WATCHES

The Big Idea

The Great Steel Rush

The absolute hottest material in watchmaking is the least valuable. Steel, traditionally popular with mass-market brands or for entry-level timepieces in a luxury watchmaker’s collection, is the metal of the moment no matter the price, and has been for a couple of years. Collectors are clamoring for it in such staggering numbers that nearly all top-tier companies—including high-horology heavyweights like F. P. Journe and Vacheron Constantin—have been getting in on the game with elevated timepieces fashioned from the humble alloy.

Revered German watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne is one of the most recent converts. While the ultra-elite brand has been (quietly) known to make steel watches for collectors, its first series-produced steel-bracelet timepiece, the Odysseus, launched last year with a price tag of $30,800, a steal in the world of Lange. H. Moser & Cie’s crowning achievement of 2020, the steel Streamliner chronograph (pictured on page 100), comes in at $40,000. And last September, Vacheron Constantin introduced a production version of its historic Cornes de Vache 1955 in steel (it had previously been produced only in pink gold or platinum) for $39,000. These are vastly elevated prices for such a workaday material—of course, you’re also paying for exceptional movements—but collectors are increasingly choosing them over more precious metals, causing those pieces to skyrocket in price both at retail and on the secondary market.

While this fervor continues, some are quietly questioning whether the bubble is about to burst. Retailers say the demand shows no signs of waning: The beauty of steel is that it’s scratch-resistant and better suited to daily wear, especially for today’s casual dress code;