MARCHA 383 · 8 DIALS · ONE MADRID NIGHT
Eight dials for one Madrid night, from the eve’s late afternoon to Sunday morning. A watch for those who stopped asking for permission
DISCOVER THE COLLECTIONTHE MANIFESTO
“For almost forty years, in this country, one had to ask permission for everything. This collection is dedicated to those who stopped asking”
In the late seventies, within the space of a very few years, the prohibitions fell one after another, and a generation that had never been permitted anything suddenly discovered it could say everything. No one founded it: it was a handful of people who set about making things without knowing how, and without waiting for anyone to give them their turn
Of those years, it is all too easy to keep only the scenery. Marcha goes deeper: the pure expression of a person who can at last be who they are. That is why it carries only the essentials: a single, unbroken colour, three numerals cut off at the edge and a seconds hand forever on the move
The most radical thing of all was the freedom to be who you were, in public and in broad daylight: to dress as you pleased, to love whom you loved, to create without asking permission. Today we take it for granted; they were the first to claim it
THE DIAL
The 12, the 03 and the 09 are applied metal numerals, in polished silver or in black, cropped at the very edge of the dial. They are cut to stand apart: each numeral expresses a character of its own, unbounded
Enamel in a single colour, free of texture or ornament, with a delicate fumé that deepens towards the edge like a spotlight on a stage. Where the 6 would sit, a small seconds sub-dial with the finest snailed grooves, like a record, forever turning
THE TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
M383-GH · MARAVILLAS
Warm grey with a small black seconds subdial and sky-blue markers. Seven in the evening in the neighbourhood that, before the legend, was called Maravillas: no one knows what tonight will bring, and that is precisely why anything can happen
VIEW MODEL →M383-IG · CAMINOS
Pale lilac with a small black seconds subdial and coral markers. The sky at a quarter to nine, itself an omen, in tribute to the concert at the Escuela de Caminos that foretold it all
VIEW MODEL →M383-TW · SOL
Coral as the setting sun, with a small white seconds subdial and lavender markers. Half past ten at the club on calle de los Jardines: the first chord of the night
VIEW MODEL →M383-KD · PROSPERIDAD
Absolute black, polished silver numerals and a small white seconds subdial. Midnight in la Prospe, home to the club on calle Padre Xifré, when the Madrid night had only just begun
VIEW MODEL →M383-OG · MALASAÑA
Deep lavender with a small white seconds subdial and taupe markers. Two in the morning on a Malasaña dance floor, where at last everyone could be who they truly were
VIEW MODEL →M383-YQ · ZABALETA
Midnight blue with a small white seconds subdial and periwinkle markers. Four in the morning, a kerbside, and plans to start a band, a magazine or a record label, like the one born in a flat on calle Zabaleta
VIEW MODEL →M383-PL · LAVAPIÉS
Periwinkle blue with a small white seconds subdial and warm grey markers. The walk home through Lavapiés at first light, in the blue hour
VIEW MODEL →M383-RS · RASTRO
Taupe, with a small white seconds subdial bearing sage markings. Sunday morning at the Rastro: second-hand records, freshly stapled fanzines and, once again, the whole world out and about
VIEW MODEL →ON THE WRIST
“After so long asking permission, freedom simply had to be worn for the very first time”
Time is meant to be danced
MADRID · 1977 → 1986
On 1 April 1977, on the very same day, the Government passed two decrees: one dissolved the Movimiento Nacional, the other restored freedom of expression. Within a few years the prohibitions fell one after another, and a generation that had never been permitted anything discovered that it could say everything
On 9 February 1980, at the Escuela de Ingenieros de Caminos, a handful of bands who could barely play gave the concert now regarded as the founding act of the Movida. Behind the music came everything else: painting, photography, comics, fashion, cinema and late-night radio
Marcha retraces that night across eight Madrid neighbourhoods and landmarks, from the eve’s afternoon in Maravillas to Sunday morning at the Rastro. It is an inheritance: what they first dared, we now take for granted
THE EIGHT DIALS
Eight neighbourhoods and haunts of one Madrid night, a single 38 mm case
Taupe with a small white seconds subdial bearing sage markers. Sunday morning at the Rastro: second-hand records and freshly stapled fanzines
“Sunday morning, and the whole world out once more”
FOUR WAYS TO WEAR IT
The blue jumper, the velvet, the patent leather and the tattoos. Four ways to dress, one and the same night
01 · GH — MARAVILLAS
The blue jumper
Warm grey against blue knit and pale denim: the watch for the night before, for any Saturday. Black leather
02 · RS — RASTRO
The velvet
Taupe against chocolate velvet, a hand in the pocket: the colour of dust and vinyl. Black leather
03 · TW — SOL
Patent leather and red
Coral against a red shirt, patent leather trousers and a matching bag: the first chord dresses up too. Black leather
04 · YQ — ZABALETA
The tattoos
Midnight blue against a tattooed arm and a dark suit: the hour for making plans. Black leather
