Line History
Launched in September 2019, Grip is the collection with which Gucci Timepieces takes the idea of the watch as a fashion accessory to its most extreme conclusion: no dial with hands, but a flat metal surface broken up by three windows showing hours, minutes and date, in a format that industry commentators have compared, for its geometric starkness, to a small bathroom scale more than to a traditional watch.
The name and aesthetic recall the skateboarding world of the 1970s, and in particular "grip tape," the rough adhesive surface applied to a board's deck for traction: a reference to youth subculture rather unusual for a house with Gucci's tradition, yet consistent with the dialogue the brand maintained in those years with streetwear aesthetics. The collection was presented without any stated gender distinction, with a campaign directed by Alessandro Michele and photographed by Ari Marcopoulos.
Grip's defining trait, however, is mainly functional: a quick-release strap system, available in dozens of material and color combinations, designed to let the watch's look be changed as quickly as a fashion accessory, shifting the focus from the timekeeping mechanism to the customization of the object.
Technical Specifications
Main Executions
The reading windows in place of hands make the Grip visually closer to an odometer or an analog scale than to a conventional wristwatch: a design choice some industry observers have described in exactly those terms, and one that remains among the most unusual aesthetic solutions ever adopted by a fashion-brand watch.