Raidillon 2 edit

Legendary racing stripes revamped by Raidillon

Fresh from announcing that it has partnered with distributor Ebauche in the UK and Ireland, racing-inspired Belgian watch brand Raidillon has revealed details of two of its automatic models.

The watches are inspired by 1950s racing cars, which used to be decorated with distinctive stripes.

The story behind the association between classic racing cars and stripes dates back to 1951, when an American driver called Briggs Cunningham put white stripes against a blue background on all his cars so that they could be easily identified on the racing circuit. These markings were also known as ‘Le Mans stripes.’

This practice evolved in the following two decades, to the point where the cars adopted the same colours as the flags of their corresponding countries.

Raidillon revives this lost tradition with its 42-A10-169 and 42-A10-168 automatics. The models take a simple approach with three hands to emphasise three stripes to the left of the dial. Two finer stripes on the sides make way for a central strip and a trademark ‘55’, located at 11 o’clock, sits at the top of this middle stripe and a date aperture is located at 3 o’clock. The grey numerals are set very close to the dotted index to make way for the longitudinal stripes.

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