The ad is current, but the car is a legitimate CC in an unusual setting, so I thought I’d share this here. Apologies for the “noise” in the photo; it’s a snapshot of a magazine rear cover that got damaged sitting on my kitchen counter before I noticed the ad.
I don’t usually look at the ads on the back cover of The New Yorker magazine; usually for designer clothing or watches that are far outside my scope of interest. But this one caught my eye because of the car. Obviously domestic, I’m pretty sure it’s GM, the steering wheel and hood tachometer suggest Pontiac, probably a late pre-Colonnade LeMans or GTO. I originally thought of posting this as a CC Clue, to confirm from CC experts that it’s indeed a Pontiac, and what year and model. Regardless of those details, it seemed odd that a luxury Swiss watch manufacturer would use a photo of a fifty year old American car, so to learn if there was any connection between Audemars Piguet, the watch company founded in 1875, and Pontiac, I poked around a bit on the internet, also hoping to find a cleaner digital image of the ad.
No luck on the ad, but I noticed that one of the company’s major watch lines is the Royal Oak Collection.
Wait … Royal Oak, Pontiac??!! I knew about Royal Pontiac, the dealership in Royal Oak, Michigan, and their drag racing Pontiacs, and high performance kits, from childhood, even though I grew up on the West Coast. Those were the days when even nationally famous stock-bodied drag racers were often sponsored by dealerships. I still remember the Tasca Ford (Rhode Island, I think) cars as well
Could this be a coincidence? Or an inside joke? I found quite a bit about the history of these Royal Oak watches, first designed by a famous Swiss watch designer in the 1970’s, but could find no connection with Pontiac or GM. And what’s the deal with the big empty gauge location on the dash? Is that where the clock would be, and it was retouched out to avoid competition with the watch? Although there is just an AM radio, the hood tach and the fact it’s a convertible (with AC) suggest it’s not a poverty spec car.
Car clock or no, it seems weird to have a hood tach and a blank gauge in the dash that would be perfectly sited for a tachometer.
IIRC, I ‘think’ Pontiac offered two tachometer options back then: hood or dash.
You’re exactly right. A la carte options were the rule and a tach was available as an option on the hood or on the dash where the blank gauge is. The optional clock was also located where the blank is. If one ordered the clock, the only tach option was on the hood. There were a lot of weirdly optioned cars then. This car also has the optional AM-FM radio, rare for 1969 – but no clock.
Sure looks like a 1969 LeMans or GTO.
If anyone knows who supplies vehicles for ad agencies, seems like there’s a well-optioned (A/C and AM/FM radio), white (color of the hood tach) 1969 GTO with a red interior available for photo shoots.
It’s a ’69 GTO or LeMans. ’68 dash is completely different and 1970-72 have woodgrain appearance in the gauge area.
Agreed. Factory a/c, too – those 1969 dash panels looked rather plain without the central horizontal air outlet.
Another tip-off is the lack of a vent window.
When I saw the hood tach – and the cheapness of the dash components – I immediately suspected that it was a Pontiac. That ultra-cheap looking steering wheel. Sheesh.
I remember that dash – my best friend at the time had a new 69 GTO with A/C. It appears from internet pics that if no A/C there was a GTO nameplate where that vent was located. Have the NYer here but missed the add for the same reason as the author.
I suspect the idea of using an old car has something to do with the upright nature and spaciousness of old convertibles. Consider the steep rake and small size of any new convertible built after the last, true ‘big’ convertible (1975 Cadillac Eldorado), and this type of photograph angle might not even be possible, at least to get as much of the model in the picture as shown.
And most of those old, big, domestic convertibles didn’t even come with bucket seats, either. So, the easiest car to find for this kind of shot would be…a late sixties GTO convertible with bucket seats.
Also, a woman wearing a man’s watch (on her right wrist, yet) might fit in with the whole spirit of driving an old Goat. That’s kind of an interesting angle, all by itself: who, exactly, is the ad targeting?
This is probably a bit of a stretch, but Steve McQueen can be seen wearing a wristwatch on his right wrist (upside down, yet) in the famous Bullitt chase scene.
Being left handed, I wear a wristwatch on my right.
Having a cell phone means I no longer wear watches.
Maybe she’s wearing it on her right wrist so it’s easily visible to the reader. I wear my (cheap Casio digital) watch on my right wrist, but I’m left-handed.
Does anyone else think she’s sitting way too close to the wheel? I get uncomfortable just looking at that. 🙂
I put this into the category of most contemporary fashion advertising that I have the misfortune of encountering. That is, often it seems that the whole point is to be weird enough to capture your attention; but then once your attention is captured, you really can’t make any sense out of what’s happening. “Raised Around the World”…what does that mean? Do they mean “Raced”? I doubt it. But what’s being “Raised”? Her hand? No, not really… Watches? They grow these things now? I just don’t get it.
Yes, I have never driven with my elbows bent like that. It makes me want to reach down and shift the seat back for her. Surely she would be more comfortable?
As for the actual ad, it doesn’t make sense at all to me. Never heard of the brand. But then, I get the impression their target market would be way over my income level. And I’m not into watches. They’re amazing mechanisms I’m sure, but I have no desire to possess one. As always, good for you if you do, they’re just not for me.
Nice car – for all that she’s not driving it right and wearing a bloke’s watch.
Short women have to get really close to the wheel to reach the pedals. Especially in these old cars.
My mom was short and drove like this. I asked the dealer and a few auto parts stores about getting blocks for the pedals. No one ever heard of them. This was pre-internet too.
Ours cars had 1 piece front bench seats too. This made for miserable cramped seating for a front seat passenger. If she was giving rides to 1 person, she would not let them ride in the rear seat either.
The ad does not scream luxury, or even whisper it. At best I would think it would evoke
a long lost weekend with a highly attractive, yet insane (I won’t comment on the
frequency of correlation) lady of recent, and destined to be short, acquaintance.
Circa 1983 based on the internal evidence of her coiffure and padded shoulders.
She really needs a cigarette clutched between the knuckles to complete the
picture.
Good call. And this now well-heeled person wants to relive that moment from forty years ago and, in doing so, buys a pricey watch…
Gold star for you!
She only seems to be going 20mph.
Maybe she’s slowing down because she just noticed the forest fire she’s driving toward:
(Glances at luxury watch) : “Ooh, definitely time to get out of here!”
Ohhhhh. Forest fire. OK, that makes sense. My interpretation was that she was part of the way through the garage wall/door and that was drywall spackling.
Something’s raised around the world…but not the garage door.
My first thought was some kind of nuclear holocaust. I was actually relieved that DMAN explained the damaged photograph! 🙂
And the questions just keep on coming… take a look at the position of that steering wheel… even at the indicated 20 miles an hour, it would seem that she is about to go somewhere very interesting, especially noting that she is on the wrong side of the road.
Oh, and take a look at her face in the rearview mirror – is she chewing on a toothpick?
That one’s easy; she has to have her hand somewhere near the 12 o’clock position to have the product being pushed near the main focal point of the ad, i.e., the center. So, it has to look like she’s turning the wheel, even if it appears she’s driving directly into a ditch.
It’s the same in the other, similar ad photo posted in the comments, except she’s turning the wheel in the other direction.
She’s driving into the The City on the Edge of Forever as portrayed in the Star Trek TV episode with that title:
I guess the driver is supposed to be Joan Collins? Makes sense now.
“The unfortunate accident he had as a child…he caught his head in a mechanical, rice picker.”
“She only seems to be going 20mph.”
She doesn’t want her hair messed up.
Seems to be a lot of understeer, with the lines heading left and the car mostly heading straight.
Looks like there was another ad in the same series using the same car and model, but different watch. In this one, the steering wheel is shown, but the Pontiac Arrowhead has been photoshopped out:
That one’s even more strange. The model’s hair and hand on the steering wheel is like she’s driving from the other ad, but the obscured speedometer and view of the sunset with no apparent road suggests the vehicle is not moving.
Further, it’s a weird juxtaposition with what would seem like a serene moment, yet the watch is prominently displayed as if she needs to know the time to be somewhere else.
Because nobody knows what a Pontiac is anymore? So sad.
Looks vaguely like a Rolex Daytona on her wrist.
Modern cars are like the clock on your smartphone: forgettable unless you need it to see the time, no mechanisms, electrical, practical, accurate, multipurpose, the future.
Classic cars are like mechanical watches: interesting, stylish, mechanical, not always accurate or reliable, need maintence, the nostalgic past.
A fancy watch wouldn’t picture as well if it were in say a Tesla, it would just make the reader question why the need for a wristwatch at all, especially one with dials and a shiny bezel. And while the GTO and muscle cars were the antithesis to what luxury was when they were actually new, now a days muscle cars are sprinkled into highfalutin car collections among Enzo era Ferraris as symbols of wealth and taste.
“Classic cars are like mechanical watches”
Guess that’s why there are so many fancy watch ads in classic car magazines. Particularly the British ones. But I don’t recall them showing a female model wearing a very male-looking watch at the wheel of such a ‘modern’ car. It would make more sense if she was in a car that wasn’t likely to have its own dashboard clock.
No reason to expect a specific connection between the watch company and Pontiac. Using old cars in fashion photography/advertising is quite common. My wife shops from Talbots a lot so we get their catalogs. In recent months, their catalog photos have featured models in or next to a 65-66 Mustang convertible, a Jeep Grand Wagoneer, a couple of old Chevy pickups, and a Mercedes 230SL. As another commenter noted, the logos and nameplates are often photoshopped out (or the models are strategically placed to obscure them), which is probably to avoid any claims by the automakers for unauthorized use of their trademarks.
It seems like strange product placement to me. I probably watch too much CBS Evening News, but whenever I see a muscle car in a commercial, I automatically think the ad will be for an erectile dysfunction ad
Royal Oak is a hip and happening (and way overpriced housing) suburb north of Detroit. Strongly suspect that the “Royal Oak Collection” has nothing to do with the city. Just a trendy sounding name.
As described in the link that Phil posted below, the Royal Oak collection dates back to the early seventies. Royal Oak was probably not “hip and happening” at that time. But I did a bit more digging and finally found some reference to the origin of the watch’s name.
By now it’s Audemars’ signature design, the watch most closely identified with the brand and that anyone even vaguely familiar with Swiss watches would be able to identify. By now, the Royal Oak has been produced in innumerable variations, all with the distinctive hexagonal shape and small exposed flathead screws on the bezel. I used to assume part of the case was made of wood due to the name and appearance but nope.
Yes, a 69 GTO. In my world, blank plates were far more common in dashboards than were clocks – which cost extra, and which everyone knew never kept time after the first couple of years anyhow.
If not for advertising and music videos, most people would never see old cars. They have never lost their allure.
Reverse the picture to RHD and thats a HT Holden dash and instrument cluster from 1969 ours was blue not red sans plastiwood,
Thought it looked familiar!
Here you go…
https://www.timeandwatches.com/p/history-of-audemars-piguet-royal-oak.html
The Manhattan Project of Switzerland.
I think there is a tendency in advertising and media (movies, etc.) to use vehicles that are either not mainstream or old/obsolete. I see a lot of old Volvos for example. And commonly the logos are removed. Just watched Fletch again and there is no Buick or Riviera to be found.
Some mfgs are really upset when people use their cars without permission. I seem to remember a case about Ferraris a while back.
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/ferrari-owner-claims-company-threatened-legal-action-over-instagram-posts/
Thanks folks for narrowing down the exact year and model of Pontiac used in the ad. As for the connection between the watch’s Royal Oak name, and the famous Pontiac dealership, I guess it’s just a coincidence. I finally found a seemingly credible explanation for the use of the Royal Oak name by the watchmaker here https://journal.hautehorlogerie.org/en/the-royal-oak-design-revolution/
“… Audemars Piguet instead named its watch after HMS Royal Oak, a series of vessels of the British Royal Navy, in reference to the octagonal portholes. For the English, the Royal Oak is also a symbol of the monarchy since the Civil War and the Battle of Worcester in 1651, when the future King Charles II escaped the Roundheads, and a death that would have changed the course of history, by hiding in an oak tree. Thus the oak symbolises strength, longevity and majesty… what more fitting name for Audemars Piguet’s latest creation?”
Very interesting — and according to the City of Royal Oak’s website (https://www.romi.gov/501/History), the Michigan city was also named for the “Royal Oak” where Charles II sought refuge.
Evidently, early explorers of the region “encountered a stately oak tree with a trunk considerably wider than most other oaks. Its large branches reminded Cass of the legend of the royal oak tree, under which King Charles II of England took sanctuary from enemy forces in 1660.”
So the ships, the watch and the city were all named after the same 17th century English oak tree.
That ad looks like a late 60s Firebird, by the looks of the dashboard and hood tach?
So… clutch pedal, or not?
Over the last 50+ years I’ve provided multiple vintage cars & trucks for staged photo shoots with live models, nude and clothed.
One thing to bear in mind that when a vehicle is used in a photo shoot along with one or more human models, the photographer[s] shoot hundreds of shots, and this model was probably used in various poses inside and outside of the car.
The shot chosen and seen in this photo, represents whatever “look” the advertising agency and watch company wanted. Just enough of an older collectible car is shown, drawing in the viewer to look closer. Almost in the exact center [where the majority of viewers start their serious investigation], is found the product, in this case a men’s watch, on a pretty lady’s wrist.
The object here is the sale of the watch, not the lady or the car, they are merely props. It matters not to the ad agency or the watch company where the tach is or what options the car has, they probably wanted a 1960s convertible with red interior. But using this specific car gives us gearheads something to talk about!
For all this non-watch-watchet and ignorer of trends knows, it could be one of a series, because, it seems the ’68/9 Tempest has caught on in pop culture, or whatever name is attached to fads. Maybe the car is more prominently featured in another ad?
However, having been an unofficial Pontiac final stress-tester, including ’69 Tempest, so yah, I recognize that view anywhere. More so with the tach needle closer to the orange line. lol