While wristwatches come in all shapes and sizes, dress watches are typically rather restrained affairs. 

And for good reason. While the point of a wristwatch is to tell the time, the point of a dress watch is to tell the time unobtrusively, paying respect to the formality of a particular occasion by keeping out of sight and out of mind.

However, this doesn’t mean that all dress watches need be designed after the same mold. Take this inventive Chopard, for example: Dating to the 1960s, it eschews the typically round confines of the midcentury dress watch for an angular, wrist-hugging object framed by a leather cuff. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask us!

Housed in a rectangular 17mm x 49mm 18K yellow gold case with an acrylic crystal and a signed crown, it featured a simple, matching gold dial with gold-tone dauphine hands — and nothing more. Paired to the watch case is a semi-integrated, black lizard ‘half strap’ that forms a cuff. Powering it, meanwhile, is the Chopard Calibre 1677 manually-wound movement with 17 jewels.

Superbly crafted, this most excellent timekeeper from Chopard is certainly more eye catching than the standard Swiss fare of the 1960s — but we see nothing wrong in having a bit of fun in a more formal setting. Try it on for size, and we’re sure you’ll agree!