In The Details: The Case for Tonneau Cases

The vast majority of watches are round—quite simply because that’s the shape of their main component, the wheel. In addition to this practical consideration, habit and fashion have made life difficult for other case shapes, be they rectangular, square, or barrel-shaped. Only the latter has managed to carve out a niche. 
One of the great paradoxes in watchmaking is the lure of both complications and simplicity. Watch case shapes can all be described quite straightforwardly as round, square, rectangular, or tonneau: barrel-shaped. The latter adjective is the only one that reaches for an object with which to compare the watch rather than referring to a standard geometric shape.
The descriptor thus leaves plenty of room for a whole host of stylistic interpretations. The more literal-minded among us won’t deem the Cartier Tank or Jaeger-Lecoultre Reverso to be tonneau watches. These timepieces (along with many others) feature a frame with perfectly straight lines, so strictly speaking they’re rectangles, rather than barrels. ‘Tonneau’ implies that the sides of the frame are slightly curved, just like an actual barrel.
<h2>Daniel Roth: The Pioneer</h2>
It wasn’t until the late twentieth century that certain watchmakers, mostly independents, began to explore the possibilities of this rather particular format—notably Daniel Roth and Franck Muller. Roth went for an inspired, untrammeled shape combining short straight lines and long, graceful curves. Daniel Roth’s format remains highly unusual to this day and has become his signature style, with his tonneau collection really establishing itself in the 1990s. It could do with a minor facelift, but on the whole, the look remains amazingly contemporary.
<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1164893 size-full" src="https://watchbox-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/1-daniel-roth.jpg?max-w=1024&q=50&auto=format,compress&usm=10&usmrad=3" alt="Daniel Roth" width="1400" height="1200" />
<h2>Franck Müller: The Popularizer</h2>
However, when it comes to the barrel shape, most people tend to remember Franck Müller: the watchmaker who associated the name of his manufacture with the virtually unique use of the format that’s since become its hallmark. It was Franck Müller’s Curvex that first led to the rounded tonneau shape, now seen as commonplace, finding its way into watchmaking style guides. Ever since, the watchmaker’s talent has been poured into a multitude of tonneau watches: small, medium, and large formats; for men and women; with three hands; and with a dazzling array of the most technical complications in the world. In so doing, Franck Müller has demonstrated the remarkable versatility of the barrel shape, as well as its incredible modernity. First developed thirty years ago, it continues to be used without having undergone any major aesthetic alterations.
<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1164892 size-full" src="https://watchbox-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2-franck-muller-curvex.jpg?max-w=1024&q=50&auto=format,compress&usm=10&usmrad=3" alt="Franck Müller Curvex" width="1400" height="800" />
Other brands have since jumped on the tonneau bandwagon, including some leading players on the watchmaking market, adding substance to the trail first blazed by Franck Müller. These include Hublot, whose ‘Spirit of Big Bang’ collection sports a beautiful tonneau format, to which the Nyon-based brand has added its own distinctive touch, with its legendary bezel featuring visible screws and its integrated rubber strap.
<h2>Manufacture Tonneaux</h2>
Among the more traditional brands, Tissot has developed a little-known model in its Heritage collection that draws inspiration from the Art Deco movement: the Porto. The Patek Philippe Gondolo is rarer and more sophisticated–an unusual piece that draws little attention among connoisseurs of the Geneva-based manufacture.
<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1164894 size-full" src="https://watchbox-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/3-patek-philippe-gondolo.jpg?max-w=1024&q=50&auto=format,compress&usm=10&usmrad=3" alt="Patek Philippe Gondolo" width="1400" height="1000" />
A few hundred meters from the latter’s historic headquarters, the other major Geneva-based manufacture Vacheron Constantin has its Malte model, a perfect tonneau shape with more pronounced curves than is usual. 
<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1164895 size-full" src="https://watchbox-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/5-vacheron-constantin-malte.jpg?max-w=1024&q=50&auto=format,compress&usm=10&usmrad=3" alt="Vacheron Constantin Malte" width="1400" height="800" />
Meanwhile, Parmigiani Fleurier, another Swiss manufacture, boasts the Kalpa collection. The Kalpa’s shape is a perfect barrel too, with the particularity (shared with Franck Müller) that it comes in both men’s and women’s versions.
<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1164896 size-full" src="https://watchbox-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/5-parmigiani.jpg?max-w=1024&q=50&auto=format,compress&usm=10&usmrad=3" alt="Parmigiani Fleurier Kalpa" width="1400" height="800" />
No list of classically-inspired manufacture watches in this format would be complete without the aptly-named Tonneau watch by Cartier, relaunched in 2018. Less well-known than the Rotonde, the Ballon Bleu, and the Tank, the piece nevertheless offers the most compelling evidence of Cartier’s genius for developing original and distinctive case shapes.
<h2>The Mille Case</h2>
Last but certainly not least, the Richard Mille brand has successfully appropriated the tonneau shape in outstandingly singular fashion, in just twenty years of existence. The firm uses it to the virtual exclusion of any other, thereby bringing this somewhat atypical format firmly to the fore once again.
<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1164897 size-full" src="https://watchbox-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/7-richard-mille.jpg?max-w=1024&q=50&auto=format,compress&usm=10&usmrad=3" alt="Richard Mille" width="1400" height="800" />
Armed with finely-honed profiles, skeleton cases, descriptive materials, and sky-high prices, Richard Mille has upended the tonneau—and the watchmaking canons it formerly subscribed to. Capitalizing on the stylistic progress achieved over the previous thirty years, Richard Mille has redefined the barrel shape, making it unreservedly contemporary, highly technical, sexy, and unisex in equal measure. While the curvy rectangle’s future seems assured, the real challenge going forward will be to reinvent it as successfully as Mille did. The tonneau might well be the shape of things to come, but just what that might look like in twenty to thirty years’ time is anyone’s guess.

Cartier Daniel Roth Franck Muller Jaeger-LeCoultre Parmigiani Fleurier Patek Philippe Richard Mille Vacheron Constantin

Written By

Olivier Müller

Olivier Müller is a professional luxury journalist and consultant. He divides his time between Geneva and Paris, covering especially horology-related topics for a dozen or so magazines and specialist websites in Europe. He is also a regular speaker at various events. In 2008, Olivier Müller set up Delos Communications to manage the writing side of his business, spanning many different countries. Delos Communications also provides consultancy services for luxury communication, helping brands as they define and implement their strategy in terms of positioning, messages and audience.

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