The brand became firmly established in the French conciousness during the First World War, when LIP mass produced watches for artillery officers in the French army.

Starting back in the late 1960′s, LIP hired some famous industrial designers to elaborate a new “design” range of watches, which was a first at the time in the watch world.

Designers included Francois de Baschmakoff and Roger Tallon, one of France’s best known industrial designers, whose product designs include the iconic TGV high speed train and the Paris Metro map, amongst many others.

The new automatic collection of LIP watches draws direct inspiration from these design icons. The Big TV watch was originally designed back in 1975 by Roger Tallon, and instantly became a classic design of the era. The watch has a characteristic, prominent square “coffin” case, and a bold, thick leather strap, combined with a simple and easily readable watch face.

The Big TV design has now been updated by LIP “in-house” designer Prisca Briquet, who has evolved this watch and others to include more eco-friendly automatic movements. The watch is now available in all black or all chocolate brown colour finishes, in addition to being optionally available with sleek steel strap, again in chocolate or brown to match the case and face of the watch.

Prisca Briquet has also taken Tallon’s distinctive coffin case and bold strap, and replaced the regular hour, minute and second hand movement with a new hour, minute, second revolving disc movement, which is again automatic”.

France’s no.1 watch maker Lip is proud to launch for the very first time in the UK, a collection of retro design watches from the 1970’s, carefully revised for today’s style aficionado.Lip have adopted a fresh and avant garde approach to re-create a unique and highly desirable watch collection, revised from original 1970’s designs. Original works by French design legends, including Roger Tallon and Francois de Baschmakoff, have been enhanced to create 2 new collections – Seventies Revival and Mach 2000. These collections are all inspired by the essence of 1970 technology, travel and pop culture which are directly related to today’s’ love of vintage fashion.

Lip watches incorporate Swiss movements or LED of the same high quality, mineral glass faces, stainless steel or aluminium cases, genuine leather or rubber straps, and are water resistant to 5 ATM.

The watches are democratically priced and have a 2 year
guarantee. Watches can be viewed and purchased online at vavawatch.com

History

Founded in 1867, Lip has a truly prestigious history, and has the recognition of being the “Renault” of the watch world in France. Before becoming the first in the market to become design led, Lip began by mass producing watches and chronographs for the French army and air force during First and Second World Wars. During the early 1970’s, changes in the market led to a need for product redesign. Seven high profile external and multi disciplined designers were drafted in to redesigning watches and create 2 unique collections. The outcome carved a promising pathway for the brand, whose styles can be seen nowadays with the likes of Diesel and Nixon. Of the seven designers, Roger Tallon (designer of France’s iconic TGV high speed train) has arguably been the most influential, and his work can now be seen in the Mach 2000 collection.

Lip Mach 2000

Tallon’s Mach 2000 range has become an icon for Lip and 1970’s French design with its diverse range of D-shaped case designs with their mineral glass face and aluminium case.

Seventies Revival

This collection is a unique revised catalogue of original 1970s retrospective watches, still as fresh as it is revolutionary. Diode from this collection boasts style with its daringneo-retro designs and genuine leather straps. The Big TV and Fridge watches were amongst the first to be created around the “coffin watch” case design.

Historique

This heritage collection delves further into Lip’s rich 141 year history. Watches include the Napoleon wristwatch, an adaption of a pocket watch presented to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 by Emmanuel Lipman, predecessor to the LIP brand.

The Type 10 is a faithful reproduction of a 1930’s aeronautical chronograph, used for the first southern Atlantic aerial crossing by French aviation pioneer Jean Mermoz.French aviation pioneer Jean Proving that good designs are timeless, the new retro and historical collections of Lip watches can be accessed via vavawatch.com. Prices start from £100 including VAT and delivery.

TELEPHONE +44 (0) 2392 410045
EMAIL info@encompassco.com
vavawatch.com