Like many watch enthusiasts, I don’t own just watches. I also have watch-themed coffee cups, notebooks, stickers, wall art and occasionally drool over a pen made up of watch parts. So, when the opportunity came up to get some hands-on time with The Horology Deck from The Garden Party, I was definitely intrigued. Was a deck of playing cards going to be a new addition to my watch-themed desk set?
The Garden Party is a Norwegian design company with a track record of successful projects, both watch-related and non, so the Horology Deck is not their first rodeo. They have an active microbrand, Cursus Watches, as one of their products and generally focus on designing items that they themselves find interesting and awesome. In fact, at the time of writing this review, their Kickstarter is fully funded and has about two weeks remaining in the campaign.
I was sent the black production deck as well as the limited edition “Red Homage” deck, which is a bit of a love letter to a certain brand that tends to sell watches in red boxes with a Greek letter on the dial. There is also a “Green Homage” deck with a crown incorporated in the card back design. I’ll let you figure out which brands are being honored. Both boxes are constructed out of matte card stock with gold printed line work on all sides. The styling is definitely Art Deco-inspired, with the front of the box reminiscent of a 1930s tank watch. In an artful touch, the hands and markers on the box are printed from luminescent paint. Will it serve as a nightlight the same way a good dive watch would? No. But it did make it easier to find the pack of cards when I lost power for the evening a few nights ago.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a dedicated cardist, poker, or blackjack player, so I can’t give a detailed evaluation of the card composition and feel the same way someone who is used to handling cards for hours at a time would. I will say that the cards shuffle very nicely under my clumsy efforts and do not seem to hold a bend if I’m too enthusiastic when attempting a rainbow bridge prior to a game of solitaire or gin rummy. Garden Party’s intent was to produce a premium feeling deck of cards, and to my uneducated hands, it feels like they did exactly that.
To me, the main attraction of this deck of cards is the artwork. The card back design consists of a floating bridge layout of a mechanical winding movement, similar to the Cartier Tank Citree Skeleton, precisely done in black (or red or green) and white linework. The artwork on the aces is each inspired by a different complication, ranging from an automatic winding mechanism to a gorgeous depiction of a tourbillon. On the even-numbered low cards (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10), there are watch factoids and illustrations, ranging from uncommon knowledge to downright useful diagrams regarding hand and bracelet styles while two jokers in the deck poke fun at some of the seedier elements of the watch industry. Finally, the face cards represent the three common characters you find in the watch world: the jack as the watch collector, the queen as the watch manufacturer, and the king as the watchmaker.
All of the artwork is crisply rendered and printed in a style that is both unique and reminiscent of a classic card deck. The red homage deck has a couple of Easter eggs in the face cards that I will not spoil, as I found them to be delightful surprises as I riffled through the deck. One of the add-ons for the Kickstarter campaign is to buy an uncut sheet of cards as wall art, and the design of the cards definitely qualifies as art in my opinion.
At a Kickstarter price of about $16, the Horology Deck is expensive for a deck of cards. But for an excellent example of a watch-themed accessory, the price is pretty reasonable compared to the usual suggestions of books, watch rolls, and accessory trays that crop up as suggested gifts for the watch enthusiast. The black deck will be available for purchase after the Kickstarter ends, with an eye towards delivery before the winter holidays. But if you want a red or green-themed homage deck, they are a Kickstarter exclusive and you only have until the campaign ends on August 30 to snap one of those up. So what I guess I’m saying is: start making your hints about what you want to find in your Christmas stocking now. 😉
To place your order, head over to the Horology Deck Kickstarter page before August 30, 2021.
