December 9, 2009

Speaking of Watches

Another post about simplified watches from Dezeen, this time about a watch sans minute hand:

Defakto is a young brand established at the beginning of the year 2009. We have made it our objektive to redefine the feeling of time by the creation of a mechanic single hand watch. Within this form the single hand principle is unique. We build place our confidence on understatement and stand for a new way of living in form of a relaxed feeling of time. Our central theme is to display time as simple as possible, but as exact as needed. Defakto builds watches for people with time whom are therefore not meticulous depended on knowing the exact time. We designed the watches for people which have achieved their own live’s rhythm in the fast moving time of today. (emphasis mine)

I award points for originality, but quite frankly feel this design misses the mark. There are a countless number of ways to simplify a watch (removing tic marks, for example), but eliminating the minute hand is not one of them, in my mind.

Albert Einstein once said: “Everything should be made a simple as possible, but not simpler.” Perhaps Defakto should have stopped after removing the second hand.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts over @RussianPencil.

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The Russians Used a Pencil is a blog about simplicity. If you have any suggestions for blog entries please don't hesitate to contact me here, or over on Twitter @RussianPencil. This blog does not reflect the views of my employment.