You know you’ve got a problem when your obsession with watches influences your car purchasing decisions

Jamie Weiss

“You’re such a nerd.” That was my mate’s first reaction after they got in my new (to me) car and noticed the instrument cluster. Truthfully, I knew someone was going to say something about it. “I swear that’s not the reason I bought the car!” I somewhat unconvincingly responded – which, if I’m being totally honest with myself, is a bit of a lie.

Those of you who are familiar with me or my writing will know that I’m a massive revhead. That’s probably not massively surprising: the saying goes that if you’re into watches, you’re probably into cars, and vice versa. Actually, a few of us on the Time+Tide team are into our cars: Borna and I spend an inordinate amount of time talking about cars as well as Formula 1 (interest in which is another co-indicator of the watch sickness), as does Tom. I also freelance as a motoring writer, and previously split the difference 50/50 between writing about watches and cars earlier in my career.

Last year, I wanted to get a car that was capable of doing some longer road trips – and frankly, treat myself to a bit of an upgrade over my Ford Fiesta ST. I’d been hunting for ages for a cool new ride, to no avail, until I found exactly what I’d been looking for: an ’01 Toyota Altezza Gita, imported fresh from Japan. Just like watches, if it’s JDM, it’s immediately cool. There are also lots of practical reasons why I ended up buying this Altezza, from its powerful 2JZ engine, 4WD system, luxurious interior and Toyota reliability.

But one interesting design quirk of the Altezza (sold outside Japan as the first-generation Lexus IS) is that its instrument cluster looks like a chronograph. And not just passingly, either: it’s straight up a triple-subdial “panda dial” chronograph, clearly evocative of a Daytona, to my eyes. The car’s designer, Tomoyasu Nishi, clearly had watches on the mind when penning the Altezza, and no other car since has had an instrument cluster design quite like it. It’s not the main reason I bought the car, but it’s definitely one of the reasons. And that alone might be slightly concerning.

Actually, what’s really interesting is that Toyota/Lexus back in the day actually sold a chronograph that perfectly matches the IS/Altezza’s instrument cluster… I was even tempted to buy one for myself, but I thought that’d be a bit much. Sidebar for a fun fact: Toyota made a range of watches themed after their Crown sedan that could even be used to remotely lock/unlock one’s car – a feature that should make a return, I reckon.

Of course, there’s a surprisingly long history of watchmakers collaborating with car marques, both officially and unofficially. Anyone familiar with vintage cars might know that Jaeger of Jaeger-LeCoultre fame used to be one of the top suppliers of automotive instruments, with Jaeger gauges found in all sorts of iconic vehicles such as the Ferrari 250 TR or the Bugatti Type 25. Several current Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-AMG vehicles have IWC dash clocks, either physical ones or digital recreations of Pilot’s Chronographs in their infotainment systems.

A particularly interesting horological/automotive collaboration comes in the form of the new Bugatti Tourbillon, which isn’t just named after the horological complication but even features a mechanical gauge cluster made by Concepto, the Swiss movement specialists. High-end watchmakers like Audemars Piguet, Bovet and Vacheron Constantin have all also created one-off mechanical dash clocks for extremely exclusive Rolls-Royce models, by way of an additional example.

I’m getting really off-topic now, but a collaboration that I find particularly entertaining was Cartier’s partnership with Ford, both in the US and Australia, in the 1980s. Brand collaborations work best when there’s a degree of synergy between brands, whether that’s aesthetically or positionally. Roger Dubuis and Lamborghini working together? That makes sense. But Cartier and Ford? Seems like something of a mismatch. Still, it’s funny to think that back in the day, you could’ve had an Aussie-made land boat with a Cartier dash clock…

These days, we’re very used to luxury watchmakers teaming up with car brands or motorsports teams on co-branded products: Porsche and TAG Heuer, Mercedes-AMG and IWC, Aston Martin and Breitling… The list goes on. It’s another thing entirely, however, to buy a car because its gauges look like a watch. Which is not what I did. But it’s a nice plus.

Actually, I’m not alone in this specific brand of sickness, as Borna also bought an Altezza Gita. Toyota, do you wanna sponsor us?