Calvin Klein: Removing Everything Unnecessary

Calvin Klein founded his label in 1968 with a childhood friend and a small loan. The first order came from Bonwit Teller, a New York department store, after an executive got off the lift on the wrong floor and saw the coats.

The design philosophy has never changed: remove everything unnecessary. Minimalism, before minimalism was a marketing term. Clean lines, restricted palettes, nothing decorative.

Klein was also among the first designers to understand that advertising could be as important as the clothes. The campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s were deliberately provocative, frequently controversial, and enormously effective.

The watches, unusually for a fashion brand, are Swiss made. They were produced under licence by the Swatch Group for many years, which is why a Calvin Klein watch carries Swiss manufacture at a price most Swiss brands have long abandoned.

The design brief is the same as the clothing. No numerals on many models. Thin cases. Single-tone dials. Bracelets that sit flat. The result works with absolutely everything and asserts nothing.

Why it matters here

This is the right choice if you already own a statement watch and want the opposite. It is the wrong choice if you want presence, and we would rather say that than sell you the wrong thing.