Linking Olympic time and athletic legends
JAKARTA (JP): What's the connection between the Olympics and a clock tower created by a group of Italian artists with the unlikely name of Plumcake? It isn't a trick question. It is the Swatch O'Clock Tower in Rome. It is the first of 12 modernistic towers to be erected in 12 major world cities. All were created by designers handpicked by Swatch.
The purpose of each of these zany, avant-garde clock towers is to count down the seconds leading to the Centennial 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where Swatch is the official timekeeper.
Recognizing that as the Games gets ever closer, the interest mounts and the Olympic fever begins, Swatch has released the third watch in their Games collection. The 10 funky watches acknowledge the greatness of the people who have made the Olympics what they are -- people like gymnast Nadia Comaneci and swimmer Mark Spitz. The watches were created to reflect the Olympians they honor.
The result is a shorthand visual note that combines the greatness of the athletes with their personalities. For instance, the Katarina Witt watch, dedicated to the figure skater who skated away with Olympic golds in 1984 and 1988, is a whimsical concoction in icy blues and green. It represents not just her aggressive skating style, but also her sequined costume and lucky skates. Sunflower yellow, Witt's favorite color, is used for the hands.
The elegant understatement of the Sebastian Coe Watch, in contrast, highlights his 1,500 meters record in the 1994 Olympics. The smart Edwim Moses Automatic is in red, black and white, and acknowledges his 1976 Games record for the men's 400m hurdles. It features frozen frames of Moses jumping, beautiful images of the man in motion. Incidentally, watching his own videos repeatedly to perfect his technique was part of Moses' training program. The reverse of each watch carries the autograph of the athlete as well as details of the event, number of medals and national flag.
Wear a legend on your wrist, and have him or her tell you the time? Well, why not?
-- Parvathi Nayar Narayan