Ralph Lauren Flagship store is located on one of the most popular shopping streets in the Harajuku / Omotesando area.
Personally, the area is too fashionable for me and haven't been often since my return to Tokyo in 2010.
Look at this crowd! Believe or not, the majority are tourists!
... turn right, and you find a very authentic Ralph Lauren "house". There are only a few Ralph Lauren shops in this "style" outside the U.S.A.
This flagship store was opened in 2006: it is the10th anniversary, this year.
The first two floors are the shop and this is a four story building.
Although I could not take photos inside the shop (but I am sure many of you have entered one), the Ralph Lauren shops are made just like a "house", i.e. Mr. Ralph Lauren's own house, and the displays are very different from other apparel brands.
Ralph Lauren makes everything from baby clothes to furniture, and watches.... basically for the life style from birth to, well, anything you would need.
This building houses another interesting brand of Ralph Lauren - RRL (read "Double-R L"), meaning "Ricky (his wife) and Ralph Lauren". The brand entrance is on the other side of the building and made to look like the 1950s, and what it carries are in fact, vintage-looking clothes, accessories, including vintage watches. I saw very nice Heuer, Breitling, etc..... Wow... I should definitely visit there!
Anyway, sorry I got carried away - such a nicely made "house", indeed.
Why does Ralph Lauren now (to be precise, since 2009) make watches? Many or most fashion brands were making and selling branded watches for decades. In fact, many watch brands approached Ralph Lauren offering to make cheap quartz watches for the brand - but actually they just wanted the RL logo (Polo) and thought it would sell millions. But Mr. Ralph Lauren loves watches and knew what "Ralph Lauren watches" should be, so he kept declining such offers. One day, he and Johann Rupert of Richemont had dinner at some Italian restaurant. They started talking about watches and Rupert proposed to make a joint venture where Richemont Group provide watch expertise and Ralph Lauren provide the design. Ralph Lauren Watch & Jewelery debuted at SIHH 2009 exposition.
Now, this is today's purpose. Ralph Lauren Automotive Skeleton. Meeting-in-person: just beautiful. There is also a non-skeleton version available, as you know.
Let me review and explain what is so great about this watch. I love, and I am sure many of you too, to hear the stories behind the watch, especially awesome stories.
Starting from the most prominent character of this watch - the bezel. This is the "Automotive" series and naturally, made to look like the steering wheel. Hand cut and polished, rare Amboyna Burl wood.
Totally black bridges and case - how did they do it? Not a simple "DLC" method. The metals are all different - steel, brass, German silver.... they DO NOT get blackened with the same tone. So, they reached the conclusion - just make it black. Simple after all, but they spent lots of time and effort to get there.
The case is of stainless steel but not so simple this time. This is not plating nor DLC. First, the case is nitrided to be hardened, and then chemically processed to look black or gun-metallic. Yes, made in the same way as a gun barrel. Very, very well made: completely black looking inside-out.
Oh, and needless to say, the movement looks familiar - yes, the base movement is IWC's F.A. Jones movement - look at the long regulator pin.
Case diameter 44.8mm, power reserve 45 hours, water resistant to 5 ATM.
Large balance wheel with balance screws - very traditional looking and a serious watch.
I love this winding stem showing.....
Very see-through, you can see the pallet fork and most essential parts working.
While the watch dial shouts the brand name, the buckle is very plain.....
Just a small engraving on the inside of the buckle.
From the back side, the hacking lever is seen...
From various angles.
The watch features a beautiful azurage pattern on the sub dial.
Well blackened parts.
On my wrist. Very, very light. 45mm may sound big, but not as big as you may think on the wrist. It feels like a car or some parts of the car in on the wrist
It feels THAT good to wear.
Now, another one under the spotlight - Ralph Lauren Automotive Chronograph. 45mm diameter.
Column wheel chronogtaph mechanism.
On the right is 39mm Automotive Chronometer.
It may be hard to tell from this photo, but the color of the stainless steel (SS) case is not the commonly seen shiny white SS. This is made to look "vintage" SS, a little bit dark.
As you may know, inside the Ralph Lauren house, it is full of vintage smells, from the display furniture to the photos on the wall.
Brown elm burl wood inside.
Can you see the gap between the bezel top and the glass surface? This is a common motif of other similar bezel design watches from Ralph Lauren - Mr. Ralph Lauren wants them to look and feel like the watches from the 1950s, when the 'watch-glass' was plastic, dome-shaped and was always below the bezel level.
Now other series:
The most popular series - Safari. Green camouflage dial. 45mm diameter.
39mm.
See the "vintaged" case - PVD SS "distressed" to have a vintage look.
Safari series, Khaki dial version.
Vintaged case.
Again, a beautiful azurage pattern on the whole dial.
The "gap" between the bezel top and the glass surface.
This one has canvas strap for a more vintage look.
Let's move on to other watches.
The genuine satin silk strap comes with this watch.
Blue dial, with leather strap.
Very thin (Piaget 430P movement) men's watch.
Look at the clearance of the hand from the dial! Again, Mr. Ralph Lauren insisted on the thinness of the watch.
The famous Stirrup series. Men's black chronograph.
Mr. Ralph Lauren always insists "more 3D!". Groud-finished white lacquer dial, on which 6-times painted index: certainly three dimensional, and looks like enamel.
I was allowed to take pictures of only the watch corner in the Ralph Lauren House.
Automotive Skeleton is displayed here....
... in the special case.
Well, it was a wonderful experience to visit the Ralph Lauren House as well as review some of the 2015 novelties of Ralph Lauren.
As said, there is a reason why he waited to make his brand watches and the wait was well worth it.
Special thanks to:
Mr. Naoya Hida, Brand Director for Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewelry, Richemont Japan
Ms. Yuka Kato, CEO, Branding Y
Looking forward to what Ralph Lauren watch come up with next.
Thank you for reading.
Ken
