Boyfriend Watch in Goldtone

$49.95 $74.95

Coming from a wealthy family, Grace’s Mother always wore a watch. Her mother ran the household under strict control and therefore timing was very important. Grace and her sisters were brought up the same, and usually had on a watch as part of her normal daily dress. For formal occasions, it was rare for a watch to be worn. The problem with the watches for women during that time period, was the watch face were so small you couldn’t see the dial, without staring at it.

When Grace became Princess and one of her ‘Ladies in Waiting’ noticed she was wearing a watch, suggested she did not need one. The Lady-in-waiting told Grace that it was her job to inform Grace when and where she should be. Grace suggested the Lady-in-waiting give her a list the ‘Day Before’ and Grace would see that she would be there at the right time. Grace was NOT giving up her watch.

The Princess continued to struggle with the small watch face, after all it was all that women had, until the early 1970's. Suddenly a very famous Movie Star was photographed wearing her boyfriend’s watch for some reason, and Grace saw the picture. Not having a boyfriend, and all of Prince Rainier’s watches were very large and heavy, Grace needed one that fit a woman, but looked male in the face size only.

On a trip to Paris in 1971, Grace went to the Piaget Watch Boutique, but could not find anything she liked. Together with the Manager of the store, Grace designed her ideal watch. It needed to be a large face, but she removed all the numbers, after all she knew where the number were! Diamonds were needed, so there were no questions about it being a women’s watch. Then came the band. A heavy metal band was not an answer, so soft leather was needed. Then came the design about the single lever to attach the watch to the band. A bar was added for strength, and suddenly the design became a large face woman’s watch. The store agreed not to make the design for anyone else for five years. What Grace did not count on was the Paparazzi taking pictures and other watch companies coping her watch. Women around the world now needed to ‘borrow’ their ‘Boy-friends’ watch. The photography was not that good, and the single bar was missed, but only for a few years. By 1974 two other watch companies began to make the single watch to band grab, one company was Rolex.

Graces’ original watch was Gold with a dark Brown Band. A modernized version is also available in Silver tone with a Black Band.

Watches comes with a 3 years warranty.