Feedback req. for some watch designs.

[tmr5555]

Hi folks, i'm a designer and some months back wanted to have a go at some watch mockups in my free time.
Now i'm about to refine one of my designs (the one with the cage in front of the dial) and hopefully eventually get a prototype built.
So i would like to ask for some feedback from you watch nuts out there
Link to the designs: Watches on the Behance Network
Thanks in advance!

[jxlxr]

If you referring to the design that you have as your avatar that is a really nice design. It has many elements of what you see in the high end watches that are released each year at Basel. Not sure what movement would power that so more than likely I would suspect hat you will see this to be a very costly watch to build.

If you are referring to the watch that has the bars across the face in an X-design, I really don't feel that this produces a clean and elegant watch. It cheapens it in my opinion and the bars interrupt the face and serves no purpose. Reminds me of the old Casios that have the bars for "toughness".

Nice work in visualizing these as designing something that is new and fresh is not easy.

[Gordon Fraser]

I think there's a lot to like in all your designs.

But for the first one - the one in your avatar, I personally would address the front of the watch where you have the horizontal gauge. It looks too much to me like a set of baking scales.

But please take this with a pinch of salt (no pun intended), it's personal opinion.


All the best and good luck, it's a tough old world,




Gordon

[Medusa]

I like the top one best. I think it is one of the better looking concepts I have seen lately. The others are nice but the originality and uniqueness of the first is very impressive.

[tmr5555]

Thanks y'all for the feedback. Keep it coming

[slikmetalfab]

I also like the first one. Kind of Urwerk style.

The top "flutes" on the sides give it an art deco-esk style.


Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[callfriday]

I really do like the last watches you have designed. Especially the one on the right without the cage/grill/bars on it. That is a watch, and I think which will make a very good impression to everyone. It is very beautiful, clear, clean and elegant. It is a watch that I would love to own. The other watches are too challenging to look at or to consider in my opinion. The problem is, in the 4th design, you are trying to sell a diver's watch. If I was to criticise it, I would say that you have clearly demonstrated that you do not know what a diver's watch is. The object which is obscuring the watch face is completely contrary to a serious divers watch. Take a look at the Prometheus brand of divers watches if you want to know what makes a real diver's watch.

I am sorry but gimmicks which cover a watch face cannot be taken seriously, if that is what you want to achieve. The first watch reminds me of the Urwerk UR-110, and I made comments on this web site board today about the Urwerk UR-110 such as, "it is a beautiful watch but it is too extreme to be considered as a practical or safe watch to wear"!

Consider Panerai for a moment? Panerai have a very long watch history, yet all of the hotest designs, replicas and homage watches are designs made over 50 years ago!

What about Rolex? Their traditional 70's design is still going strong, with new watch brands launching their brands under the same old Rolex Submarina design.

This is why your last design concept stands out above the rest. Remember! Not the one with the "thing" over watch dial, but the other on the right. This design is very attractive, delicate and compelling. It is a watch that I would want to own. This watch is a winner for me, and I think that you will do well pursueing this - as a proper diver's watch. You could even do variations on the same theme, with different dials and by showing an understanding for the uses of other colours on the Lumed watch face.

The quartz watch concept design is complex, frustrating and problematic, because you have clearly demonstrated your feats in creating a multi-faceted design, but let me ask you something, does the watch know what it wants to be? What is the watch saying? Or in other words, why should I bother to get out of bed to buy it? There are so many other chinese cheapos to choose from!

Now, please, do not see me as being rude or impolite. I am provoking you to ask yourself some serious questions before you undertake something of which you may be proposing. There are a lot of other watch brands out there, so what are you hoping to achieve?

You have demonstrated quite clearly that you are very proficient and professional when it comes to watch design ability, but you still need to discover and know who you are as a designer rather than borrowing design concepts from everyone else. At this present moment you have proven that you are a Goliath when it comes to watch design ability, in that you can achieve all these wonderful feats, but you now need to become a little David, so that you can properly focus the weilding of all your creative stones.

[tmr5555]

"Now, please, do not see me as being rude or impolite."
Quite from it sir, what a nice & comprehensive review, i thank you for that.
These were my first attempts that i did about a year ago and as my comprehension and understanding of horology has deepened i've pretty much arrived at your thoughts exactly. I'm currently working on some newer versions that would hopefully be better than the above designs.
Watch design seems to be a very exact science and like you say less is often more.
I beg to differ on the cage topic though. What i'm about to say might appear as blasphemy but i don't necessarily believe that watches are necessarily time pieces and meant to tell time any more but appeal more to the inner children in us, through their mechanical marvel, exotic materials and dare i say their design. So is the fact that the cage inhibits vision really so important? Is Superlume definitely necessary for a desk diver watch?
Ex-soviet divers' watches had similar cages to protect the crystals, and they were used, after all we are mostly desk divers and don't rely on chronometer grade time keeping to go about our daily days.
What do we need in our time pieces and what don't we need? There is no right or wrong answer really.
These designs were my answers to my hypothetical needs back then, had i done these designs today they would be much different.
Please check back in 4 or so months, your comments would be greatly appreciated.

[callfriday]

Here! Here! -Well said.
What you said in your reply just then was very sobering, mature and well received, especially by me. You have demonstrated something which is sadly lacking in the watch world, which is a finesse in understanding what real watch wearing and appreciation is all about. Yes. -A watch is more than the sum of its parts, and as you rightly said,

"What i'm about to say might appear as blasphemy but i don't necessarily believe that watches are necessarily time pieces and meant to tell time any more but appeal more to the inner children in us, through their mechanical marvel, exotic materials and dare i say their design."

That was beautiful, how could it have been better said? When I was considering writing an advert for my brand of watches, this is what I wrote recently:-
(COPYRIGHT (C) 2012 OF BERRETTAWATCHES.COM)

"You know that wearing a watch for yourself is more than just telling the time,
wearing a watch is about who you are, who you are as a person, how you define yourself..." (c) berrettawatches.com
-Some people, buy exceptionally expensive watches, not because they like the watch or the design, but because it pampers to their pride, or to the pride of the one who has received it. That is why I know that you have clearly demonstrated that most people fail to understand the energy, the love, the passion, the sweat involved in designing a watch. -in bringing a concept to life, through all its design problems and tribulations. Especially, in the current sea of watches and ship wrecks of watch design.

I am grateful for your invitation to look at some more designs of yours later.

Many thanks.

[DEPA]

designs are ok for the beginning. the first one on the top is possible to produce with a retrograde regulator. a small problem is the centerview of the movement. basically it shows the backview of the movement on top. so this is the only complaint which i have. keep up good work.