Pierre Cardin Espace

In contemporary watch collecting, the radical designs of the 1970s are often overlooked in favor of the classic silhouettes of the 1950s and 1960s. And we think that’s a shame. Back in the Grooviest Decade, industrial designers, fashion houses, and creatives of all stripes were experimenting with Space Age shapes inspired by man’s journey into…well…space! The Moon Landings of 1969 occupied the zeitgeist for decades to come — indeed, if you’re an Omega Speedmaster collector, they still do — and saw the creation of art that departed from the restrained, midcentury norms of the day into something flamboyant, colorful, and fun. 1970s watchmaking proved no exception to this playful experimentation. Pierre Cardin, a then-highly influential figure in womenswear who licensed his eponymous maison’s name to all sorts of products, created a line of 26 androgynous timepieces cased in plastic and steel and powered by hand-wound movements from Jaeger. Unlike contemporary pieces from the likes of Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe — which were often cased in precious metals — these funky watches remain highly affordable. This particular Pierre Cardin Espace was directly inspired by the Space Race — Cardin, according to company lore, even had the opportunity to try on Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit while on a visit to NASA headquarters! Housed in a 44mm blue plastic case that takes the shape of concentric blue rings, it features a smooth, gold-toned bezel, an unsigned, gold-toned crown at 6 o’clock, an acrylic crystal, a matte white dial with open circle indices at the cardinal positions, and a black ‘baton’ handset. Powered by the manually wound FHF36 movement from Fabrique d'Horlogerie Fontainemelon, a Swiss ébauché manufacturer that was eventually subsumed into ETA in 1985, it bears the ‘Jaeger’ signature on its caseback, attesting to its French — rather than Swiss — origins. Paired to a red vinyl one-piece strap with a gold plated stylized pin buckle, this funky timepiece flies in the face of the more traditional watches seen today, most of which tend to harken back to 1950s and 1960s tropes.  If this striking watch piques your interest, then you know what to do!