Uniform Wares’ First-Ever Watch Line for Women
The London-designed, Swiss-made minimal timepieces reflect everything we’ve come to love about the brand
To be honest, the gender neutral allure of Uniform Wares watches was a feature that caught our attention all the way back in 2009. Their clean but dynamic designs, envisioned in Clerkenwell, England and assembled in Switzerland, have found places on the wrists of men and women alike. And yet, their brand new dedicated women’s collection is an aesthetic and technical success. The reason here is clear: many watch brands accidentally condescend and pigeon-hole female watch-wearers—replacing substance with sparkles and oftentimes unnecessary flair. With this launch, Uniform Wares simply developed two of their signature styles, the C-Line and the M-Line, for women’s wrists—and they didn’t sacrifice any of their design DNA in the process.
“There really isn’t anything designed specifically around women’s wrists at our price point,” Uniform Wares co-founder Oliver Fowles explains to CH. “We really wanted to create an equal collection that really addressed this problem, this lack of a bona fide watch brand producing a well-engineered watch specifically for women.” It’s not just the diameter of the watch that they’ve taken into consideration. It’s also the thickness of the case and the lugs, even the straps were considered and altered. “It’s taken two years of work to get the tone right for the collection, where it has an injection of femininity but doesn’t lean too far into pink and shiny and diamante embellishments.” There is an androgyny to the collection that makes it wearable on just about anyone’s wrist, and there’s plenty of crossover with the men’s pieces. But everything has been reconsidered.
For the last four years, Uniform Wares has been using Swiss movements inside their watches. As a sign of the brand’s success, they became completely Swiss-made in October of 2014. This means these are intelligent horological pieces, constructed for reliability and longevity. “We started developing a women’s line four years ago but put a hold on it as we moved the existing men’s collection to Swiss-made. When we finished executing the Swiss-made collection for men, we returned to the women’s pieces. It’s the same application of design process and exploration of the best manufacturers that defines these watches,” Fowles concludes. And this is evident by simply getting hands-on with any of the new line.
Explore the Uniform Wares’ debut women’s collection online, where the watches are now available for pre-order, with prices ranging from $300 to $1000. They’ll be in stores at the end of April.
Images courtesy of Uniform Wares
