Gucci Carrée Lapis Lazuli

If Gucci made watches like this today, the word fashion watch might actually mean something. This 1960s Gucci Carrée is a remnant from a time when the brand’s creative energy came from Milanese ateliers, not corporate marketing meetings.

It’s an unapologetically square case, cut from solid 18K yellow gold and hand-finished in Italy — the kind of craftsmanship where you can still spot human fingerprints in the geometry. But the real star is the lapis. A thick, beveled slab wraps the dial like a gemstone picture frame, the kind of blue that feels alive: cloudy, speckled, and endlessly deep. The dial continues the same story, painted with gold Roman numerals and dauphine hands that catch the light like tiny brass instruments.

There’s a quiet cleverness to the design — the ribbed crown hides discreetly on the back, keeping the square silhouette impossibly clean. The original buckle, also 18K gold, wears a matching inlay of lapis, because Gucci didn’t miss details back then. Inside beats a Swiss-made ETA manual movement that’s as practical as it is poetic.

You can almost see this watch debuting in a long-forgotten Gucci summer collection — linen suits, tanned wrists, someone holding a glass of limoncello under a Capri sun. It’s a piece that proves playful design and serious craftsmanship aren’t opposites. They can, in the right hands, be the same thing.

Little is documented about Gucci’s watchmaking in the ’60s, which makes this find even more fascinating. What remains is proof that at one point, Gucci’s watches were made not for fashion, but for fun — and that’s a much rarer kind of luxury.