2012 WUS CMW SE Project - The DESIGN Thread Reloaded

[draistlin]

wouldn't mind chinese numbers on the watch dial seeing as it is a chinese made watch; though i'd say the majority of watches made in china have no chinese letters or numerals in them, its going to be interesting to see what the collective decides to do.

[MHe225]

As 2130 has no fourth hand, it's better to remove the mock-ups with 4 hands to avoid misunderstandings ...

Miro, I guess you missed this little note at the end of the original post

Note: I realize that some designs show GMT lay-outs and need to be modified as we are not creating a GMT watch.

This is one of these "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations. Our intent was to give a flavor of the different design- and styling-directions featuring in the now closed design-thread. Only showing the 3-hand designs could have led to the accusation of pushing or favoring a certain direction. Same thing if we had only shown the design(s) favored by the Committee members

We share your concern / question about the date-window position, but as hked has pointed out, Thomas has confirmed -and reconfirmed- the 3 o'clock position. It may be worthwhile, though, to ask one more time, citing the "relative to the crown" reasoning.
And at the same time, also address / explore the issue of pre-cut dials, ask about optional bracelets* (and their price), and ..... and .....

RonB
on behalf on behalf of the 2012 WUS Chinese SE Project Committee

* The Committee has decided against bracelets in the current offering simply because of cost considerations. This pricing for this year's project ($230 successfully negotiated down to $190) is substantially higher than last year's ($130 and $139 with personalized engraving) and the addition of a bracelet would push the price again well beyond $200 which seems a psychological / real barrier for many. Maybe Thomas is willing to offer a bracelet at cost for those who are willing to pay the extra $$ - a question worth asking

[Auroch]

21mm isn't that strange, it's just not common. My local watch shops here have more 21mm straps than 20mm ... if it's not 22mm, then they're all harder to come by.

[Louis888]

I'm pretty open to most design aspects, however my biggest preference is to NOT have Chinese characters.

I've travelled to mainland china a few times, and I have never noticed any watch that does have Chinese characters.

The only occasion when I have seen Chinese characters on a watch was back in a souvenir shop in London's Chinatown... So in my mind it seems 'gimmicky'.

[Citizen V]

As far as straps go, I didn't realize 22mm were 'more common'. Even so, I don't think I ever had a problem finding 20mm straps in any particular.
Anyway, I was hoping for a bracelet to come with the watch; shame it won't be included :(.

[Auroch]

I'm pretty open to most design aspects, however my biggest preference is to NOT have Chinese characters.

I've travelled to mainland china a few times, and I have never noticed any watch that does have Chinese characters.

The only occasion when I have seen Chinese characters on a watch was back in a souvenir shop in London's Chinatown... So in my mind it seems 'gimmicky'.

I think that's why we avoided chinese characters last year, if I remember correctly.

As far as straps go, I didn't realize 22mm were 'more common'. Even so, I don't think I ever had a problem finding 20mm straps in any particular.

This is what I hear from a) the two dealers I work with regularly, and b) lots of folk on the forum. My own personal experience is that 18mm is extremely common, but I've been working with a lot of 60s-70s watches. *shrugs*

[Chascomm]

Whatever the case size, i'd appreciate 22mm lug width, since it is a much more common size.
For those whi want a bracelet, perhaps a shark mesh bracelet could be an option?

More common? On aftermarket straps and bracelets? Not in this town.

[stevenkelby]

Surely 22mm is by far the most common lug width in modern mens watches? I would guess it's the size for which more straps are available on aftermarket strap sites.

Anyway, I vote 22mm :)

[Chascomm]

I think the bezel on the left is particularly promising:



When I first suggested combining 60 minute marks with 1-12 numbers, I was not sure what would result, but this mock-up demonstrates that it would be easy to use this bezel for either a 2nd time zone or for counting elapsed time.

The only enhancement that I would suggest is to use a contrasting colour (probably red) for minute marks 1 to 15 and replace the '12' with a prominent pointer. This might be just me, but I find that colour differentiation for one quarter makes a rotating bezel much easier to read at a glance. Case in point; on the bezel pictured below I have no problem knowing where I am at a glance, whatever the angle, in spite of the lack of numbers:

[Chascomm]

My guess is that because the Landeron dual-crown watch has the date at 3 o'clock with an ST2130, therefore there is an existing supply of custom date disks (or at least a template for such) suitable for date at 3 with stem at 4.