New York based Autodromo watch (and accessory) company has announced a collaboration with Ford Motor Company to create watches inspired by the Ford GT.
For this official collaboration, Autodromo will produce two watches: a customizable high-end piece exclusively for owners of the Ford GT, and a second design celebrating the endurance racing heritage of the Ford GT, available to all. The Owner’s Edition Chronograph can be customized to match each owner’s car and will have a serial number matching the car’s chassis number. The watch will have a Swiss Made flyback chronograph movement, multi-layered sapphire crystal dial, and ceramic case.
Led by Ford’s then North American Design Director Christopher Svensson and already familiar with the Autodromo brand, the Ford GT design team felt that the brand’s owner Bradley Price was ideally qualified to understand and express the spirit of their car.
“When I first met Bradley Price, it was obvious he is a passionate designer and an automotive junkie. He reminded me of myself and is a great match for the Ford GT Design Team,” says Svensson. “His knowledge of Ford’s racing history is outstanding and it became clear he is the right person to create these unique timepieces.”
When Price sat down to design the watches, he began with a clean sheet of paper and met with the design team, as well as VP of product development Raj Nair and Henry Ford III in Dearborn to see the full sized mockups of the car for inspiration. “When our discussions with Ford began, it was clear that Raj Nair, Henry Ford, and Chris Svensson all wanted to do something extraordinary, something bespoke, and that it would be the greatest challenge and honor of my design career so far to create not one, but two watches that could express the feeling, technology, and history of this amazing car,” says Price.
Beyond the bold colors, some subtle design cues that translated to the watch include a crown that emulates the scroll wheel selectors on the GT steering wheel, pushers that are finely slotted that allude to the paddle shifters of the GT and a matte ceramic case that echoes the GT’s carbon fiber front splitter. Of course the face of the watch, the dial and hands are also inspired by the GT. For the dial and hands Price needed to translate the digital dash into an analog timepiece. The Ford GT Endurance Chronograph is based on the Owner’s Edition, but is smaller in scale, and has a more vintage-inspired feel. “The intent with the two watches is to essentially tell the story of one watch that has evolved over time just as the car has evolved over time,” says Price. “So in a way we started with the watch from today, and ‘back-dated’ it to what it may have looked like in the past.”
The watch is powered by the Seiko VK mecha-quartz watch inside the 40mm stainless steel case and is offered in five color options. Priced at $695, the GT Endurance Chronograph is available at autodromo.com. Prices for the owner’s edition are not yet confirmed.
