Nod to Nostalgia: 1970's Luxury Sports Watches That Live On Today

While the 1950s was the decade of the dive watch and the 1960s the epoch of the chronograph, the 1970s ushered in a brand new style of wrist wear-the luxury sports watch The maiden luxury sports watch that paved the way for the rest to follow, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak made its debut in 1972 thanks to famed watch designer, Gerald Genta In 1975, Girard-Perregaux not only launched a modern looking sports watch with a sharp case, eight-sided bezel, and integrated bracelet they called the Laureato, but the brand equipped the watch with a modern in-house quartz movement too.

After several editions of the Laureato over the following decades-including some mechanical editions-Girard-Perregaux unleashed a large collection of new generation Laureato watches in 2017 The blue dial, with its horizontal grooves, pair of center hands, and date window at 3 o'clock, was the perfect face of this then-new Patek Philippe luxury sports watch Vacheron Constantin-the third party of the so-called Holy Trinity of watches alongside AP and Patek-also unveiled a luxury sports watch in 1977, dubbed the 222 in honor of the brand's 222nd anniversary.

Not a Genta design but one conceived by Jorg Hysek, the Vacheron 222 had similar features to other sports watches of the decade with an angular case, integrated bracelet, and a minimal dial with just the hour, minutes, and date. . Source