It only makes sense that Timex would dig up another treasure from its storied history in the form of the Rotary Phone Dial reissue, which was originally crafted in 1976. It’s easy to imagine that a watch inspired by a telephone on your wrist was an Apple-era invention, but Timex has Tim Cook beat by five decades. The Rotary watch has a black dial and circular arrangement of numerals designed to mimic the finger holes of, well, a rotary phone.
And in the last 50 years, that idiosyncratic little watch found a devoted following among collectors. Visually, this reissue has stayed pretty true to the original version, with Timex avoiding the temptation to update it for modern tastes – a trap many brands fall into, which inevitably leads to the watch losing some of its original charm. Against the black dial, each numeral sits inside a gold-framed cutout, while the day and date sit at the three o’clock mark.
The black, white, gold, and brown color scheme also feels indebted to the ’70s, made even more apparent by the compact 37mm gold-tone case and brown croc-embossed leather strap. While much of the design hasn’t changed, the movement has been updated from the hand-wound M27 found in the original Marlin to an M03B quartz caliber. While some watch collectors may see this as a downgrade, with hand-wound movements often preferred to their battery-powered counterparts, I think it’s an upgrade.
If you’re as lazy as I am, you won’t have to worry about setting the time again if you leave the watch on your desk for a day or two. Timex is on an incredible run with its string of high-profile collaborations and its keen eye for what to dig up from the brands archives and reinterpret for modern times. The Rotary Phone Dial watch is just another sign that Timex is firmly holding its ground in the affordable timepiece market.
Source: www.gq.com
