Distinguished by its classically designed watches, William L. 1985 was introduced over three decades ago by Guillaume Laidet, a Parisian-born watch aficionado. Having worked with some of the most prestigious watchmaking companies in the world, Laidet started his label aiming at offering meaningful collections inspired by a 50s vintage chronograph that he inherited from his grand-grand-uncle. Made of premium quality materials with first-class craftsmanship, William L. 1985 carries five watch models that holistically represent the brand’s vintage-inspired philosophy with a bit of modern twist.
The Vintage Style Chronograph, with two sub-dials, features a telemetric scale, tachymeter and dauphine hands with Super-LumiNova to assure visibility in low light conditions. Outfitted with an anti-reflective, domed mineral glace, the watch runs smoothly with the quartz Miyota 6S21 movement. Presenting almost the same features is the Vintage Style Small Chronograph – a quintessential watch to complement every dressy occasion. Beats to quartz Seiko VD51, the chronograph lies in the 12-hour counter and the 6-hour counter stands for 60 minutes. Adding lux to the design, the strap is made in black as well as brown genuine leather. In addition, the Vintage Style Calendar offers ultimate functionality through the three counters calendar at the 3, 6 and 9-hour markers of which display days, dates and hours in a 24-hour format. The details on the dial include a railroad track circling the outer ridge, warm-red second markers and polished sword and arrow-shaped hands on the hour, minute subdials, and day subdials.
Another must-have of vintage-watch enthusiasts is the Automatic Vintage Diver 70s Style. Derived from diver watches in the 70s, it offers some unconventional styling such as barrel shape case, perforated leather strap and contrast indexes with baton hands. Furthermore, this particular watch incorporated a unidirectional rotative bezel to help measure diving time accurately.
For everyday wear, there is the Three Hands. Built with simplified functions, this model is a classic hour, minutes and seconds watch. Inspired by the 40s military watch designs, the Three Hands features a quartz Miyota 2035 encased by a full-brushed stainless steel case with an oversized crown. Spanning on the wrist in 40mm diameter, the minimalistic and subtle designs make the Three Hands watch a faultless companion for all occasions.
Available exclusively at Time Zone Sales Gallery: Lot 98, Lorong Mamanda 2, Ampang Point, 68000 Ampang, Selangor (+603-4251 1403). Discover more about Time Zone Malaysia at Time Zone Malaysia (FB) and @TimeZone_Malaysia (IG).
This story first appeared in the December’19 issue of Men’s Folio Malaysia.
