The Fake Intellectual is an online collection of articles and essays written and curated by writer & photographer Thomas W Coombs, published bi-annually.

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Issue 16; #WTFF Part III, The Gucci Joke

By T W Coombs esq.

The first thing you will notice is that this is a watch, I know, an actual watch recently viewed at Basel World 2019.  Now there was some amazing watches at this show, but as this delight will show, some god awful designs.

Now Gucci are one that recently love to make ugly things, mostly on purpose, the ugly trainers have been back from the early nineties and Gucci have designed some of the biggest sellers.  I am not aware that this, way of the old ugly things, ever went to watches, I know the classic Casio style has now been made in a G-Shock model but that is modern retro. But this gold monstrosity is just off the scale, and when I mean scales they seem to have designed this to look like some over the top bathroom scales, Tony Montana style bathroom scales, to weight him and his mountain of coke.  Maybe that is where the design came from, one of their watch designers was hungover and decided to weigh himself and whilst looking down at his bulbous midsection and lent over not to look at what we normally think but the scales at his feet. And thought, that would look great.

If this watch had not been attached to a wrist I would not have started with “that must be a watch”.  I’m sure many will be sold, it is a huge popular fashion brand, but I find Gucci just over the top in general, like the crazy kid at the party.  And this just pushes that thought even more into the front of my mind. I have seen that some people find this a favourite and maybe I am just stuck in my way of a watch should look a certain way, whether digital or analogue.  Plus these odd designs I find it hard to quickly tell the time, not helpful if a stranger asks and you take your time, you may just look like an idiot. Maybe they are just pushing the boundaries is something I hear a lot, well, maybe, but more pushing the boundaries of what people are willing to buy, like a long running joke that Gucci are playing.

So I’ll be off now with my new GUCCI X sundial wrist strap, its okay but rubbish in the dark.

TWC x