DRESSING UP
Dan Bassini turns his lens on New York Fashion Week, where Tanks, jewelry watches, and delicate vintage pieces make the case for a return to elegance.
Maybe we’re ready to dress up again. That was one of the clearest messages from New York Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2027. Not necessarily dressing *formally* in the old-fashioned sense, but dressing with intention. Clothes had shape. Accessories mattered. There was polish, a little glamour, and a renewed appreciation for things that looked beautiful.
The watches told much the same story.
Photographer Dan Bassini - (Photo by shawnpbruce)
Photographer Dan Bassini was once again on the ground for Analog:Shift, documenting the wrists moving between shows, presentations, sidewalks, and parties. Compared with previous seasons, the shift was hard to miss: smaller watches, rectangular watches, jewelry watches, delicate vintage pieces, and proper dress watches were everywhere.
And then there was Cartier.
Annabel Rosendahl wore a Tank Américaine. Denny Balmaceda chose a Tank Solo. Nick Wooster appeared in a Tank Louis Cartier. Diego Oseguera wore a Santos-Dumont, while Priscilla Quaye chose the tiny Santos Demoiselle and Jared Morrison a Santos de Cartier. Cartier’s particular version of elegance—recognizable, sophisticated, and never especially concerned with traditional ideas of men’s or women’s watches—feels extraordinarily right at the moment.
Elias Marte wearing a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso
But Cartier was only part of it. Elias Marte wore a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. Pao Lago chose a Piaget Tank-style dress watch. Julian Goetz wore a vintage Vacheron Constantin automatic. Lynn Yaeger went all the way back to the 1920s with a tiny hexagonal Art Deco watch. Perhaps most telling was Jillian Magenheim’s retro gold-and-diamond bracelet with a hidden watch tucked into its tassel. Timekeeping almost becomes beside the point. The watch is jewelry, decoration, design—and fashion.
There were exceptions, of course. A Patek Philippe Nautilus Annual Calendar, Rolex Datejusts, a TAG Heuer Formula 1, Seikos, Casios, and Timex kept things from becoming one long black-tie affair. But collectively, Bassini’s photographs suggest a noticeable move away from the wrist-consuming sports watch as the automatic expression of serious watch taste. The dress watch suddenly feels interesting again.
Rafael Barahona wearing Patek Philippe Nautilus Annual Calendar Ref. 5726A
Fashion itself was experiencing a similar widening of the lens. The established New York names were there—Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Calvin Klein, Carolina Herrera—but this was also a season for discovery. Diotima, Lii, Area, Aisling Camps, Luar, and Khaite represent distinct aesthetics and perspectives, collectively suggesting a new generation taking up space.
Designers are professional empaths. They absorb the atmosphere around them—the economy, politics, culture, anxiety, desire—and translate it into clothes six months before the rest of us quite know what we want. This season carried its share of seriousness, from the omnipresent reminders of September 11 to PETA protests that grabbed headlines. But seriousness didn’t preclude pleasure. The clothes could still be sexy. They could still be fun. They could even be glamorous. And apparently, so could the watches.
After years in which the sports watch became almost universal shorthand for watch enthusiasm, something more nuanced is happening. A Tank doesn’t need to be enormous to get noticed. A vintage Vacheron doesn’t need an integrated bracelet. Gold-and-diamond tassels and links can secretly tell the time. Elegance itself can be the complication. And the watch, once again, gets to be part of the outfit.
Annabel Rosendahl @annabelrosendahl
Annabel Rosendahl makes the case for elongated elegance with a Cartier Tank Américaine.
Olesia Stefanko @olesiastefanko
Olesia Stefanko treats the watch as jewelry in a Bulgari Bulgari Tubogas.
Christian Allaire @chrisjallaire
Christian Allaire goes classic with the new Tudor Monarch Date.
Lynn Yaeger @babylynnieland
Lynn Yaeger proves great style has no expiration date with a tiny 1920s Art Deco hexagonal watch.
Jared Morrison @jamorr
Jared Morrison wears one of Cartier’s enduring signatures, the Santos de Cartier.
Elias Marte @staycrispymyfriends
Elias Marte keeps things rectangular with a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso.
Steven Onoja @stevenOnoja
Steven Onoja embraces the return of the dress watch with a rectangular Bulova.
Preppy Pete @Preppy.pete
A utilitarian classic. Preppy Pete wears a classic Timex Indiglo.
Denny Balmaceda @Denny623
Denny Balmaceda joins the Cartier contingent with a Tank Solo.
Nick Wooster @nickwooster
Nick Wooster demonstrates the enduring power of the original idea in a Cartier Tank Louis Cartier.
Zane Gan @zanegan
Zane Gan takes the connoisseur’s route with a wonderfully restrained Seiko Credor 8J81-5030.
Reno Guliano @newyorkersintheirjungle
Reno Guliano adds a dose of sporting color with a TAG Heuer Formula 1.
Denis Ogrinc @denisogrinc
Denis Ogrinc keeps it graphic and inexpensive with a silver-dial Casio AQ230.
Pao Lago @pao.lago
Pao Lago goes beautifully old-school with a Piaget Tank-style dress watch.
Nick James @nickwearsstuff
Nick James breaks with the dress-watch trend by opting for a utilitarian Timex Expedition Metal field watch.
Julian Goetz @juliangoetz
Julian Goetz shows just how modern a vintage dress watch can look with a Vacheron Constantin Ref. 66394Q.
Priscilla Quaye @Quaye.priscilla
Priscilla Quaye goes small, square, and very Cartier with a Santos Demoiselle.
Jillian Magenheim @jillianrose_m
Jillian Magenheim takes the jewelry-watch idea to its logical conclusion with a retro gold-and-diamond tassel bracelet that conceals a watch.
Brooke Frischer @broookeff
Brooke Frischer adds a little sparkle with a square, diamond-set Bulova Classic Sutton.
Diego Oseguera @diego.oseguera
Diego Oseguera makes another strong case for Cartier with the beautifully pared-back Santos-Dumont.
Rafael Barahona León @rafaelbarahonal
Rafael Barahona León goes against the tiny-watch tide with a Patek Philippe Nautilus Annual Calendar Ref. 5726A.
Hugo Gamino @hugo_gamino
Hugo Gamino keeps things straightforward with a two-tone Seiko SGF204.
Stephanie Escobar @stephanieescobar_
Stephanie Escobar leans into the season’s rectangular mood with a frosted Longines Tank-style quartz watch.
Johnny Cirillo @watchingnewyork
Johnny Cirillo wears an evergreen New York choice: the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date Ref. 15200.
Lexie Townsend @lexie_townsend_
Lexie Townsend finishes things on a classic note with a two-tone Rolex Datejust 36.
