In 2011, industrial designer Bradley Price founded Officine Autodromo, a super cool watch brand paying tribute to the golden age of motoring "when driving required style, panache, and perhaps a little bit of danger."
He has since added driving gloves and sunglasses to the line, each item designed in-house and offering serious retro style along with modern materials and technology. Jared Paul Stern spoke to Price about one of his most enduring influences, Alfa Romeo:
What does Alfa Romeo mean to you?
For me Alfa Romeo is a name that conjures the ideal of sporting refinement. Alfa Romeo, for me, is a marque which stands for lively driving dynamics, a flair for design, and wonderful sounding exhaust notes. And all of this delivered with no pretense.
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What has inspired you about the marque?
Alfa Romeo has a truly illustrious racing history going back to the dawn of the motorcar. I think it is amazing that you can still buy a car today which is heir to this very impressive lineage of winning racing and sports cars. Most cars with this sort of pedigree are out of reach, but an Alfa Romeo is a car that many people can afford to own.
Which of your designs is influenced by Alfa Romeo and how?
Our limited edition Monoposto watch was inspired by the enormous tachometer gauge found in the Alfetta 159 Grand Prix car, which was driven to Formula 1 championships in 1951 and 1952 by Farina and Fangio respectively. Our Veloce watch from our original collection was inspired by gauges from some of the 1960s Alfa Romeos models.
Which Alfa Romeo models have you owned / do you own?
My first Alfa Romeo was my 1983 GTV6, which I still use as my daily driver. I now also own a 1959 Giulietta Spider Veloce which I run in vintage racing here on the East Coast. Both cars are distinctive in that they are so easy to drive with gusto, and so well balanced. They also both sound incredible at full throttle. I find that Alfa Romeos simply come alive in a way that few other cars do. It is a testament to the quality of the engineering in these cars that I can drive a 56-year-old car to the race track, drive it flat out for two days of wheel to wheel racing, and then drive it home with no problem. You can't even do that with some modern cars.
If you could pick any Alfa Romeo to add to your collection what would it be?
My ultimate dream Alfa Romeo would be the 1938 8C 2900B Berlinetta Aerodinamica Le Mans - which belongs to the Alfa Romeo museum. The 8C 2900B series was pretty much the greatest all-around car ever built by anyone--and I am not alone in that opinion. It was one of the fastest, most advanced production cars in the world at the time, winning the Mille Miglia among other victories. The Berlinetta Aerodinamica was one of the most beautiful and unusual bodies built on this chassis to race at Le Mans, and I find it utterly stunning from every angle. Realistically, I would love to someday own an Alfa Romeo Montreal, which has an incredible Bertone-designed body penned by Marcello Gandini, and a racing-derived V8 engine up front.
