take | modern classics, translated.
from a vintage car that doesn’t feel vintage to a modern watch that doesn’t feel modern — feat. the studio underd0g 02series.
we have written about modern classics before. that story was about cars, excitement and usability. with our Porsche 944, the appeal of a vintage object lies in how contemporary it can still feel — a car made decades ago that does not feel outdated. but there is another direction worth exploring: objects that are modern, yet do not feel like it.
the watch we are talking about here — the Studio Underd0g 02SERIES — has appeared in a previous journal entry as well. there, i compared it to a vintage reference that helped inspire it: a Longines 6B/159 pilot’s watch from the 1940s. in that story, i wrote that i particularly enjoy that the 02SERIES carries over design cues from one of my favorite watches into a more worry-free package. that comparison stopped being just words when i took the 02SERIES with me on a sailing trip along the australian east coast at the end of last year.
i could not — or rather would not — have done such a trip with the old Longines. most likely, the watch would make it through most of that journey. the real barrier is mental. when something cannot be replaced, when decades of history have turned it into something unique, your behavior changes. you become careful — or, at least, i do with this watch. while i regularly wear it, in my mind, it carries the right to be treated a bit more gently due to its age. the 02SERIES, on the other hand, needs none of that. if anything, it seems to encourage the opposite.
i believe that signs of wear are what ultimately make objects special. the scratches and subtle discolorations i see when i look down at the Longines are not flaws. they are evidence—of time and use. something that cannot be manufactured or recreated. character must be earned, not preserved from new. that sailing trip—with plenty of sun, salt, movement and unpredictability—was a perfect opportunity to start building that same kind of character into the 02SERIES.
this story circles back to the same idea that drew me to modern classics in the first place. meaning is built through use. through the marks an object collects while being taken care of, not kept aside. when i look at the Longines, i see a lifetime of use. when i look at the 02SERIES (or our 944, for that matter), i see what is still to come. that sense of a story in the making — of character yet to be developed — is what makes it feel right today.
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