Princess Diana regularly turned everyday clothing into iconic fashion, and her famous Warm & Wonderful red, white, and black sheep sweater is about to make its mark on accessories.
The London-based apparel company is celebrating its 45th anniversary with a limited-edition wristwatch that pays tribute to Diana’s well-known jumper (as the Brits say). Only 45 wristwatches will be made in the collaboration between Warm & Wonderful and artisanal watchmaker Maurice de Mauriac.
The watch will sell for $1,950 exclusively at the Maurice de Mauriac atelier in Zurich as well as on the websites for Warm & Wonderful, Rowing Blazers, and Maurice de Mauriac.
The three minds behind the collab are designer Carlton DeWoody, Jack Carlson, and Eric Wind. DeWoody created the beloved tennis-themed Rallymaster watch. Carlson is best known as the creator of apparel and accessories brand Rowing Blazers; he recently revived Warm & Wonderful with its original founders. Wind is the founder of Wind Vintage, a watch archive and advisory service well known among vintage watch collectors.
“I’ve designed a lot of watches and worked on a lot of collaborations as part of my work with Rowing Blazers: Seiko, Tudor, TAG Heuer, Zodiac. But this is the first watch collaboration we’ve ever done with Warm & Wonderful,” Carlson tells JCK.
“The iconic Warm & Wonderful sheep motif brings a smile to everyone’s face when they see it, and to bring that design to a watch for the first time is very special,” Carlson says.
Diana Frances Spencer, also known as Diana, Princess of Wales, was among Warm & Wonderful’s first customers. Her image in that sheep sweater, which she first wore in 1981 and again in 1983 to international fanfare, is one of the first people think of when they remember “the people’s Princess.” The sweater has a red background with dozens of creamy white sheep—and one rebel black sheep among the group.
Warm & Wonderful founders Joanna Osborne and Sally Muir created the original sheep sweater design in 1979. The two artists started the brand at a market stall in London’s Covent Garden, and the black sheep sweater likely is the most recognizable design from the duo, who relaunched Warm & Wonderful in 2020 with Carlson.
Diana was known as a rebel in some ways, especially after she went public with her mental-health challenges and subsequent divorce from now King Charles. The photo of Diana in that sweater showed her as an outcast in some ways but also as the hero of her own story, willing to take risks and talk about things that made the monarchy and others uncomfortable.
In 2023, Diana’s original black sheep Warm & Wonderful sweater sold in a Sotheby’s auction for more than $1.1 million—a sum that made the jumper the world’s most valuable sweater.
The 39 mm Black Sheep watch is made in Switzerland using a Landeron 24 automatic Swiss movement. It features a brushed stainless-steel case with an off-white Cerakota ceramic coating and a solid, polished-steel case back with a printed sheep logo.
The idea for the collaboration “came from a very organic place,” says Carlson. In fact, it was a Warm & Wonderful crocheted hat, which Maurice de Mauriac founder Daniel Dreifuss received from his children. “The watch world can be very small, so before long we were introduced. It’s been such a pleasure to work with Carlton [DeWoody], Eric [Wind], and Maurice de Mauriac on this project.”
In addition, Warm & Wonderful will release new and updated styles of for their fall-winter 2024 collection, including wool-and-cashmere blend sweaters, cotton lounge sets, a sherpa fleece jacket, and accessories, all featuring the black sheep motif.
Top: The Warm & Wonderful Black Sheep watch is a collaboration between watch lovers and Diana fans who wanted to see the legendary design on a wristwatch (photos courtesy of Warm & Wonderful).
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