Gull Smykke · 2021

Lunar Klokke

by Dabi Robert

A' Design Award i Gull 2021 in Smykke
CLIENT: Ziiiro
Estimated Number of Design Views: 58,537
Verification code 71D668CFD0 · Verify this award

Visit Site View at A' Design Award Press Release

Colors

About Lunar Klokke

Lunar er Roberts prosjekt for urmakerfirmaet ZIIIRO. Denne klokken skaper en forbindelse mellom designet og objektets natur. Hvis det ikke var en klokke som naturlig beveger seg med urviseren, ville det ikke vært mulig å avlese den. Kantene av to halvsirkler som beveger seg med urviseren viser timer og minutter, de er begge plassert på samme høyde noe som skaper en flat overflate. Gjennom de sammenflettede formene blir visere og urskive ett, og skaper en grafikk i konstant endring.

About the A' Design Award i Gull

Lunar Klokke er vinner av A' Design Award i Gull, en enormt prestisjefylt anerkjennelse som tildeles førsteklasses, praktfulle og enestående design. Gullvinnere er usedvanlig nyskapende, visjonære og glamorøst blendende skaperverk som gjenspeiler designernes geni, visdom og dyktighet. Lunar Klokke forventes å være en høyt rost, trendsettende og monumental oppfinnelse som gir enestående verdi. Dette designet, som har vunnet A' Design Award i Gull, er et spektakulært, respektert prosjekt som i høy grad gagner og flytter grensene for kunst, vitenskap, design og teknologi. Lunar Klokke skaper intense følelser av begjær, vekker lidenskap, oppmuntrer til kreativitet og fascinerer oss.

Press Kit

Unique Properties: Lunar is a wrist watch that uses an unconventional way of displaying time. It is shown by two interlocking half circles. The correct side of the semi-circle that shows the current time is determined by the fact that it naturally rotates clock-wise. The inner minute disc is embedded into the outer hour disc, allowing both discs to be aligned at the same level of height. The brand ZIIIRO emphasises unique and fun ways of telling the time over absolute precision.
Dimensions & Packaging: Casing Material: 316L stainless steel, brushed
Case Size Thickness: 9.8 mm, Width: 41 mm
Case Back: 316L Stainless steel, matte, twist case back
Hands: Aluminium, anodised and printed in various colours
Watch dial: Hidden behind hands, printed black
Crown: at 3 Hour Position
Strap: Width 20 mm, 316L stainless steel Milanese mesh
Movement: Japanese MIYOTA Quartz movement
Glass: Hardened Mineral Crystal
Battery: SR 616 SW
Water Resistant: 5 ATM
Tags: watch, wrist watch, ziiiro, time, lunar, disc
Production Technology: The Lunar design was developed to create a watch face where the whole surface is a changing pattern, but in the most minimal way. In order to for the final result to be usable and readable, it is necessary for the owner to know clockwise direction. Of course, this should go without saying. Even the word "clockwise" refers to watches, so what makes this design special is that the graphical design of the watch face is tied to a watch without any alternative – It wouldn't work in a world where some watches go clockwise and some counter-clockwise. The design is tied to the product in the most intimate way.
Design Challenge: In order for being able to embed the inner disc into to outer one, it was necessary to use brass discs. This way, the bigger disc can be bent, and the smaller disc be placed inside this deepening. Compared to plastic, metallic discs come with the disadvantage of being heavier, which can be a problem for the torque and the fixation on the stem. We tackled the torque issue by removing non-visible material from the underlying disc. The fixation issue, we tried to resolve by using another miniature disc that is being applied from the top. With such a small clearance of a wrist watch, tiny misalignments can make a visual difference, that's why quality control is even more important with a construction like this. The first version of this model was finished in 2016, but after some technical complications, we had to re-release it in 2020.
Research: ZIIIRO is all about unique ways of telling the time. We are aware that the purpose of a traditional wrist watch has evolved from time teller into a status symbol or accessory for expressing one's personality and fashion style. In order to figure out the fashion part, we exhibited at the Berlin fashion week 4 times, where we could get feedback from all over the world. After additional market research by making polls and looking at our customer base, we discovered that a large portion of our fans is affiliated to the creative industry. Since being creative is our credo, it shows that we are doing something right.
Inspiration: The goal of this project was to develop a flat graphical way of displaying time, while the whole watch face serves as a constantly changing canvas without making compromises to readability. By using these flat coloured semi-circles on solid metal discs, we touched the limits of graphical minimalism. Since it became redundant for a watch to only tell time, the brand's mission is to design quality pieces, that emphasise on the fun part of watches.
Project Duration: The project started in 2016 in Germany & Hong Kong. It took about a year until we could finalise the product. However, due to technical complications we re-released a revised version in 2020.
Operation Flow: Time can be set by pulling out and turning the crown. Time is indicated by two discs, the outer one shows hour, the inner one minutes. To keep the visual appearance minimal, there are no markers. When setting the time, the light semi-circle tip have to be moved into the correct position in relation to the watch orientation. Since the semi-circles have two side, the correct one is the one moving towards clockwise direction.
Image Credits: Image #1,2,4,5: Robert Dabi
Image #3: Xcountry Inc. Japan