—at least not based on the pictures on their website.
The vintage market offers meager options. Trek- or Schwinn-branded quartz watches can be found on Ebay, but there is nothing particularly inspiring about their design. I suspect that they were intended to be distributed by the sales reps of these brands to the owners of bike shops. Somewhat more interesting are the vintage Swiss “Tour de France” watchesmade by Verdal, which appear to have movements from mainstays such as Unitas. At least these watches represent an attempt to market real (i.e. non-disposable) watches to cycling enthusiasts.
It has crossed my mind that another option would be to find a good mechanical chronograph and to give up on the idea that it be specifically cycling-inspired. Here, there are a plenty of vintage options, without much to distinguish them one from another. In the new market, Tissot makes an inexpensive automatic chronograph with Tour de France colors (but without the branding), so that’s an option too. And I’ve considered just buying a Seiko SKX011 since my bike is bright orange.
By far the most intriguing option that I’ve encountered is a Kickstarter analog horological cycling smartwatch (quite a mouthful!) from a company called Moskito. These watches, due to ship in fall 2018, are advertised as “Swiss Made.” According to their promotional materials, they incorporate a Swiss movement and a Swiss-made CNC case. The watch is only 12mm thick, but it is capable of displaying speed, average speed, distance, and is integrated by Bluetooth with a smartphone app. The case of the watch can be easily be removed from the strap and attached to an adapter that is integrated into the threadless headset of a bike. There is even the option to color-coordinate with a Chris King headset (an American-made, precision bike component). And the design is fairly attractive; I wouldn’t hesitate to wear it to work on my wrist. But prices start at 765 CHF, and I struggle with the idea of spending that kind of money for a product that may be obsolete (even unusable) in a few years.
And there’s this from Richard Mille. So what is the cyclist-horologist supposed to do?
Photo Credit:
Chris Bishop at Bishop Bikes
What a great topic, and long overdue! I always wear a watch cycling.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjZpNssn0h1/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
I’ve found that dive-style watches work better for me than chronographs. It’s easy to glance at the indices and set the bezel for elapsed time. I’m always against the clock on early mornings before work. Plus, rain and sweat are non-issues.
Hi, thanks for this article. I am also surprised there aren’t more watches with designs and functions inspired by cycling. As you say, they have much in common. This is an area where some of the smaller brands could come up with some good ideas (e.g. a 12 tooth sprocket for the dial design).
The Tissot Tour de France watches annoy me because their functions don’t relate to cycling. If you are going to have a tachymeter scale it needs to go from 60 to 30 (not 300 to 60). At least that could make timing the last km of a race more fun to get the average speed.
I like the idea of a dive watch for cycling. I’ve worn my Sinn EZM1.1 riding and it worked well, but makes me nervous in case of crashes.
To add to your list, another brand with some quartz cycling styled watches is Akteo: https://www.akteo.eu/sport/individual-sport
I agree on the Festina tour chronos… I have a few and like to wear the both riding and watching races and their Chrono dials are confusing and way to small to see while riding or even calling out splits to team riders on course … even the pushers are too small and don’t have a nice click when you time… wierd
Nice article. I had some of those Festina Tour de France watches from the late 90’s. They were relatively handsome, but nothing special mechanically. The watch did come with an official Festina World Champion cycling jersey! Ironically, Festina’s recent brand spokesman was Richard Virenque, one of the French cyclists busted in the Festina Affair.
Anyhow, the Omata One cycling computer looks like a chronograph watch, and is a nice departure from the digital monopoly. Polar and Suunto watches were popular for awhile with my cycling friends; allowing them to measure heart-rate during training. A lot of guys prefered to mount their watches to their handlebars with a foam donut rather than wear them.
I also remember associating Oakley watches like the Time Bomb II with cycling. Lance Armstrong wore their sunglasses for racing, and Oakley used the Unobtanium rubber from the nose pieces of their sunglasses in the titanium/rubber combo strap.
I often commute by a combination of cycling and mas-transit (biking to the bus stop). I started wearing a watch to help co-ordinate schedules (and check to see how much time I have to make the bus). I found that a good field watch works well, easy to read, able to check the time with a glance, good lume, lite and unobtrusive. Maybe the right watch is not what goes with the bike, but WHY you are on the bike.
Just curious what everyone’s threshold on riding with nice watches.. I’ve heard everything from “never ride with an automatic “ to “what ever you like. “ I’ve riden road with my 16710 GMT and felt a bit nervous and have trashed cheaper automatics from MTB riding. I used to ride exclusively with Festina quartz chronos and have held up relatively well but have even trashed one of those. I’ve even lost a few that just fell off somewhere on the trail. What’s everyone else’s ride with?
This Richard Sachs inspired RGM is a pretty great option.
https://www.rgmwatches.com/model-500gmt-gallery/#itemId=5dcda33bdcca0c5c39f167f9
What do I wear when I ride? A Richard Mille like Mark Cavendish, of course. 😉
Seriously though, a Soleus Contender is cheap, comfortable, and has a ventilated strap.
Just bought a titanium-cased, sapphire crystal field/aviator-ish quartz from Momentum for riding — white (blue-lumed) numerals on blue sunray dial. Agree a quartz seems philosophically wrong, but having come of cycling age in the 90s, Ti seemed just right and the light weight, tough crystal, high legibility and low price make it practical. As does a washable cordura band.
If anyone does ever do this, should have a left-side crown or at least one in the 4 o’clock position. Actually why not one of those offset dials (like some old aviators or automotive chronos) to be worn inside the wrist at the right angle for reading in the drops.
As long as your watch is secured above your wrist bone, I think 3 o’clock is fine. The only thing that absolutely doesn’t work is a crown at 2 o’clock. I have a Gavox Avidiver that would otherwise be perfect for cycling, but that second crown makes it painful.