Ralph Lauren Shrinks the Western Cushion to 38mm And It's Still The Coolest Watch

Ralph Lauren’s Western collection is the part of its watch line that looks least like what you would expect from a watch, and at the same time most like something Ralph Lauren would make. The cases are sterling silver, engraved in the style of Western belt buckles and saddle silver, and they come from the same ranchwear world as the brand’s Double RL clothing. RL watches are often looked down on as being fashion watches, but they are so much more than that. They started making watches in 2009 through a joint venture with Richemont, featuring some pretty nice movements and even better finishing. Since, they've moved production in-house and often come out with wild creations like this Western Cushion. This is certainly not a watch for everybody. I love it.

The case measures 38mm square and 9.3mm thick, with a lug width of 23mm, which are some killer proportions. Well, killer, except for that lug width, but would you dare put a boring strap from your collection on a watch like this? Nah, this needs a custom made leather masterpiece if you want an alternative to the one that comes with the watch. It also has what look like super stubby lugs, likely making it very wearable for most people. It’s made out of sterling silver, which is a rare material in watchmaking, but one that will patina brilliantly. The case is then engraved with scrollwork and aged so the engraving are darker than the surface. About 47 grams of silver are used for the case. There’s also a convex sapphire crystal on top with anti-reflective coating on the inside, a back closed with six screws, and 50 meters of water resistance. The crown is aged silver with the RL logo.

There are three dial options, two of which are lacquer. The off-white version has printed black numerals, Roman and Arabic mixed, with a black minute track. The black version swaps in off-white numerals but keeps the black Breguet hands, so it will be the hardest of the three to read. The third dial is polished natural turquoise and it is by far the best of the three.

Inside is the RL514, an automatic Piaget makes exclusively for Ralph Lauren. It’s an 11-ligne calibre with 26 jewels and 189 components, beating at 3Hz with about 40 hours of power reserve, finished with vertical Côtes de Genève and perlage. The off-white and turquoise models come on brown tooled calfskin, the black model on black, all with brown lining and an engraved silver pin buckle. The strap tapers to 20mm and is interchangeable.

The Ralph Lauren Western Cushion 38mm in sterling silver is available now, priced at €26,000 with the off-white or black dial and €29,000 with the turquoise dial. See more on the Ralph Lauren website. Unfortunately, the RL website is extremely geolimited so I can't link to the watches directly as it will only allow me to see the Croatian website. I believe if you click on the link above it should bring you to your local store that has the watches.