Probably one of the most powerful moments in the history of human unity, the fall of the Berlin Wall was eagerly watched all across the world. As the bricks crumbled, a physical and metaphorical barrier was broken between East and West Germany, marking the official and symbolic end of the Cold War. In this rather dystopian time we live in, it’s difficult to come across such moments of kindred spirit and brother/sisterhood… so the watchmakers and history-buffs at Col&MacArthur decided to turn this moment into a wristwatch. Aptly titled “Wind of Change”, the watch references the popular Scorpions song on the historic event. Not only does it come with a seal of approval from the band itself, but each timepiece actually has a small fragment of the Berlin Wall embedded in its dial and an authentic piece of guitar string from the Scorpions’ guitar, allowing you to wear literal history on your wrist!
Designer: Sebastien Colen
Click Here to Buy Now: $539.1 $599 (Use Coupon Code “FREEDOM1989” to get 10% off). Hurry, deal ends in 48 hours. Limited Edition!
Like the song, the Wind of Change watch simultaneously addresses the pain of the past as well as the optimism of the future. Those feelings don’t coexist peacefully, and that’s reflected in the watch’s unique design. The Wind of Change timepiece showcases a one-of-a-kind shattered dial with one half exposing a concrete fragment of the Berlin wall, and another housing a textured dial that features the date of the fall of the wall through the indexes as well as the name of the collection “wind of change”. Look carefully and you’ll see the crack between the two halves traces the actual contour of the Berlin wall, separating the watch into East and West zones. The crack also travels from the 0 to the 28th-minute mark, symbolizing the 28 long years that the wall stood between the two factions of Berlin.
The watch comes in Quartz as well as Automatic variants with a Swiss Normtech 703 and a Swiss Sellita SW200-1 movement respectively. Both designs look identical in their appearance, barring the inclusion of an authentic Scorpions guitar string (taken from their 2023 tour) in the Automatic variant. The fragment of the wall differs from watch to watch too, showcasing a unique part of the original wall, making each watch as individual as a human fingerprint.
The watch’s design comes co-signed by the Scorpions band itself, along with a seal of approval from Universal Music. Each watch has a graphic of five white doves mid-flight (from the single cover of Wind of Change) at the 3 o’clock position, along with the Scorpions band logo etched onto the watch back cover. The watch is also accompanied by certificates of authenticity of the provenance of the Berlin Wall fragment, and for the automatic version, authenticity of a piece of string from a Scorpions guitar, used to play “Wind of Change” on their last tour.
There’s a beautiful and painful dichotomy to the watch’s design. It embeds history into its classic form factor so elegantly and with the kind of rawness that is sure to evoke strong emotion. For people who were alive, the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall was a true moment of celebration for all of humanity, much like the moon landing. I’d venture that we haven’t had too many such moments of global oneness since, which is what makes this moment (and the watch) so special. While the watch comes in both Quartz and Automatic variants, the latter is limited to 1989 units each, marking the year in which the Berlin Wall was broken down.
Click Here to Buy Now: $539.1 $599 (Use Coupon Code “FREEDOM1989” to get 10% off). Hurry, deal ends in 48 hours. Limited Edition!