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Design the World: Stowa Automatic Watch
This post is sponsored by Autodesk. Another in a series of posts on the things we actually own and use here at MoCo Loco.
The more I write for MoCo, the more I realize that many of the objects that give me pleasure and comfort have ties to childhood memories. Such is the case with wristwatches. My father owned the first self-winding or automatic watch I had ever seen. I remember sitting next to him and watching while he wound his watch by repeatedly twisting his forearm. At the time (and in hindsight) this seemed strange to me, but he explained that the watch had a weight inside that turned with the motion of the wrist and wound the mainspring within. (I later learned that he wound the watch in this fashion because he was unable to wind it with the crown due to a shoddy repair job. Most automatic watches can be wound by turning the crown. This is a more efficient way of winding the mainspring in cases where the watch has been left unattended.)
With the advent of LEDs and LCDs, my attention turned to watches that displayed time and date in digital form. My first LED watch displayed the time via a narrow ruby-colored window in a bulky metal case. No one thought of installing an acceleration sensor of some sort that would light up the display with the flick of the wrist (perhaps such technology didn't exist). You needed two hands to tell the time. You had to press a button on the case to light the display. The novelty wore off very quickly. LCD watches provided a continuous display, but early versions were so dim that you needed a backlight. Once again, two hands to tell the time.
Eventually I became disenchanted with battery powered watches; the regular visits to the jeweler, the toxic battery waste. I flirted with solar power for a while, but few manufacturers have embraced the technology and I was unable to find designs that I liked. After a while I found myself exploring the world of automatic watches (again). I wasn't alone. At about the same time, men's watches became fashionable again and there has been a boom in boutique design.
My collection of automatics is modest in price and in number. The finer models are German. My favorite dress watch is by Rainer Brand and I have a quirky single hand watch made by Defakto (early watches had but a single hand), but my Stowa "Antea Creme" reflects the Bauhaus style that I like the best. Its clean lines are a joy to behold and its crystal case back allows one to admire the inner works. Stowa watches first appeared in the 1920s and the brand is one of many that have been revived of late. The Jörg Schauer Company assembles and ships Stowa models to order from Germany.
Recent visits to watch blogs reveal that there are more than one thousand boutique watch designers out there. Many of the watches are amalgams of Chinese-made parts with western pretensions. China deserves its due (I own a lovely Sea-Gull automatic that is proudly made in Tianjin) but seek out a pedigree if youcan.
Do you have a favorite object or product? Share it with us by uploading a picture and description at mocoloco.com/upload. We may feature your submission in an upcoming Favorite Designs post.
The illustrative sketches you see here were all created by Chris Sweet using Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro because favorite designs, yours and mine, begin with an idea and quite often with the kind of sketches you see here.
The more I write for MoCo, the more I realize that many of the objects that give me pleasure and comfort have ties to childhood memories. Such is the case with wristwatches. My father owned the first self-winding or automatic watch I had ever seen. I remember sitting next to him and watching while he wound his watch by repeatedly twisting his forearm. At the time (and in hindsight) this seemed strange to me, but he explained that the watch had a weight inside that turned with the motion of the wrist and wound the mainspring within. (I later learned that he wound the watch in this fashion because he was unable to wind it with the crown due to a shoddy repair job. Most automatic watches can be wound by turning the crown. This is a more efficient way of winding the mainspring in cases where the watch has been left unattended.)
With the advent of LEDs and LCDs, my attention turned to watches that displayed time and date in digital form. My first LED watch displayed the time via a narrow ruby-colored window in a bulky metal case. No one thought of installing an acceleration sensor of some sort that would light up the display with the flick of the wrist (perhaps such technology didn't exist). You needed two hands to tell the time. You had to press a button on the case to light the display. The novelty wore off very quickly. LCD watches provided a continuous display, but early versions were so dim that you needed a backlight. Once again, two hands to tell the time.
Eventually I became disenchanted with battery powered watches; the regular visits to the jeweler, the toxic battery waste. I flirted with solar power for a while, but few manufacturers have embraced the technology and I was unable to find designs that I liked. After a while I found myself exploring the world of automatic watches (again). I wasn't alone. At about the same time, men's watches became fashionable again and there has been a boom in boutique design.
My collection of automatics is modest in price and in number. The finer models are German. My favorite dress watch is by Rainer Brand and I have a quirky single hand watch made by Defakto (early watches had but a single hand), but my Stowa "Antea Creme" reflects the Bauhaus style that I like the best. Its clean lines are a joy to behold and its crystal case back allows one to admire the inner works. Stowa watches first appeared in the 1920s and the brand is one of many that have been revived of late. The Jörg Schauer Company assembles and ships Stowa models to order from Germany.
Recent visits to watch blogs reveal that there are more than one thousand boutique watch designers out there. Many of the watches are amalgams of Chinese-made parts with western pretensions. China deserves its due (I own a lovely Sea-Gull automatic that is proudly made in Tianjin) but seek out a pedigree if youcan.
Do you have a favorite object or product? Share it with us by uploading a picture and description at mocoloco.com/upload. We may feature your submission in an upcoming Favorite Designs post.
The illustrative sketches you see here were all created by Chris Sweet using Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro because favorite designs, yours and mine, begin with an idea and quite often with the kind of sketches you see here.
