There is a fine line between what we could describe as being conceptual watch design—where articulated and free-spinning arms replace hands, cases take on the appearance of space rockets—and avant-garde horological aesthetics—where hands take on new two-dimensional shapes, baton markers are swapped for luminous arcs—as in the former case, watches are no longer time-telling devices but creative exercises which sometimes border the insane and the overly conceptual, and in the latter case, watches do tell the time but look different. At least that is how someone like me would see things since I am traditionalist when it comes to horological design and functionality. The reasons why I like field or dive watches are the same reasons why I shop for furniture at Ikea and I dress in classic and unbranded clothes—because I prefer what is standard and what fulfills a goal straightforwardly without frills and fanfare. However, one cannot live in a corner of the world pretending other things don’t exist. 

Which is why once in a while (but more frequently nowadays) I look at watches which to me are out of the ordinary but not to the point where you and I would wonder what exactly we’re looking at. Watches which do look unusual but not strange, which do tell the time with relative accuracy and which I would feel comfortable wearing in the outside world. And with my experience looking at timekeeping devices such as the Atelier Jalaper AJ-003 and Isotope Flyway Off-White Air, I can tell you why these work and others don’t: because their designs were inspired by something specific, either a natural-occurring event or a man-made one, but more importantly, everyday things so to speak to which we can relate. A vintage muscle car, the flight paths of birds, and in other instances hiking or diving a tropical reef. Which is why, as yet another example, a watch such as the Maison Boanton Héritage works because it draws inspiration from classic and vintage race cars and not concept automobiles no one has ever heard of.

P.S. What remains conceptual is so because it doesn’t work for the real world. 

Specifications 

But regardless of how the watch looks, and whether or not it is something you yourself would buy and wear, there is always the question of specifications we need to ponder. At least, I do. Even though I now feel more comfortable sporting styles of watches I normally wouldn’t, I do pay attention to what such watches are made out of and how they are put together. There is a certain minimum technical threshold the watches I wear must meet otherwise I would feel I’d be wearing a fashion watch. Oh horror. And why these watches look and feel the way they do stems from the sub-standard quality of the parts they are made of and how they are put together—like a car whose screws weren’t tightened properly. You just instantly know it. They look cheap, feel cheap, and handle themselves like shit because the manufacturer/brand which makes/sells them didn’t put two thoughts into how to make them. And that is an element which sets apart an avant-garde timepiece from a fashion one: the tech, the manufacturing, the cogs and wheels.

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All of this self-generated rant was necessary in order to set the stage for the Maison Boanton Héritage because it is, first and foremost, a solid piece of horology. (If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be reading about it right now.) All of the brand’s collections are equipped with fully polished cushion cases which are superbly manufactured and finished, and this one wears well on my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist: the case measures 40mm in diameter, 44.60mm lug-to-lug, 10.9mm, and come with a 20mm lug width. The spendiful short L2L distance means the watch is perfectly nestled within the dip created between my wristbones, and it lays flat on the wrist. The blue top-stitched Alcantara strap (Alcantara is a soft synthetic material with a delicate suede-like texture) the watch ships on complements the wearing experience to a T. Within this incredible case we find a La Joux-Perret G100 caliber which beats at 4Hz and comes with 68 hours of power reserve, and showcases Côtes de Genève finishing on the customized rotor and plates. 

We can see all of that thanks to the screw-down case-back made of a flat piece of sapphire, and that is also the material the crystal is made out of though in a double-domed configuration with several layers of inner anti-reflective coating. Whenever a watch comes with a sandwich sapphire crystal setup, my mind computes this information and concludes that this is generally the sign of a brand who gives two rats about the durability of its creations. We can also see this attention to details in the way the domed crown was finished, how clean the logo is, and how the racing style hands are endowed with an industrial-like brushing treatment which ties back to the racing theme of this model. Thus as well, there are good applications of neon-blue-glowing SuperLuminova at the tip of the hour and minute hands and in a lighter shade of blue on the two semi-circles which frame the dial. Lastly, the Héritage comes with a decent 50 meters of water resistance for this type of timepiece—everyday, elegant, gently sporty. 

Design

If you are into vintage race cars then you will probably have instantly figured out which four-wheeled machine Maison Boanton drew inspiration from to create the Héritage. I didn’t, to be frank, so I had to ask: the French Alpine A110 developed by Jean Rédélé, a pilot and car designer from my home country—which was introduced in 1962 and manufactured through 1977 from parts made by Renault—as well as its modern siblings, creating a coherent historical mash-up which contributed to giving this watch its unique allure. Maison Boanton is a French brand and the folks behind it were particularly keen on celebrating this French icon of car racing and I think—now that I know what I’m looking at—that they have succeeded. As I mentioned in my review of the Atelier Jalaper, it isn’t easy to make a car-themed watch without erring too much into the gimmicky side of things—for example shaping the case like a steering wheel instead of designing the hands like one—and here we find another fine example of creating a watch from an idea without getting lost in it and a concept.  

The first element of the Alpine A110 we therefore find on the Héritage is the handset, more specifically the hour and minute hands which were designed and manufactured this way to represent the arms of the steering wheel of the aforementioned car. The resemblance is the most powerful when the hands are positioned at the picture-perfect 10:10 which of course I felt obliged to capture in at least one photo for this review. Staying in the realm of hands the seconds hand has a peculiar counter-balance, shaped either like a fishing spear or a lightning bolt, the latter referencing the Alpine logo found on the original A110 which was fashioned in a sharp and crisp typeface. Moving a little outward still we find the two prominent and fully-lumed semi-circles which pay reference to the forward headlights of the modern A110 which are one of its most distinctive visual traits. During the day they take on the role of a traditional yet minimalist minute track and at night, of a pure visual spectacle which complete the race car theme of this model. 

Moreover, in order to indeed make the time easy to read, Maison Boanton added a small circle at the twelve and dots at all positions except for the three and six where the two half-circles form a natural gap. This is a little design detail which help categorize the Héritage as being an avant-garde timepiece and not a conceptual one, as the juxtaposition of the hands and small markers do make of this model one which we can wear everyday to actually tell the time. And this prompted me to review the Héritage because I did find it interesting that Maison Boanton bothered—so to speak—to make this watch legible whilst putting down pressure on the gas pedal to incorporate key visual elements of several generations of the Alpine A110. This willingness to make a wearable timepiece can also be seen in the choice of the elegant and vintage-looking cushion case, of the design and manufacturing of the strap which references the seats of the vintage A110, and the double-sided screwed-in spring-bar which adds a final touch on the automotive theme. 

The Heart of the Matter

As we saw with the Atelier Jalaper as well as with the Treiber T54SL, it is quite possible to theme a watch around vintage cars and racing without dipping too much in to the idea itself by making the connection and inspiration too obvious. Which is why a Rolex Submariner doesn’t display the image of squid on the dial (though other brands have done so) and that the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional doesn’t have hands shaped like the feet of a lunar module (but that on some versions one of the sub-dials mimics the moon.) There is therefore a fine balance to strike between the theme and the idea of a timepiece we can wear confidently everyday without giving us and others the impression that we’re wearing an adult toy or a piece of cheap memorabilia. So the Maison Boanton Héritage does showcase this lightweight balance and walks on the right side of the fine line which sets apart unwearable and/or unpractical timepieces from the avant-garde designer ones which we can indeed wear and use. 

Conclusion 

Well-made watches always come with a certain price tag, so do thoughtfully designed and original ones because good components cost more to acquire and singular design elements fetch higher manufacturing costs. So a timepiece such as the Maison Boanton Héritage  is paired to the following price tag: €2.520/$2,971 USD which does not shock me at all given how nice it looks and how finely made it is. And it seems to me that certain types of watches, certain designs, made by certain brands will always come with specific retail prices regardless of who or where it is made because walking outside the beaten path always comes with an extra cost—to the brand to make the watch and to us the enthusiasts to add it to our collection. You can learn more about Maison Boanton singular timepieces here. 

Thanks for reading.