A Few Questions on Designing Watches...

[ibodhidogma]

Hello all,

After several months on obsessively hunting watches– (German watches, Swiss watches, vintage watches, aviator watches...ALL watches) I have slowly come to the conclusion that there is a LOT of room for new designs.

I have a background in 2D and web design and I thought perhaps I should take a shot at a design or two of my own. But I just looked on Amazon and didn't find a SINGLE how-to book on watch design!

Does anyone have any advice on where to begin? (Keep in mind I am fairly advanced in PS and Illustrator.)

I see that Inkscape has been recommended for the app. But I have NO idea how to begin...!

Any and all advice is VERY WELCOMED. Thanks, Eric

[interested_party]

Maybe take a shot at assembilng one from parts (a good start is Ofrei.com) so you get an idea how the parts interact and also how easy to source different parts are.

Then some 3D CAD/CAM skills would be needed if you're going to have a case milled.

Good luck.

[workaholic_ro]

Inkscape has only one single advantage over Illustrator, Corel or any other vector graphic software: it's free. If you are an experienced Illustrator user don't bother, for 2D it is more than enough. To improve design speed I would suggest a 3D CAD software. It might make you work better or not, but faster without any doubt. Plenty of available options, read about them first and pick one according to your taste.

[jobryan]

I tried watch designing watch. I still maintain that my ideas are better then alot of watches on the market (even though i'm a horrible artist). I always designed on paper with a standard compass.

[ibodhidogma]

Thank you all for your input, I appreciate it.

Unfortunately, I have very little experience with 3D since I was never attracted by the aesthetics of it to begin with. But now I need it... D'oh!

I know a lot of designers use Sketch Up (I believe it is called) so maybe I'll look into it.

However, are there templates out there, just to get started with?

And since no one mentioned it, I'll assume there aren't any books on the subject...(?) (Aside from coffee table books, that is).

Cheers, Eric

[interested_party]

I'm not to sure about books on watch design.

May I ask what you are intending on doing? Just drawing one up for fun or do you want to make it?

[ibodhidogma]

I'm not to sure about books on watch design.

May I ask what you are intending on doing? Just drawing one up for fun or do you want to make it?

I'm not sure yet. I know someone who might be interested fabricating my designs, but I honestly don't know how difficult of a learning curve it will be.

On the one hand, watch designing seems fairly straight forward. On the other hand, I've never had to design anything with such precision before, so I just don't know.

Care to share any pitfalls that I need to be aware of...?

[workaholic_ro]

Ask "the someone" first what kind of 3D files would be able to handle. Then you can look for a software that can export the required files. Even a brilliant design is useless without the proper interface.

[interested_party]

Care to share any pitfalls that I need to be aware of...?

I'm no expert at all. I've just make a couple from off the shelf parts. Now I'm thinking of designing a case and dial of my own.

If you intend to actually make it, I think it would be wise to assemble one from cheap parts so you get an idea what is possible. It would be silly to design something with a date window in a certain position (for example), then find out you can't get a movement to suit the location (I assume you're not intending on making the movement).

If you are just designing for fun, then that's cool and you wouldn't have any restrictions whatsoever.

[workaholic_ro]

...
I know a lot of designers use Sketch Up (I believe it is called) so maybe I'll look into it....

You made me curious, so I had a look at Google Sketchup. It's free, but it's a toy. I would rather recommend a professional product. Can be found at Audodesk, Siemens, PTC, Dassault Systems. More affordable (but not necessarily much inferior) systems at McNeel and Alibre Inc. A combined and affordable CAD/CAM solution at BobCad-Cam, plus a lot of resources and support for the entire path, from sketch to CNC machine.
Actually the only CAD system conceived specially for watch designing is Tellwatch, but I do not know much about it. A few companies are using it, but the products of the companies mentioned above are also used in the watch industry.
Good luck whatever you choose to work with!