Ever since the opening of Shanghai port, the city, renowned for its wisdom and gentleness, has demonstrated itself as an inclusive place drawing strengths from all other regions in the world. One hundred years later, the spirits of integration of eastern and western vibes took root in this city. It is both ancient and brilliant. The essence of “Shanghai-stylishness” has arisen - the ten-mile place with exotic sights and sounds in the old days has been transformed into a gathering ground of modern skyscrapers, amid the red-brick walls and Art Deco, as well as the emerging mechanical aesthetics in the industrial era.
Shanghai watch, the only native watch brand named after a place, has a history as brilliant as Shanghai itself: starting with a letter jointly signed by 4 watchmakers to the government in 1955, the brand created the first batch of extra-small sized watches in the same year. Zhou Enlai, then the premier of China, was one of the most faithful fans of the brand - he wore the watch until his last days, making the brand a memory of generations. In 1986, Shanghai watch won the highest honorary prize in the history of industry; in 1995, Shanghai watches took up 1/4 of total watch production in China; at the turn of the new era, Shanghai brand closely followed the trend of the world by filing multiple patents in 2017, overcoming four major technical difficulties, and sending the indigenously designed watch movements to the space with “Shenzhou Ⅶ” spaceship. Arguably, the history of the Shanghai watch can be regarded as the history of wristwatches in China.
As a classic symbol of modernism, the Shanghai watch was viewed as one of the must-have “Old Three Items” by Shanghai people in old days. At that time, the sheer number of people seeking to have a piece is nothing shy of consumers’ frenzy towards the most recognizable big foreign brands in Shanghai. The past sixty years eclipsed like an arrow, during which numerous miracles have happened. Today, the brand has been reborn. The starting point of its revitalization is the Nanjing West Road, the “Street of Clocks and Watches” in old times. History always has a way to repeat itself.
“Watches are carriers of time, while time is an accumulation of life.” Building upon the Art Deco
style teeming with Shanghai-style cultural elements, Shanghai Watch Flagship Store goes beyond the external “shape” of the style to emphasize the internal “spirit” that integrates a black and white theme with simplistic lines. The symmetry between classicism and modern minimalism symbolizes the very faraway past and the remote future. The meeting of straight lines and arc shapes, in combination with ancient-style parquet and mirror-surface reflections, presents a deja-vu impression with detectable differences in harmonious unity. Apart from the black and white elements are exquisite but the low-profile black gold color and distilled blue and plumb colors, seeming like the bright red on the sleeve button of men's shirts or women's lips. What brings out by spaces are not just memories and nostalgia, but more importantly, a tunnel of time by which people can look back and into the future.
