The Future of “Luxury Sport”

The luxury sports watch category is an interesting one, especially in recent years. It’s by no means new, but it’s absolutely something that’s seen quite the wild evolution over the course of the last few decades. Generally speaking, sport and timekeeping go hand-in-hand. Luxury watchmakers like Rolex, Omega, Audemars Piguet, and others will constantly jockey for position of “official timekeeper” of motorsports associations, racing leagues, and countless other events, regardless of the fact that timekeeping in those areas is purely digital these days. The reality of the matter is all of this poise and posturing is about eyeballs on logos above all else, but luxury sports watch buyers vastly outnumber buyers of dress watches, calendar watches, GMTs, or many other subcategories for that matter, and their affluent buying audience by and large follows these events. Much in the same way that the world of business attire has fallen far more casual, so have many people’s interests in watches.

In chatting with Max Busser of MB&F, we got onto the topic of him finally taking a turn towards the more casual/sporty category. Here’s what he had to say:

LMP EVO was really born out of my personal frustration of never wearing one of my creations by sea or at the pool. With that in mind, I imagined my favorite LM, the Perpetual in an all-round version that I could keep on my wrist all day long regardless of what I was doing. I have to admit, it changes your life not to have to change your watch to suit different daily activities. You could say in a sense that this follows my own personal evolution—the fact that I started only wearing sneakers 16 years ago with MB&F, and then bought an SUV (which I said I would never do… but now I can bulldoze over the speed bumps, rather than stop each time, and I can throw all the family’s stuff into it without thinking twice), and realized how practical stuff actually makes your life easier, and you can concentrate on more important things with this mental space re-acquired.

We’re onto a bit of a detour here, but it does really speak to the evolution of watch buying in recent years. Formal things aren’t so formal anymore; humans are less constrained by tradition than they’ve ever been, and in the same breath we’re absorbing and processing more information by the minute than we ever have. It makes sense that this “keep it simple” or “set it and forget it” mantra is moving to the forefront of the world of watchmaking.

Before we get to the category’s latest and greatest, it’s necessary to take a look at the journey that got us here in the first place. How does one define “luxury sports watch” in the first place? At its very origins it’s quite literally watches to be worn while playing sports, but aside from some very obscure recent releases, that literal definition is no longer fitting. Much more akin to the current nomenclature of “tool watch,” a luxury sports watch is a watch from a top tier maker that’s capable of getting wet and can handle being banged around a bit if needed. No one is playing football with a Nautilus or baseball with a Royal Oak Offshore, but both can handle a day by the pool, or a round of golf on the weekend; consider this their natural habitat.

The first true sports watch, as some of you may recall, is the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. It’s a bit hard to imagine the dressy icon as a professional tool, but back in 1931 that was entirely its intent. A group of polo players has approached a local watch dealer looking for something robust enough to survive a polo match—something that simply couldn’t be done with a wristwatch that used a glass crystal at the time. The ability to flip the Reverso over to protect the dial and crystal was an extremely practical upgrade, and one that cemented its popularity even before being rebranded as an Art Deco classic.

Next in the line of noteworthy “sports watches” came Heuer’s venture into the motorsport realm. Rather than a practical play, this entered the realm of marketing exercise rather than pure practical application. Yes, Heuer was making stopwatches at this time, and in 1965 made the Microtimer, capable of measuring increments down the 1/1000th of a second, but this association with the motorsport realm was very much a task undertaken to sell more watches. Watch brand banners were starting to appear along race banners and over finishing lines, and getting your watch onto the wrists of motorsports icons meant more eyeballs and the seal of approval of racing fans around the globe. Where Heuer got extremely lucky was in getting Steve McQueen to strap on a Monaco. He was offered his pick of the litter, and that choice cemented the chronograph’s fate and fame to this very day.

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll skim past the birth of the Nautilus and Royal Oak, as that story has been told time and time again. What’s more, by today’s standards those watches are less “sports watch” and more “casual luxury watch”–by that I mean people will still happily pair the aforementioned watches with a suit and tie, whereas it would be truly uncouth to do the same with a modern sports watch. Fight me on it if you like, but that’s a hill that I’ll happily die on. The last milestone that set the tone for the category at hand comes from one of the category’s biggest players, and it’s a watch that we can very safely refer to as being ahead of its time. I’m of course talking about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore—the beast, the legend, and the first proper behemoth sports watch that didn’t fall into the tropes of being either a diver or a motorsport-inspired chronograph. It’s big, it’s overbuilt, it took four years to design (by Emmanuel Gueit), and it was the first watch to start playing the oversized game long before “big watches” were a thing. 42mm across and quite thick, the addition of an integrated bracelet made this watch a bit of a behemoth. Thankfully for AP, it wouldn’t take long before oversized watches dominated the industry.

As time moves forward, more and more brands have thrown their hats into the luxury sports watch ring, and some entries have been more surprising than others. The pack is big enough that we cannot cover it in its entirety, but for now, here is a brief compendium of current offerings.

A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus

There are a number of watches in this list that were surprising arrivals into the market, but few generated as much resounding shock as the arrival of Lange’s first luxury sports watch. When you think of Lange, the last thing you think is sporty and casual. That said, when the brand takes on a new venture there is no room for half measures. The Odysseus was a built-from-scratch endeavor, with a new L 155.1 Datomatic automatic movement, featuring a distinct dual window day and date display. First revealed in stainless steel with a blue dial—CLEARLY a shot across the bow at Patek’s Nautilus—the Odysseus has gone even more sport luxe with this latest white gold reference on rubber strap.

Greubel Forsey Balancier Sport Limited Edition

Greubel Forsey is a special breed in the watchmaking world, as is their Balancier Sport. They’ve won countless awards for their complicated movements and fantastic levels of finishing, and though they consistently use traditional finishing techniques, their watches have a consistent yet original look and feel to them that cannot be replicated by any other. Considering that their QP à Équation was designed to be effectively unbreakable, the idea of Greubel playing the sports watch game was only a matter of time. Its movement is a simple yet robust caliber with a time only display and an inclined balance wheel, but its case has a complex case design that is molded to fit the curvature of the wearer’s wrist. It’s also one of the scarcest watches on this list, limited to 18 pieces worldwide.

Richard Mille RM 032 Flyback Chronograph Diver

 Richard Mille is in some ways king of this category, as every offering in the brand’s catalog flies the flag of sports watch. We had to choose an odd duck for this list, and there’s little more odd than an RM diver. This rose gold behemoth is 50mm across (nope, not a typo), and it features a flyback chronograph complication paired with a power reserve indication and an annual calendar (compensating for 30 vs 31-day months). This volume of complications layered over a skeletonized movement makes the piece a bit busy overall, but with RM, that’s part of the appeal.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Limited Edition

 Having referenced the legend earlier, a current Audemars Piguet reference obviously had to make this list. This 2019 reference has the upsized 44mm case, a green ceramic bezel, and a unique matching camo rubber strap. These broad pusher references sway a touch from the original Offshore design, and the tradeoff of this design cue is a slight drop in water resistance; these models boast 100m of water resistance, compared to the 200m resistance of the original reference. Its caliber 3126/3840 automatic movement is good for a power reserve of 50 hours, and is relatively compact even though the hefty Offshore measures 14.4mm thick.

MB&F LMP Evo Perpetual Calendar

When Max Busser wants a watch to take to the beach or the pool, what does he do? Well, it seems his response is to build a Legacy Machine Perpetual that can handle it. Minor aesthetic tweaks, a case rework including a screw-down crown, and the addition of a rubber strap was all it took, and the end result is just plain lovely. As we’ve said in other stories, a screw-down crown makes a world of difference, and even though it’s only rated for 80 meters, the LMP Evo a perfect poolside companion for anyone who’s indie-obsessed. We’re dubbing it a sports watch here, but MB&F’s description as “a watch for life” couldn’t be more fitting. Dress it up, dress it down, get caught in the rain, get messy cooking dinner, the Evo can take it.