James Bond’s Rolex; Steve McQueen’s TAG Heuer; JFK’s Omega. For many, watches are not just a bit of wrist action, they evoke a smoother, cooler era - that’s why today, all of the best modern watches brilliantly reinterpret what has gone before.

Not that it’s about blatant plagiarism and plunder. Like the genius of Marc Jacobs and Miu Miu - clothes that reference the past, but are placed distinctly in the here and now - watches are looking back, with the most exciting style statements giving more than a nod to what has gone before. Rather than slavishly cloning bygone styles, however, horologists are acknowledging pivotal points in watch evolution and making today’s watches even slicker and more covetable.

Whatever clothes you put on, there’s a style of watch to complement your choice – or turn it on its head. It is time to be inspired by history.

SUAVE AND ROMANTIC

Rose gold, roman numerals, tobacco hues, ornamental patterns and crocodile straps are all evidence of a romantic dalliance with the past. The look evokes cocktails at the Savoy or Errol Flynn’s most swashbuckling moments. Originally from the 1920s, and now in a slightly curved case, Patek Philippe’s new Gondolo (£11,500; patek.com ) is a perfect present-day manifestation of suave elegance. Cartier’s collection encapsulates period style, its Tortue XL two-time-zone day/night watch mixing Roman numerals with a cutaway face (£19,800; cartier.com ). Zenith’s Class Elite New Vintage 1955, in rose gold, is a marvellous exercise in restraint (£8,500; 01204 424112, zenith-watches. com ). The British maker J&T Windmills also demonstrates a lust for antique aesthetics with its fob-watch approach to dial-and-case design (Threadneedle, £395; 020 7434 5500, jantwindmills.com ).

JET-SET GENT

Just as the first forays into civilian air travel were being made, the postwar watch industry was making pieces that would remain part of the rubric for decades. These reworked examples resonate with the spirit of freedom and optimism. Rolex released the Oyster Perpetual Day-Date in 1956 (Day Date II white gold 41mm, £15,510; rolex.com ), and a standard in watch excellence was forged. Longines’s Istituto Idrografico (£1,250; 0845 272 6500, longines.com ) was originally made in 1938 for the Italian navy, its large, stylised Arabic numerals guaranteeing readability. The Ingenieur, by IWC, came some years later (Ingenieur Vintage 1955, £4,250; 0845 337 1868, iwc.com ), and its divine simplicity makes it a brilliant example of the retro revival.

SPACE AGE

Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969 and the Salyut space station was launched in 1971, but it was the look and feel of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968, that encapsulated the time. With their confident use of colour, and clean, stylised lines, these watches exhibit the trappings of this period. Omega’s Speedmaster Alaska Project Moonwatch (£2,975; omegawatches.com ) was developed for space, its outer case bright red because no other colour offers the same protection from temperature shock. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s tribute to the Memovox Polaris diving watch (£7,750; jaeger-lecoultre.com ) features what was a breakthrough in 1968: an internal rotating bezel, used to set your minutes when diving. Its unusual domed glass cannot be achieved with modern materials. Probably the most iconic retro watch ever is the TAG Heuer Monaco (Steve McQueen Monaco, £2,600; tagheuer.com ) – it’s a herald of space-age chic.

ROBO RETRO

Somewhere in the 1980s, between Blade Runner and RoboCop, lies the robo retro trend. Both Harry Winston (Opus 8, £215,000; 020 7907 8800, harrywinston.com ) and De Grisogono (Meccanico, about £220,000; 020 7499 2225, degrisogono.com ) have gone to the extreme effort of producing mechanical watches with a faux-digital readout. They’re exceedingly expensive (considering other quartz watches can be bought for less than a tenner), fascinating and great to look at. Seiko was the first brand to harness the regularity of the quartz crystal (almost scuppering the Swiss watch industry in one fell swoop). Its new Arctura model (£495; seiko.co.uk ) cunningly uses kinetic energy from your wrist. Crazy, huh? Meanwhile, a fashion house – heaven forbid – gets the future-retro trend down rather well with the I-Gucci (£650; gucci.com ), a black-and-digital cyborg wrist menace.

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