The name ‘Art Deco’ goes back to the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris and is also known as ‘style moderne’. Art Deco would be the short form of ‘arts décoratifs’, which was literally a fundamental aspect of Art Deco; using a host of decorative techniques to accentuate a variety of objects and structures directed towards architecture, art, or jewelry design. This included sleek and stylized shapes, bold lines and figures often for separation, and repetition in various forms – think of the long rectangular case of the Cartier Tank Cintrée. Part of the decorative aspect of Art Deco was using specifically new man-made materials, including the famous Bakelite, and also natural ones. Thus, Art Deco, in its essence, is rarely mass-produced.
The style is said to have been inspired by Native American and Egyptian sources but also a number of previous movements, namely Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, and Cubism.
Chrysler Building / Credit: Design Buildings UK
The old Art Deco Breakwater Hotel in Miami / Credit: Pinterest user
In terms of architecture, Art Deco can take a number of forms that may not seem so obviously intertwined. Two common and contrasting examples are the Chrysler Building, that takes back to William van Alen’s design and was completed in 1930; and the Art Deco Breakwater Hotel (Hotel Breakwater South Beach), designed by Anton Skislewicz in 1939, now part of Miami’s Art Deco District. While the Chrysler Building adopts a somewhat classic Art Deco look, the Art Deco Breakwater Hotel stands out for the intense vertical elements and colours upon first glance. Much like the sleek shape of the Cartier Tank Cintrée, the many shapes surrounding the windows and the large central tower are clearly Art Deco and very thin in their deliberate impressive shaping – not to mention the colours that accentuate the windows and the spaces separating them on the wall. In some ways, this is not so much in contrast to the Chrysler Building that once jut out above the Manhattan skyline. However, the Chrysler building is horizontal in its disposition instead of vertical. Where the Breakwater stands out for its tower in the center, the Chrysler building stands out for the arches that make up its terraced crowns at the top. Now, this is purely decorative and an excellent example of Art Deco, especially when illuminated.
The Chrysler Building’s crowns / Credit: Curbed NY
The Breakwater’s central tower / Credit: Pinterest user
Turning to watches now, there is infinite examples of Art Deco watches produced both during the period of the movement, which was the 1920s and ‘30s, and later on. Of course, we have early and extremely well-known examples like the variety of Cartier Tanks, and, towards the end of the popularity of Art Deco, many a 1950s wristwatch like the Paragon above.
1920s Art Deco Cartier Watch / Credit: Revival Jewels
Cartier, as a jeweler, excelled in Art Deco creations, using different precious stones like rubies to produce beautiful flowers and other intricate décoratifs. Baguette cut stones were also a noted featured, among many others. These techniques were then also used to decorate watches, in particular in Paris by leading jewelers like Cartier, Boucheron, Chaumet, La Cloche Frères. Many of these were supplied by the Verger brother who were long-time representatives of Vacheron Constantin in Paris. These early watches were equal parts jewelry as they were watch, and in some cases the majority of the case and bracelet would be made of precious stones.
Right at the beginning of the 1930s there is another famous example with the release of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso in 1931. While made for sport the design of the Reverso was clearly in line with the popular Art Deco style of the day, and became an icon as a result.
1930s Tiffany & Co. Art Deco Women’s Watch / Credit: 1st Dibs user
Art Deco was mainly popular before the mid-century, before the Second World War. It seems a second war of such great magnitude would be most appropriate for its end, as it was born of a desire to move past the immense devastation of the First World War. Watches were still produced after the war in the Art Deco style or featuring significant elements, but by the 1960s and 1970s the style was largely out of the watch catalogues and eventually extravagant look of Art Deco was no more – only to be seen on homages and the like.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Read more:
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Art Deco.” Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/art/Art-Deco/.
“THE FIRST ART DECO PERIOD.” Fondation Haute Horlogerie, https://www.hautehorlogerie.org/en/encyclopaedia/watches/precious-watch/d/s/the-first-art-deco-period/.