Since taking the helm of Ferragamo as Creative Director just three years ago, Maximilian Davis has re-established the historic Italian fashion house into the zeitgeist with 10 striking collections, several viral celebrity dressing moments (Beyoncé during her global Renaissance tour, Lewis Hamilton on the May 2025 cover of Vogue), and his Met Gala debut. Perhaps lesser known, however, is his overhaul of the Ferragamo watch line. A merging of Davis’s distinctively elevated take on the brand’s design heritage with Swiss craftsmanship, today’s Ferragamo watches offer a little something for everyone, ranging from the sculpted sensuality of his 2023 debut “Curve” design to the distilled modern masculinity of the F-80 Translucent model. Let’s talk about it.
The most recent release—the F-80 Translucent, a riff upon an existing Ferragamo staple—is presented in three colors (black, blue, burgundy) and packaged, per its name, in a translucent recycled plexiglass case. Clocking in at a rugged 44mm, the watch is decidedly not subtle, its rubber bracelet enhanced with an “F-80” engraved plate. Strong, masculine, and avant-garde, this watch is a seemingly deliberate departure from what’s trending in the horological world today–that is to say, vintage-inspired and feminine pieces.
The first watch under the creative director of Maximilian Davis, Curve, took cues from his sharply tailored Fall/Winter 2023 collection, forging a link between the Maison’s classic attributes—like its leather, deployed here in a double-tour strap—and modern edge. “The Curve reflects the design and sensual style infused in my collections,” Davis said of the oval watch when it debuted. “I wanted it to feel playful, but also desirable as an object.”
Ferragamo Secret is directly inspired by historic pieces in which a timepiece was concealed within jewelry (designed for a time when it was considered uncouth for a lady to wear a pocket watch). At first glance, the Ferragamo Secret watch appears simply as a linked bracelet, but a discreetly placed latch mechanism unveils its true timekeeping nature. This collection was also a canvas for the more jewelry-forward side of watchmaking, set with precious stones and sparkling diamonds in select models.
To jump from a discreet “Secret” watch to the bold F-80 Translucent line conveys the wide-ranging vision when it comes to the watches introduced under his leadership. Marketed as a men’s watch, the F-80 Translucent brings confident futurism to the table, a platform upon which to experiment with environmentally minded materials. Although the watch is quartz, aka battery powered, the case and strap are composed of bio-based carbon, lending a conceptual sense of transparency to its literal “transparent” (read: translucent) look.
Let’s take it back a bit. Ferragamo was known primarily for its innovation in shoemaking. Born in 1898, founder Salvatore Ferragamo opened his first store at age fourteen, shortly thereafter taking his talents from Italy to Hollywood, where high-profile clients like Audrey Hepburn earned him the title “Shoemaker to the Stars.” Following his death in 1960, Ferragamo remained a family-run company, venturing into product categories, like Ferragamo watches, which debuted in 2008.
That first timepiece collection, created under a licensing agreement with the Timex Group's Swiss Luxury Division, was unveiled at Baselworld in Switzerland, then the world's premier watch and jewelry fair. The brand continued to expand its watch offerings, playing upon Salvatore Ferragamo’s signature design elements like the “Gancini” motif and the iconic “Vara” bow, and the watches have now taken on an updated shape.
To usher in the new era, the decision was made to remove the “Salvatore” from the house’s name and mark, the founder’s famous signature, making way for a new all-caps typeface reading, simply, FERRAGAMO. This change is perhaps most literally felt on the watches, where the interpretation of the new logo sits front and center on each dial. Each watch, therefore, serves as a canvas for Ferragamo’s new essence as communicated via the reimagined logo—something we might miss looking solely at the garments.
For this, Ferragamo commissioned renowned graphic designer Peter Saville, whose interpretation of the logo is at once modernist and classic, referencing stone inscriptions that inspired Renaissance artists. The result is a feeling of sensuality and permanence, reflecting the city Ferragamo calls home. “The equity of Florence is in the culture of the company: that led me to the choice of a classic font,” says Saville. “The vision is exacting and modern.”
Here lies the most intriguing thing about the new Ferragamo watches: they have the power to communicate nuanced intention that would otherwise fly under the radar. And it’s exciting to see them emerge as quiet platforms for creativity within the Maison.
We’ll be watching.
Click here to discover the F-80 Translucent.
