Horolonomics

A few weeks ago I posted a piece on a Rolex Datejust gifted to pianist Vladimir Horowitz by the New York Philharmonic (you can find that post here). The Rolex is held in Yale University's archives. In my prior post, I hinted that I went hands on a second watch owned by Horowitz. Here, I will provide details about that timepiece.

The second of Horowitz's watches in the Yale collection is a Swatch dating from 1989.

This isn't any 'ole Swatch, though. It is a full set oigol ORO. This reference was designed by Italian artist Mimmo Paladino and it was produced in a limited run of 140 pieces. Paladino was part of the Transavantgarde movement which, according to artnet, "sought to bring emotion, figuration, and mysticism back into avant-garde art."

Paladino's design went into production because he placed first in a "Draw Your Swatch" competition.

There were over 1,000 submissions to the contest. One of the more prominent designs on the dial is a black, oblong, mask-like shape with extended oval eyelids and large, reflective golden bunny-like ears. The cannon pinion for the hands is in the position of the mask's mouth. The hand shapes are also unique: one is a dark red arrow and the other is black ending in the shape of a hook or sickle (more on this one later). Paladino's signature resides just above 6 o'clock.

Encircling the dial are arabic numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9 (100 examples were offered with these hour markers while 40 featured roman numerals Post publication correction roman numerals were used on the back of the case, not on the dial).

Howeover, in a playful gesture, the numbers are mirror images of standard arabic markers. This fits with Paladino's reported vision for the timepiece: "The idea was not to decorate a watch, but to design time. My Swatch is like a humorous vanitas, a poetic symbol of passing time that was industrially manufactured." According to the book of knowledge (Wikipedia), vanitas is a "genre of art which uses symbolism to show the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, and thus the vanity of ambition and all worldly desires."

This may explain Paladino's use of a sickle on the end of one hand. The "grim reaper," a symbol of death, is often depicted with a harvesting tool such as a sickle or scythe (in reference to "harvesting souls"). Further, the hour markers provide a hint to another playful element tied to this rare Swatch: the name. If we reverse the letters in oigol ORO and remove the space, we get orogolio, or the Italian word for clock.

Accompanying Horowitz' Swatch in the Yale archives is the tin box and associated "papers" written in Italian. These contain a description of Paladino's career and various details about Horowitz' example of the oigol ORO, such as its serial number, which is handwritten on the papers. The number on the papers corresponds to the number engraved on the caseback of the watch.

When it was introduced, the oigol ORO Swatch ended up in the hands of some very well-known celebrities and artistis. Reportedly this group included the Dalai Lama and Sting. We now know this list includes Vladimir Horowitz.

The oigol ORO made headlines in 1990 when an example sold at auction for $42,151 (after adjusting for inflation). It is likely this reference's market value receded since then given the overall retreat in watch prices. However, a non-functioning example recently sold for over $8,000. Undoubedtly, the oigol ORO in Yale's archives, given its provenance, is closer to the higher end of those valuations. Beyond monetary value, Horowitz' oigol ORO also cements the longstanding relationship between Swatch and the arts community.

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