Snoopy watches: why do watch brands love Peanuts?

It’s 75 years since Charles Schultz first published his Peanuts comic strip, and there are still new Snoopy watches launching yearly. The question is, why?

BY JOSH SIMS

When the Japanese brand Orient looked to produce its first watch with a so-called character dial – one typically featuring a character from the pantheon of comic book or cartoon greats – Snoopy was the go-to choice. And not just because both Orient and Charles M Schultz’s Peanuts mark their 75th anniversaries in 2025. A licence deal was struck, with restrictions as to where the three subsequent limited-edition models could be sold – online via Orient only – and for how long.

But why Snoopy? ‘I really can’t explain the appeal of Snoopy in particular,’ concedes Orient’s product manager Matt Clifford, ‘and on paper it’s a strange thing to find a 1950s comic strip character on a modern mechanical watch, and right across the price spectrum too. Sometimes it’s the seemingly very random brand crossovers that work best because they’re so unexpected, though Snoopy – an entertainment phenomenon – has certainly developed this wide appeal in the watch world.’

That, he argues on further thought, is in part because it’s not easy to find an IP, an intellectual property, that’s not contentious, or not so closely connected to one particular culture so as to make global sales challenging. Snoopy – simply-drawn, in black and white – isn’t so bold as to detract from the design of any watch the droopy-eared beagle finds himself on.

The emotional tug of a Snoopy watch

The Orient Snoopy watch, from £349.99

(Image credit: Courtesy of brand)

But George Bamford, of Bamford Watch Department – which has just produced a ‘Crazy Love’ Snoopy edition watch with Frank Muller (priced £28,800 and sold out), and which has previously made Snoopy editions for Harrods, Goodwoof and Dover Street Market – suggests that appeal is more deeply emotional.

‘It’s not just nostalgia. There’s a mass resurgence of character watches [from Hello Kitty to Popeye, Babar The Elephant to the Muppets, Pokemon to Mario and, of course, the OG Mickey Mouse] because they make you smile, which we all need in these interesting times,’ says Bamford, who has an office full of Snoopy memorability and a 6ft-tall soft toy version at home. ‘But out of all of them, Snoopy has that cool factor, in part because the licensee has built the IP’s presence so well and allowed it to be interpreted with more freedom.’

One of Snoopy’s most popular alter egos is Joe Cool, points out Vishal Tolani, director of Dartmouth Brands, owner of aviation-inspired watch brand AVI-8. Indeed, that Snoopy has multiple such alter egos – tennis player, explorer and painter, to name just a few – only adds to the character’s design versatility. AVI-8 recently launched its own limited-edition range of five Snoopy designs, aptly featuring the dog in his ‘flying ace’ guise and coming in a doghouse-shaped box.

‘Snoopy has been marinating in the public consciousness for so many years that, among all the characters, it’s one of the best able to resonate in different ways and so reach as many people as possible,’ says Tolani. ‘That means the economics [of paying to use such an intellectual property] can make sense. Effectively, you’re paying rent on a brand that gets you an audience. They might not have heard of AVI-8 but they have heard of Snoopy.’

Bamford Snoopy watch, currently sold out

(Image credit: Courtesy of brand)

That Snoopy has almost become as much a cult subject on watch dials as off it – and likewise been co-opted by countless streetwear and accessories brands too – might suggest we’re at peak-Peanuts. Armitron was the first watchmaker to put Snoopy on a dial, in 1956, though arguably it wasn’t until the acclaimed watch designer Gerald Genta started using characters, the likes of Donald Duck and the Pink Panther, on high-end watches from 1984 that the idea was taken seriously by watch enthusiasts.

Peanuts characters have since been seen on watches from, among others, Seiko, Swatch and Omega. In 2003, Omega created a Snoopy Speedmaster inspired by NASA’s Silver Snoopy Award, given for an outstanding contribution to mission success and launched in 1968 with Schultz’s enthusiast support.

And, indeed, Clifford says that Orient had some reservations about the risk of its new take being disregarded as just another Snoopy watch – which is one reason why, for a point of differentiation, Snoopy’s yellow bird friend Woodstock also makes an appearance at the start of each month, the first time a Peanuts character has been used on the date wheel.

Timex Peanuts watch, £95

(Image credit: Courtesy of brand)

But maybe the options are limited. Shawn Lawson Cummings, senior vice president of innovation for Timex – which returned to the Snoopy licence earlier this year, with a three-hand model with a golfing Snoopy image, and a GMT with a driving Snoopy one – argues that while there are many comic or cartoon characters a watch company might pull from, very few have just the right resonance. Snoopy almost stands alone.

‘Mickey Mouse is up there,’ she says – Timex launched its first Mickey watch in 1933, ‘but there really aren’t many that you can put on a watch for an adult as well as a child. The character has to have substance. It has to stand for something [that transcends its inherent kiddiness] – and Peanuts is an ever-green iconic property communicating an optimism that crosses generations and cultures.’

This article is originally available at www.wallpaper.com