Hip-hop impresario Damen Dash and watch and jewellery designer Daniel Lazar (known generally for the Jacob watches) have created Tiret New York, a company that produces astoundingly gaudy watches that make the colourful canvas splashes of Jackson Pollock look like a becalmed desert panorama.
Dash, who runs the Roc-A-Fella record label specializing in hip-hop music, has a Rocawear clothing line, a film production company called Roc-A-Fella Films and a few other ‘Roc’ businesses, has made the unsurprising move into ‘cool’ and conspicuous watches, although his interpretation of ‘cool’ (watches that are ultra-colourful and ultra-expensive) is rather surprising – unless of course you’re a street-wise urban American.
Tiret watches are clearly not for the faint-hearted. Oversized gold cases, an abundance of diamonds, flashy mother-of-pearl dials, bling-bling combinations for the hip-hop that would have had even the late lamented Ray Charles blinking beneath his shades. Nevertheless, this is what the ‘in’ people are wearing – especially if they are in the public eye or wannabes – and the prices range from US$ 18,000 to 200,000!









Bright, extravagant colours are ‘in’ and should be accompanied by as many diamonds as possible. The more kitsch and bling-bling the watch, the ‘cooler’ you’ll appear. And as if street smart ‘cool’ isn’t enough, the Tiret brand is turning to complications such as an automatic double chronograph with four time zones or a double tourbillon that is being especially designed by Antoine Preziuso.
The best materials and movements are used by the brand and hip-hop, bling-bling and cool may be right for Tiret New York and its street smart followers, but one can’t help asking the rhetorical question: What will it do for the sophisticated and understated creations of one of Switzerland’s master watchmakersı


Source: April-May 2005 Issue

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