Hamilton's Elvis Anniversary Homage

What anniversaries can also do, of course, is allow watchmakers to revisit the scenes of their own greatest triumphs. So it is that this year, Hamilton is celebrating the 75th birthday of Elvis Presley with the release of a brace of designer watch models reworking their classic Ventura worn by the lost, lamented King almost 50 years ago in the movie “Blue Hawaii”.

Of course, in celebrating the Elvis, Hamilton is also following a long and honorable tradition. Fossil, for instance, has been flirting with Elvis for years. It put out a limited edition watch to commemorate the 50th anniversary of rock ‘n roll, based on the premise that it all began with “That’s Alright” in 1954.

The watch, with a rectangular case and uncluttered dial, showcased an early vintage Elvis, quiffed, baby-faced and fresh out of high school, and became a collector’s item. More followed, including an “Elvis Lives” ladies watch that captures him in his hip-swivelling prime, and an “And I Love You So” variation that places him squarely in his Las Vegas crooner period, though happily before all those hamburgers and milk shakes had taken their toll.

Citizen is another to have weighed in – no pun intended – with an Elvis-themed wristwatch, part of a long dalliance with rock ‘n roll that has also seen it honour everything from Fender guitars to Billy Fury.

Watches like this are aimed squarely at fans and collectors, but there is also something else at work here, an effort to marry the restraining hands of time with the liberating spirit of rock ‘n roll.

Watchmakers have been working to harness the rock sensibility, and its associations with freedom, rebelliousness and creativity, for years. Among the big guns, Bell & Ross has been among the most successful.

Its skull motif, for instance, is drawn from the patch of the 82nd Airborne, the US parachutist division that was so prominent on D Day,  and was chosen for its associations with courage, victory and death.

But more than 60 years after Normandy, it also keys in perfectly to the dark, dangerous self-image of heavy metal, where the imagery of death is so constant as to have become a cliché.