The New York minute is richer, deeper, fuller and faster than anywhere else in the world," Jon King, the executive vice president of Tiffany & Co, exclaims over lunch at Zuma Abu Dhabi. "There's this feeling that you can achieve more in a minute in New York than you can anywhere else."
Hence the moniker of Tiffany & Co’s latest watch, the CT60. The CT is a reference to the company’s founder, Charles Tiffany, while the 60 is a nod to the dynamism of the city to which Tiffany & Co is so inextricably linked.
While the brand is best known for its diamond jewellery, it has sold watches since 1847. In 1853, Charles Tiffany unveiled the nine-foot Atlas clock above his store at 550 Broadway – today it hangs above the entrance to the brand’s Fifth Avenue flagship. It has helped generations of New Yorkers to keep track of the time and has become a symbol of the brand’s – and indeed the city’s – innovative edge.
The new CT60 collection draws on that watchmaking heritage and is inspired by Franklin D Roosevelt’s gold Tiffany watch. “Tiffany watches were the choice of American presidents and celebrities throughout that time, and there was a watch in our archives that was presented to Franklin Roosevelt in 1945, right at the end of the war, on his birthday,” King explains.
Crafted in Switzerland, the CT60 collection of 22 timepieces for men and women includes a chronograph in stainless steel with a self-winding movement, a blue soleil finish and silver numerals; and an 18-carat gold calendar watch with a 42-hour power reserve, shock-absorption system and sapphire crystal display back, created in a limited edition of 60 pieces.
“We have loyal Tiffany customers around the world who have said to us: ‘We want a watch that reflects your brand.’ With the CT60, you have a dial that’s quite open, numbers that are easy to read – this is linked to that American spirit of being straightforward and transparent. The watch offers great clarity, and is not overly designed or ornate; there are no design elements that don’t serve a function.
“The CT60 is distinguished by its style. We are not speaking to the watch connoisseur who is only interested in complications; we are speaking to a client who responds to style,” King adds. The collection is available in Tiffany & Co’s new 1,518-square-foot relocated store in Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates.
sdenman@thenational.ae
