Thanks to a novella by Truman Capote and a subsequent movie starring Audrey Hepburn, Tiffany & Co.’s NYC flagship is probably the city’s best-known retail landmark, rivalled only by FAO Schwartz (aka the home of the giant piano Tom Hanks played in Big). Unlike the famed toy store (which has moved several times since that famous cameo), Tiffany & Co. has made its home at 727 Fifth Avenue since 1940, and that location has become as synonymous with the brand as its iconic robin’s egg blue boxes. Like so many other pieces in the brand’s catalogue, the new Tiffany Atlas collection of Swiss-made watches is a subtle tribute to that famous address, specifically the statue of Atlas carrying a clock on his shoulders that marks the entrance.
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Available in 38mm, 34mm, and 29mm versions, with a choice of dials in white or Tiffany blue, the steel Atlas is the latest evolution of a look created in the early 1980s by veteran Tiffany designer John Loring. The watch, which originally featured a Roman numeral bezel, was created as an homage to the famous clock that founder Charles Lewis Tiffany installed above the entrance to his store at 550 Broadway in 1853. One of many examples of Tiffany’s marketing savvy (he’d created the brand’s famous “blue book” in 1845), the clock beneath a statue of the mythological Greek titan Atlas was one of the earliest public clocks in Manhattan. When Tiffany & Co. moved its flagship store to “The Landmark” at 727 Fifth Avenue in 1940, both the clock and the Atlas statue were relocated and continue to keep time to this day.
In honour of this namesake, the Atlas’s Roman numerals remain, but they have been reinterpreted for the new collection and moved from the bezel to the dial. Where previous Atlas collections had been exclusively battery-powered, the new collection is equipped with a choice of solar-powered or automatic movements. The 29mm model is powered by a solar movement designed in collaboration with and produced by Swiss movement manufacturer La Joux-Perret, which can run autonomously for eight months after two minutes exposed to sunlight. The other two models feature self-winding Swiss mechanical movements with 50-hour power reserves.
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
Tiffany & Co.’s Watch Selection Expands With the New Atlas
The Atlas joins a growing lineup of watches by Tiffany & Co., including the sporty CT60 and the classical Union Square (both of which are available in the brand’s signature shade of blue). Tiffany & Co. established its first watch manufacture in Switzerland in 1874, and despite the brand’s reputation for diamond jewellery, the re-introduction of the Atlas widens its watch portfolio significantly. With its bold Roman numerals, clean-lined indexes, faceted hands with brushed and polished finishes, and a bevelled hour ring, the new Atlas provides a modern contrast to the Union Square and yet another connection to the brand’s 170-year history in New York City.
Learn more about the Atlas by Tiffany & Co.
