Gucci is back. Not that it ever left, but fabled fashion houses sometimes undergo low-key periods of renewal and revitalization, and for Gucci, that looks like a good thing. With a new line of watches like the Grip, introduced at this year’s Baselworld, the brand is staking out new territory.
The first thing you notice about the Grip is its unusual analog design: a rounded square face with rotating dials that display hours, minutes and date almost like a kind of scale.
This unusual and minimalist design allows a little more real estate for the designer to create a unified appearance. The engraved gold and silver models achieve an almost bracelet-like elegance.
The Grip, which will also be available with green or wine-colored calf leather straps, meets a growing need throughout the design world for a gender-neutral—unisex—look. With 35-millimeter or 38-millimeter size faces, it hits that sweet spot between what men and women sometimes seek in a watch both size and appearance-wise. Not too slight and not too large and clunky.
We don’t yet know prices or delivery dates, but look for the Grip to be available for purchase sometime in the summer of 2019.