The Art Deco movement was a design revolution. The ostentatious and sinuous curves of Art Nouveau yearned for simplicity, and Art Deco obliged with its seemingly straight lines and elegant geometric patterns. In the early and mid 1900s, the art form manifested itself in buildings, homes, paintings, films, and jewellery styles, to name a few.

It inspired watchmakers to follow suit, which resulted in some iconic patterns that paved the way for landmark collections and ruled the style book for decades to come. The sunburst pattern, the chevron pattern, the fountain…they all stem from this period of art and creativity.

However, one classic design won hands down. It captured the wrists of many a watch lover, it filled the sketch books of watch designers and even over a century later, finds itself in limited edition creations. The tonneau is a horological design winner. The shape is unmistakable. It resembles a barrel or cask, with slightly bulging sides, distinguishing itself from the classic round and pompous oval. At a time when round, rectangular and oval cases were in vogue, French jewellery and watchmaker, Cartier, created the first ever tonneau-shaped case according to popular sources. The year was 1906. And the watch went down in history as a design marvel. Since then, it has been used across brands, styles, complications, genres and genders.

Reliving a tradition

The Malte 100th Anniversary Edition from Vacheron Constantin defines classic to the ‘t’ with the mechanical hand-wound movement, the sandblasted silver-toned dial and 950 platinum case in an elegant tonneau-shape to encase them all. Vacheron Constantin’s tribute to a century of their first barrel-shaped watch produced in 1912 is fitting. And yes, they add three more to the ode: The Malte Tourbillon, Malte Small Seconds and Malte Lady with a diamond studded bezel! Though the tonneau charmed display shelves in classic and heritage collections from time to time, the last few years has seen some renewed enthusiasm among watchmakers to eulogise the design.

Breguet’s Heritage collection is all about tonneaus and as the brand puts it, “Adapting late 18th-century styling concepts to the shapes of the 21st century demands a great deal from design engineers, casemakers and dial-makers. But the perfect curves of the case and the delicately engine-turned dial set off the case-band fluting and curling lugs to their best advantage.” And sure enough, the entire series is a perfect balance of two exciting eras. Credited for being the pioneers of the ‘barrel’ watch by many, Cartier’s Tonneau and Tortue ranges have been popular too. The most striking of the lot is the yellow gold tonneau with a jaguar motif spread across the face of the watch, hand-engraved in high relief in champlevé grand feu enamel. Piaget’s Limelight collection is filled with delightfully elegant and diamond studded tonneaus in pink and white gold. Dazzling through the lot is the white gold watch case set with 86 brilliant-cut diamonds, with 293 diamonds sparkling from the dial and 600 from the bracelet! Last year, Longines drew inspiration from its 1911 tonneau-shaped model to create the curves of the Evidenza line.

2012 curves we love

SIHH and Baselworld 2012 saw some elegant and avant-garde tonneau watches. Here are some favourites.

Breguet’s Heritage additions: The luxury biggie added two stunning tonneaus to its Heritage collection this year. We loved the 8860BR/11/386 for its case curved tonneau shape in 18-carat rose gold with fine fluting on the caseband. The dial is elegant in its mother of pearl centre, engine-turned by hand in a ‘flinqué alterné’ pattern and a chapter ring in frosted silver-plating. The rose gilt moon peeping at 1 o’clock adds to its beauty.

Ladies Gondolo: Patek Philippe’s sparkling addition to its Gondolo collection this year is this rose gold and diamond beauty. The tonneau case is set with 480 diamonds in random setting and is teamed with a hand-guilloched gold dial set with 367 diamonds, gold cabochon hour makers and a shiny taupe alligator strap.

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