Among the biggest trends in timepieces are stainless steel watches with integrated bracelets. Wempe, the German retailer and manufacturer of luxury watches and jewels, entered this watchmaking category with a collection of 16 watches for men and women called “Iron Walker.”
What may be different for a luxury watch is the inspiration behind the product: Ironworkers. These are tradesmen whose primary job is to assemble the structural metal framework supports for new buildings. Today, these are highly trained and highly skilled professionals. However, during the early 20th century, these workers were as much daredevils as tradesmen, working with substandard equipment by current standards and with few safety precautions while dangling upwards of 1,000 feet in the air performing difficult tasks on narrow steel beams. Their most important and high-profile works are large bridges and skyscrapers that remain landmarks a century later. It is the latter that is the story behind the watches, says Kim-Eva Wempe, the fourth-generation CEO of the family owned firm, and Bernhard Stoll, CEO of the Wempe Watch Division.
“We were inspired by a story about the steel construction workers in the USA who operated without safety equipment as they assemble the skeleton of a skyscraper,” Stoll says. “That’s how we came up with the idea to create a watch using a precise stainless-steel case featuring integrated strap lugs.”
Kim-Eva Wempe adds, “By coincidence, our Wempe showroom in New York is located on Fifth Avenue in one of the first high-rises built with a steel skeleton.”
