SIHH 2015: Ralph Lauren Sporting Automotive Skeleton

OK... I think I'm in the minority here. But I quite like the new Ralph Lauren watches with the wooden bezel. Amboyna burl wood to be precise. It feels like they have finally found their "calling" and designing watches inspired by Mr Lauren's expansive vintage car collection. I believe this whole wooden thing is inspired by the dashboard of his 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe.

Granted, the massive RL initials logo is a bit of an amateurish attempt at an LV style logo and it doesn't work. (I'd much rather the simpler Ralph Lauren spelt out) I'm pretty sure I have a polo short from RL where the RL isn't overlapping. Even that was better. But having said that it is nice to have some sort of a logo at 12:00. Actually, scratch that. I'd rather a massive Arabic numeral 12 (like the khaki range). See that oversized 12 could almost become a design feature, along with the wooden bezel and the 6 bezel screws. and the designer lugs.

The overall look (I can't quite say feel since I'm only basing my very subjective judgement from images) is very clean and I like the colorway. It's powered by a lovely movement from IWC, just a shame that most of the target market of said watch won't care. It's a pleasant surprise from Ralph Lauren. Now I just need to find out if people actually bought these watches...