DEGREE PROJECT Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition
Sponsor : Titan Company Limited, Bangalore Volume : 1 of 1 STUDENT : JANSHER AIDAN BAKHSHI NONGRUM PROGRAMME : Bachelor of Design (B. Des) GUIDE : KRISHNESH MEHTA
2018 INDUSTRIAL DESIGN FACULTY (PRODUCT DESIGN)
The Evaluation Jury recommends JANSHER AIDAN BAKHSHI NONGRUM for the
Degree of the National Institute of Design IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN (PRODUCT DESIGN)
Herewith, for the project titled "TITAN VISION NEXT" on fulfilling the further requirements by*
Chairman
Members :
Jury Grade : *Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirements : This Project has been completed in ________________ weeks.
Activity Chairperson, Education
TITAN VISION NEXT EXPLORATIONS IN RECRAFTING THE WATCH PROPOSITION
Jansher A.B. Nongrum | Product Design | Graduation Project | B. Des 2014 - 18
Copyright © 2018 Student document publication meant for private circulation only. All rights reserved. Bachelor of Design, Product Design 2014 - 18 National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India. No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying, xerography, photography and videography recording without the written permission from the publisher, Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum and the National Institute of Design. All illustrations and photographs in this document are Copyright © 2018 by respective people/organizations. Edited and designed by: Jansher A. B. Nongrum Email - jansher.bakhshi@gmail.com Processed at National Institute of Design (NID), Paldi, Ahmedabad - 380007 Gujarat, India. www.nid.edu Printed digitally in Ahmedabad, India. November, 2018
ORIGINALITY STATEMENT I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no full or substantial copy of previously published material, or does not even contain substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or final graduation of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgment is made in this graduation project. Moreover I also declare that none of the concepts are borrowed or copied without due acknowledgment. I further declare that the intellectual content of this graduation is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the projects design and conception (or part of it) was not and will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course. Student Name in full: JANSHER AIDAN BAKHSHI NONGRUM Signature: ____________________ Date: _____________________
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT I hereby grant the National Institute of Design the right to archive and to make available my graduation project/thesis/dissertation in whole or in part in the Institutes Knowledge Management Centre in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act. I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my document or I have obtained the permission to copyright material.
Student Name in full: JANSHER AIDAN BAKHSHI NONGRUM Signature: ____________________ Date: _____________________
IT’S TIME!
PREFACE About the Graduation Project: The Graduation Project is final academic project for the student, marking the end of the students’ academic tenure at the National Institute of Design. It is marked by the culmination of a substantial investigation in the field of Design on a topic closely allied to their discipline of study. It is through the Graduation Project and it’s subsequent documentation that this investigation takes place. The Graduation Project is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their expertise as individual practitioners of design. It should reflect the thought leadership manifested through creativity and innovation. The project should lead to new knowledge creation and should align with the broader objectives of the institution.
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My Graduation Project, Titan Designed, was done at the Titan Company, consummating in a range of tangible artifacts i.e. four watches and design language manifesto set in a future 5 years from now.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project is the result of the collective efforts of various people and I am grateful to them for their support.
Kartha, Kanwalpreet Kaur, Divya Barange, Rajesha and Visakh for lending key internal support within Titan.
I am grateful to Titan Company Limited for having given me a peek into the world of watch design and a chance to contribute to it.
I am grateful to Sahil Thappa and the Watch Collecting Community for having infused me with enthusiasm and determination to practice design in the watch space.
Special thanks to Mahendra Chauhan, Michael Foley, Krishnesh Mehta, Gayatri Menon and Praveen Nahar for having provided mentorship to bring light at crucial points in this project. Their inputs have helped shaped this project into all that it is. My thanks to Ujjwal Anand, Prassanna El, Malvika Sainath, Keith D’Souza, Chetan Sharma, Suparna Dapke, Shatabdi Sangeeta, Karthick Nitish, Rohan
have been much shades darker without the energy of the product design family and batchmates from other disciplines. I thank Sooraj, Harshali, Ravishankar, Saket, Rajdeep, Simoul and Rahul for having kept me alive when I fell into crisis at different points during the last few years. Lastly, thank you Mom, Dad and Zo for being my core support throughout.
I thank Chinmayee Nalawade, Navin Gonga, Swarnika Nimje, Mallika Talwar and Reena Regmi for having modelled for the Photographs that went into the document. Aniket Kunte’s photography made the products and people behind them shine. My journey through the four years of NID would
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CONTENTS 01 WRISTWATCH TEARDOWN
GROUND WORK
PREFACE 10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 11 CONTENTS 12 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN 15 PRODUCT DESIGN 17 TITAN COMPANY LIMITED 19 SYNOPSIS 23 TIMELINE 24 INITIAL BRIEF 25
WRISTWATCH TEARDOWN WATCH TERMINOLOGY WATCHCASE MATERIALS WRISTWATCH GENRES WATCH GROUPS & PRICE SPECTRUM CROSS-FERTILIZATION IN WATCHES TREND FORMULATION INNOVATION IN WRISTWATCHES
02 PATH DEPENDENCY 29 30 34 37 40 45 47 49
06
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52 57 62 64 67
07
CREATING NEW USERS (PART I) ADOPTION STRATEGY - RAGA RAGA USER - SHIFT IN DAILYWEAR RAGA USER - CHANGING ATTITUDE ATTRIBUTES: RAGA USER (EXTREMES) ATTRIBUTES: RAGA USER (GAP) RAGA - S.W.O.T ANALYSIS S.W.O.T ANALYSIS TREND - BRANDS, STORES TREND - USERS DESIGN - NEXT DESIGN DIRECTION
THE HISTORY OF TIMEKEEPING DEVICES WRISTWATCH DESIGN EVOLUTION INDIA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH WATCHES INDIAN MICROBRANDS WHERE ARE WATCHES GOING?
143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153
CREATING NEW USERS (PART II)
WATCH DESIGN FUTURES
ADOPTION PLAN & DESIGN STORY 155 MOODBOARD 157 IDEA DEVELOPMENT - KEY SKETCHES 159 IDEA DEVELOPMENT - QUICK PROTOTYPES 163 FINAL DESIGN 165 INTERCHANGEABLE BEZEL OPTIONS 171 FIRST MANUFACTURE DRAFT 175
WATCH DESIGN FUTURES STORYTELLING AS A VISIONING TOOL DESIGN IS [...] PRODUCT DIRECTIONS
181 185 189 193
03
04
TITAN’S DESIGN PRACTICE TITAN WATCHES FOUNDING PHILOSOPHY TITAN - USERS & NON-USERS PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION PARAMETERS SUB BRANDS AND TARGET GROUPS COMPETITIVE OVERLAPS OUTSIDE TITAN COMPETITIVE OVERLAPS WITHIN TITAN REFRAMED BRIEF
05
DEFINING TITAN WATCHES 71 73 77 78 84 90 93
DESIGN LANGUAGE
TITAN AT CORE SYNTHESIS FROM INTERNAL CONVERSATIONS DEFINING BRAND FROM PARENT BRANDS DEFINING BRAND USING JUNG’S ARCHETYPES WHERE ARE COMPANIES HEADED? DEFINING BRAND USING CORE METHOD BRAND STORIES
97 99 101 107 113 115 117
DESIGN LANGUAGE 121 DESIGN LANGUAGE AT SCALE 129 APPLICATION ON TITAN 131 MANUFACTURING 132 WATCH CONSTRUCTION AT TITAN 135 TITAN CASE SHAPE VARIANTS 137 SILHOUETTE, SURFACE & DETAIL 139
TAIL END REFLECTIONS 199 INFORMATION REFERENCES 200 IMAGE REFERENCES 204
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Figure 1. NID Foyer 2015 Fish Eye View (Sketch)
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN
The establishment of NID was a result of several forces, both global and local. The late 1950s saw a confluence of these forces, and this time would be a significant one for Indian culture and education. This was a time of reappraisal and reconstruction in a newly independent India. A young nation was confronted with the mammoth task of nation building, of balancing age old traditions with modern technology and ideas. The Modern Movement, the philosophy of Machine Aesthetics, and revolutionary experimentation in the arts, architecture and design were all taking place at the same time. There was a search for the Indian identity across all aspects of life. On April 7, 1958, Charles and Ray Eames presented the India Report to the Government of India. The Eames Report defined the underlying spirit that would lead to the founding of NID and beginning of design education in India.
The Report recommended a problem-solving design consciousness that linked learning with actual experience and suggested that the designer could be a bridge between tradition and modernity. The Report also called upon future designers to re-examine the alternatives of growth available to the country at that time. The recommendations of the India Report and the philosophy of the Bauhaus design movement which was learning by doing, still remain part of NID’s unique curriculum and revolutionary educational philosophy to the present day. Today the National Institute of Design is internationally acclaimed as one of the finest educational and research institutions providing a multidisciplinary design education.
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Figure 2. Subhrajit 2017 Rube Goldberg Assignment - Product Design
PRODUCT DESIGN
If you’re a fan of 99percentinvisible, a podcast on design, then you’d know that all products around you, from an air conditioner to a safety pin, have a story behind them. The story includes everything from the hows and whys that led to the product’s creation, to the joy or disaster caused after the product was released into the market. Traditionally, Product design was all about creating products which could be mass manufactured. In the past, we’d fuse form and function with a twist of emotion and innovation to create objects that people would love and benefit from. Thus, when people think of product design, they often think an elegant chair, a well-turned interface or even dramatic architecture.
Today we live in a world where anyone can build anything. Designing for the living, thinking, feeling and evolving creatures that inhabit this earth, or outside of it (hat tip to Elon Musk), requires product designers to dip their feet into all kinds of things and often the tags that define what a product designer does, or who a product design is, get muddy. It’s safe to say that if you’ve ever built, tested, shipped, debugged, rebuilt or reshipped anything then you’re a designer.
In a world that is empowered by technology, Product Design is also understanding whether something is worth building at all. The world has opened up and the scope of design, along with the role and value of a designer, is up for reinterpretation.
Studying Product Design in a multi-disciplinary environment like NID teaches you that Design is fundamental. It’s the predilection to investigate and understand. It’s the compulsion to give form to ideas, make sense of disorder and amend the imperfect. Product Design is knowing what questions to ask, and how to ask them. It’s about probing into what is the right problem to solve, how do to solve it, why to solve it? Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 17
Figure 3. Titan Watches 2018 EDGE
Figure 4. Sonata Watches 2018 SLEEK
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Figure 5. Xylus 2009 Connoisseurs
Figure 6. Fastrack 2011 Tripsters
TITAN COMPANY LIMITED
ABOUT:
HISTORY:
PORTFOLIO:
Titan Company Limited is the fifth largest integrated watch manufacturer in the world that is still in the hands of its original founders. Having started as Titan Industries Limited, a company devoted to the crafting of time telling devices for the Indian market, Titan has spent the last three decades in diversifying its product portfolio to include Jewellery, Backpacks, Eyewear, Belts, Wallets and Perfume.
Titan Company Limited was born in 1984 out of a joint venture between the TATA Group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). Titan is credited for having created a paradigm shift in the Indian Watch Market with the introduction of quartz watches marketed as objects of style and fashion. Prior to the birth of Titan, the Indian Watch Market was dominated by the state run companies HMT (hindustan Machine Tools) and Allwyn who were unable match supply to the growing demand for watches.
In India, Titan is known for having decentralized the luxury of owning a watch by creating a Titan watch for everyone across a wide price spectrum. It is in line with this pedigree that Titan created ‘Sonata’, known for its unbeatable value for money.
With a retail footprint of over 1400 stores, Titan Company has India’s largest specialty retail network spanning over 240 towns. Today, Titan Company Limited is TATA’s largest consumer company, and India’s leading producer and retailer of watches, jewellery, eyewear and accessories.
In 1989, Titan’s first watch collection, Titan Acura (short for accuracy), featured trendy watch designs and were more accurate and affordable than their mechanical watch competitors. This collection was extremely well received and it set the tone for Titan to dominate the market.
In 1998, Titan launched ‘Fastrack’ as a collection and it became an independent urban youth brand in 2005. By 2009, Fastrack had further extended its own product portfolio to include watches, eyewear and accessories like a range of bags, belts and wallets. In another pioneering act, Titan brought several international watch brands into the Indian market along with its own Swiss made watch, ‘Xylys’, through its chain of Helios watch stores.
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Figure 7. Nebula 2014 Nebula Rambagh Palace Collection
Figure 10. Taneira 2018
Figure 8. Titan Eye Plus 2018 Eyewear
In 1992, Titan launched ‘Tanishq’, and through it offered a transparent and standardized view of Jewellery in India. Today, Tanishq offers a 7 step quality check for all it’s products and is India’s most trusted jewelry brand. Tanishq gives us hope that India’s jewellery making legacy is in good hands. As a company, they actively take part in the design of elaborate jewellery for movies like Padmavat. The Tanishq retail chain currently has over 200 exclusive boutiques in over 115 cities. Completing the jewellery portfolio is ‘Zoya’, the retail store in the luxury segment, and most recently, ‘CaratLane’. ‘Nebula’ is the company’s luxury watch offering, whose niche is the meticulous crafting of watches in exotic materials, mostly 18k Gold. The brand is built on a the grounds of blending the rich heritage of Indian jewellery wth the fine craftsmanship of watch making. ‘Titan Eyeplus’,the third major line of consumer business from Titan Company Ltd, offers a variety of products including frames, lenses, contact
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Figure 11. Amalfi Bleu – SKINN by TITAN 2018
Figure 9. Tanishq 2018 Mia
lenses and sunglasses. You can also get your eyes checked by the inhouse eye specialist. Titan Eyeplus heralds standardization in the eyewear industry. Titan expanded into the fragrance market With its launch of ‘SKINN’ in 2013. Designed by award winner Master perfumers, the fine French fragrances from SKINN are manufactured and packaged in France. Titan has also increased its portfolio with ‘Taneira’, the latest range of handloom sarees. Leveraging precision engineering core competencies from watch making, Titan initiated ‘TEAL’ (erstwhile PED) in 2005, catering to global majors across industry verticals like aerospace, automotive, oil & gas, engineering, hydraulics, solar and medical instruments.
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SYNOPSIS
This project centers around a range of approaches that attempt to recraft the wristwatch proposition from a Titan point of view. The process involved a deep study into the path dependence of watches, analysis of the Titan Brand, mapping of trends across industries, interpretations of where brands are headed and how users have evolved. A keen focus was devoted to understanding design language, along with other ways to break cycles of commodification in product design. Leveraging the ability of design to serve business goals, a design-led effort chalks out a path to create new users for Titan watches. The move is focused on generating greater desirability and adoption among the current non consumers. Working closely with the sales and marketing
divisions of the company, the project explores the current product offerings from the eyes of a non consumer to be able to bridge the gap between core business efforts and new user segments. Storytelling and sketch-notes were used as a tools in visioning and synthesis. A new foundational understanding of the brand has also been adapted to fit the storytelling business model of the company.
to being objects that allow for more elegant interactions and new symbiotic relationships. The project ends with the release of a new line of Raga Watches targeted at a younger audience and the successful initiation of an in-house design effort to develop a design language for Titan’s wrist based products. This move attempts to harmonize different offerings within the Titan portfolio and differentiate from watches of the brand’s competitors.
Design was tracked across different sectors to propose new ways to engage ‘Smart’ technology in use cases outside of monitoring, surveillance and fitness (areas that have been promoted by the likes of big insurance companies to create patients out of perfectly healthy people). Through this process, an attempt was made to deviate from core narrative of watches existing as objects of status, wealth, power, style and expression Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 23
TIMELINE
A timeline was chalked out to track progress across the duration of the project and allot estimated time for each phase of the design process. The first phase of research (Research I) was intended to come up to speed with how design played out across the watch industry. This part of the process involved boiling down to the core of what people look for in a watch. Given that watches are very unique products, it was necessary to understand why an added featureset may not be the path to creating a new value proposition for a watch. After having spoken to users and chalked out a perception of how the watch world works, time was devoted to weighing opportunities based on the company’s priorities, business goals and metrics. After a direction was chosen, a process was followed to involve a handful users in a codesign process to better match unmet needs(Research II). The whole process focused on how a new offering in a watch space could be made unique to Titan.
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INITIAL BRIEF
An initial brief was offered by Titan to design a range of Smartwatches for men to add to the any of the existing Titan Brands - Sonata, Fastrack, etc. Titan had a series of Hybrid Smartwatches that were due for release and thus a spectrum of smartwatches needed to be envisioned to complete the offering. However, successive discussions involved briefs framed at different opportunities and explorations(all listed in the pictures).
After considering the avenues that one could take the graduation project, it was eventually decided that a project at the intersection of business and design would be both educational for the designer and beneficial for the company. Thus, the project eventually steered toward developing a range of approaches to help break cycles of commodification in the product design of watches.
All briefs would broadly involve: 1) A translation of socio-cultural trends into design expressions 2) Codesign with specific target groups based the selection of a subrand or collection 3) An outcome with the scope for mass production or a concept car method to open a window into a future use cases
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1
GROUND WORK Watches are very unique products. Thus, coming up to speed with the world of watches is necessary to be able to create something that is relevant for the sector. The questions below each sub part give a summary of the themes explored to demystify the world of watches.
01
02
WRISTWATCH TEARDOWN
WATCH TERMINOLOGY
What’s inside a watch? How do the parts fit together? What is designed at Titan? What is sourced from elsewhere?
What are the terms associated with watches?
06 CROSS-FERTILIZATION IN WATCHES What are the other sectors that influence the design of watches?
07 TREND FORMULATION How do trends work? Where are the trends for watches set?
03
04
05
WATCHCASE MATERIALS
WRISTWATCH GENRES
WATCH GROUPS & PRICE SPECTRUM
What are watches made out of? What are the benefits and drawbacks of a material?
What are the different kinds of watches? What are the kinds that Titan makes?
How significant is the difference in price of watches? If all watches tell time, what differentiates them? Where does Titan fit within the world of watches?
08 INNOVATION IN WRISTWATCHES Is the design of watches stagnant? How does innovation take shape at this scale? What kind of innovation do companies benefit from?
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Figure 12. Jansher (2018) Teardown of Titan Quartz
WRISTWATCH TEARDOWN
Crystal: The clear protective cover that shrouds the watch face, made from either synthetic sapphire, acrylic or glass. Synthetic sapphire is the most expensive to produce, though it is considerably more scratch resistant than either acrylic or glass crystals. Bezel: A metal (occasionally ceramic) ring that surrounds the watch crystal. Often bezels rotate on watches (usually on dive watches) and contain a scale for time or other measurements; some remain stationary or do not have a scale and are purely decorative. Gasket/O-Ring: A rubber, neoprene or plastic ring used to seal the gaps between the case and the case back, crystal and crown to prevent water or dust from entering the case and damaging the movement inside. Dial: Also often referred to as the face, the dial displays the time and features numerals and markings as well as the hands.
Indices: The markings on the dial of a watch used to represent the hours in place of numerals. In higher-end watches, these are usually “applied,” or attached to the dial, rather than printed on. Case: The main structure of the watch, containing and protecting the interior mechanizations. Case Back: The reverse side of a watch case that can be removed to access the inside of the watch. Lugs: The protruding pieces of metal at the top and bottom of a watch case where the strap is attached. The two ends of the lug hold a spring bar, which holds the strap in place. Crown: A small knob on the side of the watch case that can be used to adjust the time, date and — if your mechanical watch isn’t automatic — wind the watch to keep it running. Band/Strap: Piece of leather, metal, rubber, or other materials used to attach the watch to the wrist.
Bracelet: Device to attach the watch to your wrist, constructed of small metal linkages in a chain like form. Deployant Clasp: A type of watch strap buckle that closes by folding in on itself, then clasping. Makes the strap easier to take on and off and keeps the leather from getting worn or stretched out Movement: The inner-working mechanism of a watch that can be either mechanical (automatic or hand-wound) or quartz (battery powered). Most watch manufacturers refer to their movements as “calibers.” In a mechanical movement, the main components are a mainspring, a gear train, an escapement and a balance wheel. In a quartz movement, the main components are a battery, a microchip circuit, a quartz crystal and a stepper motor. Many high-end movements (both quartz and mechanical) are manufactured in Switzerland by either watch brands themselves or from large movement makers like ETA and Valjoux, though Japan and even China have their own thriving watchmaking industries.
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WATCH TERMINOLOGY
Horology: The art and/or science of measuring time. Haute Horlogerie: Translated to English, this French term means “high watchmaking,” and is used to distinguish watches or watchmakers that demonstrate extreme proficiency in watch design, technical innovation and finishing. Manufacture d’Horlogerie: A French term, usually shortened to “manufacture,” that refers to a watch company that develops its own parts (including its movements) at its own facility (“in-house”), rather than assembling watches from parts made by third-party part suppliers. Patina: A green or brown film on the surface of bronze or similar metals, produced by oxidation over a long period. In watches this mostly happens with the dial, however, bronze watches also develop a beautiful patina on the case over time. Luminescence: Colloquially referred to as “lume,” luminescence is the glow given off by watch numerals, indices and hands that have been coated with a photoluminescent material. While early watches used radioactive radium to create lume, most modern watches use non-radioactive phosphorescent substances like strontium aluminate. 30 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
Luminova - LumiNova®, also referred to as “lume”, is a photo-luminescent substance. When applied on watch dials and hands, it allows to tell time in the dark. Working as a kind of “light battery”, LumiNova® stores light, so it can then glows under weak luminosity conditions.
misleading, While 30m WR may give you the feeling that it is safe to get into any body of water that is a few feet deep, at WR 30m you’re actually only supposed to be able to wash your hands with the watch on - You aren’t meant to take it into the shower or submerge it at all.
Super Luminova - is a brand name under which strontium aluminate–based non-radioactive and nontoxic photoluminescent or afterglow pigments for illuminating markings on watch dials, hands and bezels, etc. in the dark are marketed. This technology offers up to ten times higher brightness than previous zinc sulfide–based materials.
10 mts = 1 ATM
Tritium Tubes - Tritium radioluminescence is the use of gaseous tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, to create visible light. Tritium emits electrons through beta decay and, when they interact with a phosphor material, light is emitted through the process of phosphorescence. The overall process of using a radioactive material to excite a phosphor and ultimately generate light is called radioluminescence.
WR 100M (10ATM) - Ideally suitable to be used for swimming in swimming pools.
Water Resistance: Water Resistance is a really muddy subject in watch servicing. Watches are tested in extremely specific conditions and the water resistance marking are actually quite
WR 30M (3ATM) - Ideally just suitable to be used to wash hands and dishes. WR 50M (5ATM) - Ideally just suitable to be used in a cold shower.
WR 200M (20ATM) -Ideally suitable for shallow open water swimming. Diver’s 200M - Suitable for diving up to depths of under 200 metres. There are a lot ratings that go beyond Diver’s 200M and these are ideally meant for professional deep diving at where the watch will have features to mechanically help divers to time their decompression stops.
Complication: An additional function of a watch that goes beyond telling the time, like a stopwatch (chronograph), calendar or a moonphase indicator. Complications require additional parts and make a watch more expensive and complex to build. Timing Bezel: Rotating bezel used to count down to a specific time. Commonly used on diver’s watches. Tachymeter: A scale inscribed around the rim of an analog watch. Used to compute speed based on travel time, or measure distance based on speed. Counters: The hand on the chronograph function, started and stopped separately from the main time function. Skeleton: Similar to an exhibition case back, a skeleton watch shows off the inner workings of the watch, but does so through a transparent or partially cut-out dial so that the movement can be viewed from the front of the watch. Exhibition Case Back: Also called an “open” case back, this is a transparent cover on the backside of a watch case that shows off the inner workings of the movement. Screw Crown: A winding crown which screws down onto the watch case. The purpose is to ensure water resistance. Pusher: A button on a chronograph watch that starts, stops and/or resets the chronograph mechanism. The majority of chronographs have two pushers — one for starting and stopping the mechanism, and another for resetting.
Diver’s Extension: Clasp with an extension, to enable easy enlargement of the bracelet to fit over a wet or dry suit. Mainplate: The base on which all the parts of a mechanical watch movement are mounted. Gear Train: A system of gears that transfer power from the mainspring to the escapement. Jewels: Synthetic rubies (sometimes synthetic sapphires) used as bearings at the heaviest points of wear in a watch movement in order to reduce friction between moving parts and increase a movement’s lifespan. Jewels have a naturally slicker surface than metal — for example, the coefficient of friction between two pieces of steel is about 0.58, while the coefficient of sapphire on steel is about 0.15. Desiccant crystal: A hygroscopic substance placed on the inside of the watch that sustains a state of dryness (desiccation) in its vicinity. Counter: Also called a sub-dial. Chronographs have registers showing the second, minute, or hour of the chronograph function. Small Seconds: A small sub-dial separate from the main hour and minute function that displays the seconds. Retrograde: An indicator on a watch dial that forms a segment of a circle, rather than a full circle. When the indicator goes through a full cycle, it resets back to the zero position by moving backward. Often used to indicate hours, minutes or dates.
Quartz: A quartz watch is a battery-powered watch. The battery sends an electric signal via a microchip circuit to a small quartz crystal that then vibrates at a precise rate. Those vibrations regulate a stepper motor that moves the watch hands. Quartz watches are considerably more accurate, more reliable and cheaper than their mechanical counterparts, though mechanical watch diehards don’t find them as appealing because of their simpler internal components. Hand-wound: Referring to a mechanical watch that doesn’t automatically wind. Hand-wound watches are powered by manually turning the crown to wind up the mainspring. Manual Winding: Describes a watch with a mechanical movement which needs to be wound regularly by the user using the crown. Energy is stored in the mainspring, which slowly releases this energy to power the time-piece. Power Reserve: The length of time that a mechanical watch can run once it’s fully wound. Most entry-level watches have a power reserve of about 40 hours, though many higher-end watches can run for several days at a time. Sometimes watches will feature a power reserve gauge indicating how fully wound the watch is. Automatic: A mechanical watch that is wound by the motion of the wearer’s wrist, rather than by twisting the crown. The motion of the wrist moves a counterweight (called a rotor) that then powers the mainspring, which turns the watch’s gears. Winder: A case, box or vault that gently rotates an automatic watch to keep the mainspring fully wound when it isn’t being worn.
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Figure 13. Rolex 2011 Patina on Vintage Dial
Figure 14. Omega 2016 ‘Lume’ on Indices
Figure 15. Rolex 2014 ‘Pepsi’ Timing Bezel
Figure 16. Audemars Piquet 2017 ‘Skeleton’ Watch
Figure 17. Monochrome Watches 2009 Watch Jewels
Figure 18. Sinn 2015 Decissant Crystal in Watch
Figure 20. Vacheron Constantin 2010 Tourbillon
Figure 21. Reddit 2006 Oil Filled Diving Watches
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Figure 19. Watchuseek 2014 Retrograde Markingings
Balance Wheel: A weighted wheel that oscillates at a constant rate (usually one oscillation per fraction of a second), moving the watch’s gears and allowing the hands to move forward Balance Spring: A delicate spring (often made from metal but sometimes silicon) attached to the balance wheel that regulates the rate at which a balance wheel oscillates. The balance spring is also often referred to as a hairspring. Mainspring: A torsion spring that becomes tightened when a watch is wound, thus storing the energy of a watch. The force of the spring unwinding powers the watch. The mainspring is housed inside a small drum called a “barrel.” Barrel: The cylindrical, enclosed apparatus with geared teeth that contains the mainspring, thus houses the watch’s power reserve. A watch’s power reserve can be expanded by adding additional barrels. Caliber: A synonym for movement, most often used when a manufacturer is denoting a specific model name for a movement. Escapement: An internal component in a mechanical watch that transfers the power from a wound-up watch into the movement of the watch’s seconds hand by driving the balance wheel at a steady rate. Most modern watches use a “lever escapement,” comprised of an escape wheel and a lever with two pallets. The escape wheel is connected to the gear train (which receives energy from the mainspring) and the lever and pallets lock and unlock the escape wheel at a steady rate. This component is responsible for a watch’s ticking noise.
Frequency: The speed at which a watch ticks (or beats), measured in either vibrations per hour or hertz. Most modern, high-end mechanical watches beat at a frequency of 28,800 VpH (4Hz). Watches that beat at 36,000 VpH (5Hz) or higher are considered to be high-beat watches. A watch’s frequency is controlled by the oscillations of its balance wheel. Tourbillon: A type of escapement housed in a rotating cage that is meant to counter the negative effects gravity on a movement. While the movement was originally intended for pocket watches, they’ve moved to wristwatches as a way to showcase the height of a manufacturer’s watchmaking abilities, and as such, they command exorbitant prices Carrousel: A carousel is a movement complication similar to a tourbillon.Like the tourbillon, a carousel continually rotates the balance wheel and escapement to counteract the influence of gravity. The tourbillon turns itself while the carousel requires a secondary gear to turn its mechanism The carousel is typically mounted on the fourth wheel, while the tourbillon is independent of this gear Bridge: A plate or bar that is mounted to the mainplate, forming a frame that houses the inner workings of a mechanical watch.
Oil-filled: Watch case that has had all the interior gasses replace with an oil. The purpose is to be able to withstand more exterior pressure.Side benefits include the constant lubrication and protection of the watch movement. Magnetized Movement: Metal components inside a watch can often be magnetized when introduced to magnetic fields, thus causing a serious loss of accuracy. This happens mostly when the balance spring becomes magnetized and sticks to itself, causing the watch to run faster than usual. Fortunately, this problem can be fixed quickly and easily at a watchmaker (or at home, even). It is enough of a problem, however, that some highend watchmakers use soft-iron cages to protect the movement from magnetic fields, or use silicon balance wheels that do not become magnetized. Chronometer: A watch that has been independently tested by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC) in Switzerland (or any other official governing body in other countries). In the case of the former, watches are tested over the course several days in six different positions at three different temperatures, while remaining accurate to within -4/+6 seconds per day for mechanical watchesand ±0.07 per day for quartz watches.
Hacking Seconds: Also called “stop seconds,” this function will stop the seconds hand when the crown is pulled out. This makes it easier to synchronize a watch with another timepiece. Repeater: A high-end complication that chimes to denote the time at the push of a button on the watch case. Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 33
WATCHCASE MATERIALS
Figure 22. Hublot 2018 Big Bang Red Magic Ceramic
Gold: The percentage of pure gold versus the percentage of base metals is expressed in karats 18 karat gold is 75% pure gold and is standard for watch cases. Yellow cold is pure gold alloyed with other metals. White gold is pure gold alloyed with silver, palladium, or rhodium and pink/rose gold is pure gold alloyed with percentages of copper. The more copper added, the darker the hue. A small percentage of silver or zinc can be added for a desired tone Silver: Silver is similar in appearance to stainless steel or platinum. It is naturally nonreactive and resistant to decay. Unfortunately silver easily tarnishes. True silver watches are very rare. Watchmakers will instead use silver mixed into the gold alloy to create yellow and rose gold watches. Bronze: Bronze watches are also innately anticorrosive, anti-magnetic, long-lasting, resistant to seawater, and harder than stainless steel and iron combined. Brass watches develop a rich patina over time. 34 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
Platinum: Platinum is a natural white metal that produces silver colored watches. It is Incredibly hard, durable, and scratch-resistant. Platinum watches can almost always be refinished to look new again. Palladium: Palladium is a natural white metal that produces silver colored watches. It is lightweight, hypoallergenic, and easy to finish and polish. A few companies, such as Ulysse Nardin and Moser & Co, use palladium for cases and bracelets. However, due to the high cost, it is incredibly rare to find a palladium watch. Stainless Steel: Made of iron-carbon alloy mixed with chromium and nickel, Stainless Steel is fairly lightweight, affordable, highly corrosion-resistant. Aluminium: Aluminium is silvery white in color and is low in density, resistant to corrosion, and flexible. Widely used in watches because it’s readily available and inexpensive.
Tungsten Carbide: Tungsten carbide is a chemical compound containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. In its most basic form, tungsten carbide is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed into shapes through a process called ‘sintering’ for use in industrial machinery, cutting tools, abrasives, armor-piercing rounds, other tools and instruments, and jewelry. Tantalum: Tantalum is a rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosionresistant. Carbon Fibre: Carbon fibers are usually combined with other materials to form a composite. When impregnated with a plastic resin and baked it forms carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (often referred to as carbon fiber) which has a very high strength-to-weight ratio, and is extremely rigid although somewhat brittle. Carbon fibers are also composited with other materials, such as graphite, to form reinforced carbon-carbon composites, which have a very high heat tolerance.
Figure 23. Chrono24 2018 Cases in Carbon Fibre
Figure 24. Bulgari 2018 Titanium Case
Figure 25. Apple 2018 Apple watches in Aluminum
require lubrication. As such, watches with these silicon components are often more accurate, more reliable and more resistant to magnetism than their counterparts using metallic components.
vast physical properties of the many types of polymers it is guaranteed that they would make their way into the technological marvels that are wristwatches. Silicone Rubber: A rubber-like material comprised of silicon, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. It temperature resistant, water repellent and pleasant to the touch with a high-grade feel.
Ceramic: Made of zirconium oxide, a non-metallic material created by the action of heating and cooling, Ceramic is durable, lightweight, scratchresistant, heat resistant and smooth. It can be produced in a variety of hues and finishes
Polycarbonate: Polycarbonate is a man-made substance with an appearance and likeness to plastic that is used for bullet-proof vests, digital music player cases, smartphones, riot shields hard-side luggage and watch cases. It is extremely durable and remarkably lightweight. Polycarbonate can be finished in any color with a matte or glossy surface. Watchmakers from Luminox, Nixon, Glam Rock and ToyWatch feature polycarbonate watch styles in their collections, many for its incredibly lightweight quality on the wrist.
Silicon: Silicon cases are rare. This metalloid is growing more and more common in watchmaking (mostly in balance springs and escapements), as it does not react to changes in magnetism and temperature like metal does and does not
Plastic: Thanks to how polymers form they can perform molecular magic compared to many more traditional materials like metal, stone, mineral glass, or sapphire crystal The variety of polymers is what makes them so useful, and given the
Titanium: Alloyed with iron, aluminum, vanadium, molybdenum, or other metals, Titanium is very lightweight, highly durable, dent and corrosionresistant, non-allergenic and has a high strengthto-weight ratio Brass: Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Cases made in brass are often electroplated to look like silver or gold cases since brass corrodes if left uncoated.
PVD Coated, Physical Vapor Deposition: Steel with a vacuum coating of oxides, carbides or nitrides, deposited by ionic attraction has increased durability, reduced friction on metal components. improves hardness and wear resistance. DLC coated, Diamond-Like Carbon: Carbon coating with similar properties to diamond. It is ultra-hard with strong resistance to wear and scratches, Low friction, slick and resilient to damage or coating dents from physical shock
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Figure 26. Autodromo 2018 Chronograph
Figure 27. Szanto 2018 Field Watches
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Figure 28. IWC 2018 Pilot Watches
Figure 29. Rolex 2018 Dive Watches
WRISTWATCH GENRES
Chronograph: A type of watch that features an additional stopwatch function in addition to the main time. A chronograph can be either quartz or mechanical (or a hybrid of the two) and is activated via a set of pushers protruding from the side of the case. Flyback Chronograph: A type of chronograph that can be reset without stopping the chronograph function (which is necessary in a normal chronograph). It’s particularly useful among pilots and other users who need to record multiple times in quick succession. Rattrapante Chronograph: Also called a double chronograph or split-seconds chronograph, this adds an additional seconds hand and pusher to the standard chronograph function. The additional seconds hand moves in sync with the standard seconds hand, but stops when the extra pusher is depressed, allowing the user to record two times at once. Field Watch: Iterations of early wartime watches form this category. They are generally recognized as being sturdy and austere, with a bold and clearly legible face. They are sometimes referred to as officer’s watches.
Dive Watch: A dive watch is a water-resistant watch, but not all water-resistant watches are dive watches. True dive watches should meet a specific standard for diving like ISO 6425, which requires the watch to be water-resistant to at least 200 meters, feature a unidirectional rotating bezel and some form of illumination. GMT: Though it stands for Greenwich Mean Time, a watch referred to as a GMT has the ability to track two time zones at once. Originally developed by Rolex for pilots in the ’50s, they’re particularly useful for any frequent flyer. Pilot Watch: Watches designed to meet the needs of aircraft pilots. Ideally, pilot watches have a distinct dial layout that is inspired from the German flieger watches used by german pilots in World War 2. These watches also have a large diamond shaped crown that helped the pilots make adjustments to their watches with their gloves on. Different iterations of pilot watches will feature rotating bezels (like diver’s watches), logarithmic slide rules, and a flyback function (ability to reset stopwatch with one button push).
World timer: A watch with a dial that can be adjusted to show the time in 24 different time zones represented by 24 major cities across the globe. (See some of our favorite world time watches here.) Dress Watch: A dress watch needs to be simplistic. Elegant. And above all, minimalistic. It isn’t some gaudy watch that’s bejeweled with diamonds or a chronograph that is so big it looks like a clock. It is subtle, understated and charming. They aren’t intended to be worn with jeans and a t-shirt; to the gym; or beach shorts and floral printed shirts. They are meant to pair with your business suit, your dinner jacket, and a tuxedo. Fashion Watch: This is a term that comes with great disdain in serious horological communities. A fashion watch is a watch sold by a fashion company that doesn’t make its own watches. These watches look beautiful but are made with low grade materials and often powered by questionable movements. It’s the brand name of the Fashion company that sells this watch, not the functionality of the watch or watchmaking pedigree of the manufacturer. These watches can get very expensive but will often be sold as low as 70% off during clearance sales.
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Figure 30. The Vault 2009 Dual Time
Figure 31. Timex 2017 Hybrid Smartwatch
Dual time: Dual-time watch has two hour hands in order to indicate time in two different time zones. This complication is popular with travelers, as it allows the wearer to set a “home” time zone for quick reference. The second hour hand is sometimes referred to as the GMT or UTC hand. Analog Watch: Used to distinguish traditional watches, utilizing moving ‘hands’, from digital watches that display the time numerically utilizing a LCD display. Figure 33. Huawei 2018 Smart Watch with Digital stand-by
Digital Watch: This kind of watch displays the time digitally (i.e. in numerals or other symbols), as opposed to an analog watch, where the time is indicated by the positions of rotating hands. Ana-Digi Watch: This kind of watch combines digital and analog time displays. Smartwatch: A mobile device with a touchscreen display, designed to be worn on the wrist. The main benefit of a smartwatch is that it keeps you constantly updated without you having to whip out your smartphone
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Figure 34. Casio 2014 G-Shock Ana-Digi Watch
Figure 32. Xiomi 2018 MI Band 3
Hybrid Smartwatch: A classically-styled analog watch (usually quartz-powered) that also features digital smart functions like activity tracking and push notifications. Activity Tracker: A wearable device or a computer application that records a person’s daily physical activity, together with other data relating to their fitness or health, such as the number of calories burned, heart rate, etc. An activity tracker motivates you to get up off your sofa and do some exercise.
Note: Despite having categorized these watches, I am of the opinion that there needs to be a more serious classification of watches for women. While you’d find watches in the women’s section fall into some of these categories, there exist categories for women’s watches that haven’t been chalked out. Take for instance, the heavily studded watches from Graff Diamonds (Say, the Hallucination).
Why do we have so many watch genres? Today we live in a world where you can wear a t-shirt to work and any color to a funeral. Instagram makes it fashionable to couple sneakers with a saree and Balenciagas with a formal blazer. Indeed we live in times where you are truly free to wear whatever you like in whichever way you so chose to, so long as you still wear something (we have yet to hit the milestone where it’s globally fashionable to not wear anything). However, things weren’t always like this.
In the past, we had rules to dress a certain way and thus it was worth pointing out some of the conventions around dressing. Matching outfits with watches, as mentioned in the above map would still make it easier for you to dress today if you don’t want to spend too much time in the mirror wrestling with some new funky styles.
While you may not like to abide with the matching suggestions in the strictest sense, it is a good practice to match watches according to what kind of occasions or activities you’re taking part in. For instance, it would be a good idea to wear a rugged rubber g-shock or fitness tracker instead of your mechanical timepiece when you’re in the gym since most mechanical watches get damaged due to shock.
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WATCH GROUPS & PRICE SPECTRUM “People in the watch business often say that the “industry is very small.” That isn’t because the multibillion dollar a year watch sales market is insignificant, but rather that a few key stakeholders more or less control the business.” - Ariel Adams from ablogtowatch
SWATCH GROUP ( Bienne, Switzerland) Breguet, Blancpain, Glashütte Original, Harry Winston, Jaquet Droz, Omega, Léon Hatot, Longines, Rado, Union Glashütte, Tissot, Calvin Klein, Balmain, Certina, Mido, Hamilton, Swatch, Flik Flak RICHEMONT GROUP (Geneva, Switzerland) Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne, JaegerLeCoultre, Roger Dubuis, Piaget, IWC Schaffhausen, Officine Panerai, Ralph Lauren**, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Montblanc, Dunhill INVICTA GROUP (La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland) Technomarine, Glycine, S. Coifman ROLEX GROUP (Geneva, Switzerland) Rolex, Tudor FRANCK MULLER GROUP (Genthod, Switzerland) Franck Muller, Pierre Kunz, European Company Watch, Rodolphe, Martin Braun, Barthelay, Backes & Strauss, Pierre Michael Golay, Smalto Timepieces, Roberto Cavalli LVMH GROUP (Paris, France) TAG Heuer, Bulgari, Hublot, Zenith, Dior, Fred, Chaumet, Louis Vuitton 40 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
KERING GROUP (Paris, France) Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux, JeanRichard, Gucci, Boucheron, Qeelin, Bottega Veneta
TIMEX GROUP (USA) Timex, Nautica, Opex, GC, Guess, Salvatore Ferragamo Timepieces, Versace, Versus
BINDA GROUP (Italy) Breil, Freestyle, Hip Hop, Moschino, Kenneth Cole, Kenneth Cole Reaction, Tommy Bahama, Ted Baker London, Chronotech, Gametime, Sperry Top-Sider, Zoo York
CITIZEN GROUP (Japan) Citizen, Campanola, Q&Q, Arnold & Son, Bulova, Bulova Accutron II, Bulova AccuSwiss, Wittnauer, Caravelle New York, Bulova Clocks, Frank Lloyd Wright, Harley-Davidson, Frédérique Constant, Alpina, Ateliers de Monaco
FESTINA GROUP (Spain) Perrelet, L.Leroy, Candino, Festina, Lotus, Jaguar, Calypso SEIKO GROUP (Japan) Seiko, Grand Seiko, Credor, Pulsar, Lorus, Alba, Orient FOSSIL GROUP (Texas, USA) Fossil, Relic, Michele, Zodiac, Skagen, Adidas, Burberry, Diesel, DKNY, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Marc Jacobs, Emporio Armani, Emporio Armani Swiss Made, Armani Exchange, Karl Lagerfeld MOVADO GROUP (USA) Ebel, Concord, Movado, ESQ by Movado, Coach, Hugo Boss, Juicy Couture, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, Scuderia Ferrari
SEIKO GROUP (Japan) Seiko, Grand Seiko, Credor, Pulsar, Lorus, Alba, Orient CITYCHAMP GROUP (Hong Kong) Corum, Eterna, Ebohr, Rossini, Codex, Rotary, Dreyfuss & Co., J&T Windmills TITAN GROUP (India) Titan, Sonata, Fastrack, Favre-Leuba, Xylus INDEPENDENT WATCHMAKERS Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Breitling, Chopard, MB&F, Casio, Apple
Figure 35. Bovet 2017 Grand Recital
Figure 36. Vacheron Constantin 2018 M metiers d’art
Figure 37. Breitling 2018 Cosmonaute Navitimer
Ultra Luxury Watches
High-End Luxury Watches
Luxury Watches
$40,000 (More than INR 30 Lakh) Ultra Luxury Watches Superb Heritage/Pedigree Exclusivity (Limited Quantities) May not have the best resale value Small niche boutiques (Independents) Impeccable Handmade Craftsmanship Brand recognition in horology circles Complex Automatic In-House Movements Precious Metals and Stones Sapphire Crystal
$10,000 - $40,000 (Approx INR 7 Lakh - INR 30 Lakh) Superb Heritage/Pedigree High resale values High Quantities (on most pieces) May have famous very expensive rare pieces Brand recognition by greater public Complex Quality Automatic Movements, most InHouse Impeccable Craftsmanship, often Handmade Precious Metals and Stones Sapphire Crystal
$5,000 - $10,000 (Approx INR 3.5 Lakh to INR 7 Lakh) Respected Heritage/Pedigree High resale values Mass Production, some rare pieces Quality Automatic Movements, some In-House Great Craftsmanship Some Precious Metals and Stones Sapphire Crystal
Examples: Bovet, MB&F, Richard Mille, H. Moser & Cie, Graff Diamonds
Examples:Rolex, Omega, IWC Schaffhausen, Cartier, Brietling,
Examples: Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, A. Lange & Söhne
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Figure 38. Longines 2018 Multi-Complication
Figure 39. Hamilton 2018 Pilot Watch
Figure 40. Citizen 2018 Eco-Drive
Basic Luxury Watches
Entry Luxury Watches
Mid Range Watches
$1,500 - $5,000 (Approx INR 1 Lakh to INR 3.5 Lakh) Average Heritage/Pedigree Mass Production Good Automatic Movements, frequently ETA Good Craftsmanship Occasionally use Precious Metals and Stones Sapphire Crystal
(Approx INR 34,000 to INR 1 Lakh) $500-$1,500 Some Heritage/Pedigree Mass Production ETA Automatic Movements, some Quartz Basic Craftsmanship Quality Usually Sapphire Crystal
< $500 (Below INR 34000 Approx) Fashion / Sports Brands Mass Production Quartz or Automatic Movements made in Asia Average Industrial Craftsmanship Quality Usually have Mineral Crystal Usually not worth servicing except for battery
Examples:Oris, Longines, Alpina, Frédérique Constant, Junghans
Examples: Hamilton, Tissot, Raymond Weil, Christopher Ward, Glycine
Examples: Apple, Seiko, Orient, Citizen, Titan, Filippo Loreti, Swatch, Fossil
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Figure 41. Casio 2018 Vintage Digital Series
Budget Watches
Summary:
<$50 (Below INR 3,500 approx) Inexpensive Watches Fashion / Sports Brands Mass Production Quartz made in Asia Low Industrial Craftsmanship Quality Mineral Crystal or Acrylic Crystal Usually not taken to be repaired
“There are two things that distinguish a watch from La Vallee de Joux(Switzerland), it’s complication (or technicality) and it’s finishing. You’re not just buying a watch for the sake of telling the time but you’re buying it for its beauty, its functioning, its finish, the way it was conceived and all the information it will give you mechanically.”
Examples: Parnis, Sonata, Maxima, Casio Vintage, Timex, Fastrack, Counterfeit watches.
- Wilfred Berney, Watchmaker, 47 years with Audemars Piguet Over the last two hundred years,German and Swiss manufacturers have taken watchmaking to a whole new level, therefore, it is not surprising that Europe has established itself as the cradle of the luxury watch industry.
While you’ll still see a luxury industry active in places like Hong Kong, much of Asia caters to the price sensitive consumer. Asia also manufactures the largest number of watches and watch parts in the world. With the rise of kickstarter brands and Apple(as a watch manufacturer), we can observe that most of the newer entries in the watch space also aim to target the more price sensitive consumer. Thus this section of the watch industry is going to get a lot more competitive. Given that this price bracket also happens to be the space that Titan operates within, Titan will need to gear up to keep the competition at bay.
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Figure 42. Jin Hao 2017 ‘Guilloche’ work on Pens
Figure 43. Cartier 2017 ‘Guilloche’ work Watch Dials
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Figure 44. Apple 2010 Oil-Filled Touchscreen Devices
Figure 45. Ressence Watches 2018 The Oil-Filled Type 3
CROSS-FERTILIZATION IN WATCHES “When thinking about the future of a product within a sector, it helps to think about what it is that sets the trends in that design space. With Cars, it’s F1. What is it with watches?” -Ayaz Basrai
We’ve seen watches with carbon-fibre detailing, architectural themes and watch straps moulded to woven textures, While moodboards can inspire form, detailing and a reinterpretation of space from any literally anywhere, it would be worth pointing out the fields that often cross pollinate with watches. Developments in these fields are likely to influence the design of watches.
Smart Phones: Former designer at Apple, Tony Fadell, talks about how the industry was trying to build better touchscreens in 1991. The setting of the touchscreen mounted on the display left the designers with the problem of having an air gap between these two parts -the air gap created parallax because of the refractive difference between the screen and the air. To solve this problem, designers filled oil to fill the air gap to kill the refractive differences. The result of this effort was beautiful, the oil gave this feeling that the display popped up to the surface. The format of having a touchscreen on top of
display in a gadget is similar to having a crystal on top of a dial read out in watches - You get an air bubble in both cases. Ressence founder Benoît Mintiens used this same trick to get the numerals on his watches to come all the way to the face. The result is beautiful here as well. Pens: ‘Guilloche’ refers to an engraved ornamental pattern comprised of intricately intertwined lines. Historically Guilloche was used on Ivory and wood, and soon it found its way into fine pen and jewellery constructions. It was the cross fertilization between these fields that saw guilloche being used in watch dials - the effect creates a sense of depth in what might seem a very plain watch dial. Jewellery: Gem setting is tricky and historically, we’ve seen companies like Chopard use their knowledge of jewellery making (the company started out as a jewellery company from Pforzheim) to create truly unique creations. The art of creating and ‘invisible crown’ and ‘floating case’
coupled with slender lug and strap integrations make for an aura of being delicate. This has inspired women’s watches across manufacturers. Belts: Being of the same family, watch band closure systems are reminiscent of those we find in belts. Take for instance the Daniel Wellington, whose fabric strap was so created to match with that of the belt. The buckle closure systems on the Hermes belts too are seen on the apple watch. Perfume: Altering the quality of light is the domain of jewellery. Beautifully cut diamonds catch light as in ways that inspire emotion. However, this has greatly influence the design of watches and perfume bottles. One often gets reminded of the folklore that talks about Magpies stealing shiny objects. In much the same way, the way these products react to light is an essential component in the creation of curiosity, desire and value perception. You can think of light in this respect as the hook that creates interest.
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Figure 46. Wikipedia 2018 Baselworld
TREND FORMULATION
“Every year, what we see at the Salon International De La Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in January is often an indicator of the trends that unfold in Basel, when the doors to Baselworld open in March. The products unveiled at the world’s largest watch and jewellery show establish the official trends of the year. And what we see at Baselworld is largely what is seen in watch stores and catalogues worldwide during the rest of the year.” - Ethos Watch Boutique.
In fashion, trends are not forecasted. They are created. In the watch space, you hear a lot about fashion and the big trends that are headed the industry’s way. Companies subscribe to several trend forecasting services like WGSN, Trendhunter, etc. They also turn to Landor and Euromonitor for consumer and market insights. While these methods may be fine to do design for the watch space in a conventional sense, the subject gets a lot muddier if you had to speak of designing something that would work in India.
A second challenge comes from being a mass brand. A Forbes interview with Enrico Margariteli, formerly the head of design at USbased Fossil watches, explores what it means to design watches for a mass company. While luxury companies work to establish their iconic model and then derive variations from it, mass companies often have a tough time because every three months their products are put under the microscope by millions of consumers that decide whether to buy or not. Several years ago, Design researchers at Titan studied what women wore on their wrists, and were able to make a strong case for wristwatches that would blend effortlessly into the wrist real estate space within the constraints of Indian clothing. This was the birth of Titan Raga. Today, despite trends that shape the look and feel of products, Raga still bends to it’s own will. We will discuss this more in successive chapters.
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Figure 47. ABlogtoWatch 2017 Big Bang Magic Gold
Figure 48. MB&F 2014 HM6 Space Pirate
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Figure 49. Tag Heuer 2017 Autavia Facelift
Figure 50. Hodinkee 2017 Bamford Tag Heuer Monaco
INNOVATION IN WRISTWATCHES
Watches are unique and the way in which the sector behaves is extremely different to what one might expect if they were to compare it to any other sector in product design. Chris Bangle, in his TED talk, differentiates the ‘Car’ from the ‘Automobile’, where ‘Automobiles’ are self moving objects that get the job done, but are not very emotional (an elevator is an automobile), but ‘Cars’ are who we are and what we want to externalize. We could talk about watches in much the same way. While technology changes at ever faster rates, we do not. Thus, while watches may work differently, as long as we continue to anthropomorphize them, the way they look is not likely to change either. With the advent of smart watches, it’s easy to assume that the purist wristwatch that just tells time will fade into obscurity. However, before we start penning down an obituary for the humble watch, I want to open a door into the world of watches to show you why one should think otherwise. For the longest time in history, we observed a purity in watch design. This meant that watches were made to be very simple and even simple complications like the date function became popular only much later. Around the 60’s we started seeing chronographs and dive watches that offered added features in heavy use in specialized sectors. However, they never really
became too popular in mass culture. The idea of ‘more features the better’, didn’t really work to turn the tide of public desire. Later in the 90’s we saw digital watches make their way into the world with people like Barack Obama, Osama Bin Laden and Michael Pena sporting the infamous Casio F-91W on their wrists. However, this fad was short lived and soon the world stabilized back to analog watches. 2014 was the next interesting milestone in watches when we saw Apple release their smart watch which bagged the best of the best in the red dot awards. It was at this point that we thought that watches as we know them were going to change forever. However, smart watches have not really caught on as much as we thought they would. While apple may have outsold the entire Swiss watch industry in the first quarter this year, none of the other smartwatch companies have got nearly as close. Surprised? So what are the kind of developments in this space that really change things and last the test of time? Broadly speaking, we can summarize developments into: 1. Material Innovations: Example: In 2017, we saw Hublot’s ‘Big Band Magic Gold’ win the best of the best award in this sector. The watch doesn’t look revolutionary, but it did
something that only people who are familiar with watches would be able to appreciate - it made 18k gold watch indestructible. We know that gold is a relatively soft metal so it’s easy to understand that watch made in gold is prone to scratches and extremely delicate. However, by combining gold with ceramic Hublot made an 18 gold watch that could be scratched only by a diamond. 2. Creative ways of telling time Example: Max Busser, having worked in a well renowned watch company for several years took a leap to manufacture timepieces that would never be approved by the sales and marketing divisions of the company he worked in. His debut released, the HM6 Space Pirate drew for the best of the best award in 2014 with none other than the apple watch 3. Shift in modalities Time telling is no longer a primarily wrist based experience in that we can read time on any gadget we own. Thus in an attempt to recraft a value proposition for watches, designers are looking into what other feature sets can be packed into watches to retain the wrist real estate space. The watch space is fairly conservative with good reason and sometimes the innovations that really last the test of time are the ones that are understood and recognized only if you understand the path dependence of watches through history.
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2
PATH DEPENDENCY Any product’s functioning stems from the nature of its history of use and development. Looking into a product’s past can often shed light on how certain design efforts can be more effective than others. Human beings assert products a status and in trying to carve out a new narrative, one must be aware of the one in place. Watches have been associated with tool like functionality, style, power, status , personality and wealth. Could a design effort carve out a new course for the relationship between humans and watches?
01
02
THE HISTORY OF TIMEKEEPING DEVICES
WRISTWATCH DESIGN EVOLUTION
What caused people to start measuring time? How did it help? How have the ways in which we keep time changed over the years?
How has the Design been responsible in the evolution of watches? How has the design the watches changed over the course of history? Who was responsible for change and how did they bring it about?
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INDIA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH WATCHES
INDIAN MICROBRANDS
WHERE ARE WATCHES GOING?
What does the history of watches in India look like? How are watches looked at in Indian context?
What has puts India on the map for watch design and innovation? Are there other specialist watch manufacturers based in India?
Do Smartwatches really pose a significant threat to the humble quartz watch? What are the other forces that affect the business of watch manufacturers like Titan?
THE HISTORY OF TIMEKEEPING DEVICES
“Film a car speeding down a road. Speed up the image infinitely and the car disappears. So what proof do we have of its existence? Time is the only true unit of measure. It gives proof to the existence of matter. Without time, we don’t exist.” - Lucy (2014 Movie)
We measure time because time is a currency. In his book ‘Future Shock’, Alvin Toffler explains that if the last 50,000 years of man’s existence were divided into lifetimes of approximately 62 years each, our species would’ve lived 800 such lifetimes. Of the 800 lifetimes that mankind has been in existence, only during the last four lifetimes has it been possible to measure time with any precision. Our timekeeping devices have gone from being based on shadows cast by the sun, to the raw nature of gravity that causes sand to drain in an hourglass, to mechanical devices such as the pendulum, to the piezoelectric nature of quartz crystals and eventually all the way down to the electromagnetic waves radiated from little atoms of an element called cesium.
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As we look at the development of timekeeping devices across history, it becomes apparent that crafting timekeeping devices were not an easy feat. Each required a substantial understanding of physics, a very high level of precision and extremely skilled craftsmanship to be able to function as intended.
Timekeeping Device: Shadow Clocks
Timekeeping Device: Water Clocks
Timekeeping Device: Candle Clocks
Examples: Obelisks, Sundials, Vertical Gnomans.
Examples: Clepsydra cited from Ancient Egypt, China and India.
Examples: Candle clocks in Chinese poems by You Jiangu, Candle clock system of King Alfred the Great of the 9th Century.
Timeline: 3500 BCE - 1400 AD Timeline: 1600 BCE Working Principle: You can measure time based on a repeated process given that it is consistent enough - As the sun passes through the sky, the shadow of the tall object moves across the ground in a repeated fashion, on a daily basis. Understanding required to craft: Precise knowledge of Latitude and Longitude. Time division: Divided the day into 14 parts. 10 daytime hours, 4 twilight hours. Value Added: Shadow clocks allowed ancient civilizations to structure the day into measurable units. This changed the way people lived. Accuracy: The way the sun moves across the sky changes with the season, thus the length of an hour changed from season to season. Later iterations pointed the shadow clocks toward the nearest pole to solve this problem. Limitations: Could not be used on cloudy days or at night.
Timeline: 600 BCE Working Principle: You can measure time based on a repeated process given that it is consistent enough - The increase in the volume of water within a vessel can be used to measure time if the water adding the volume to it does so in a consistent fashion.
Working Principle: You can measure time based on a repeated process given that it is consistent enough - If it is assumed that a candle melts at a consistent pace, its stages of melting could be used to measure time.
Understanding required to craft: Basic understanding of viscosity.
Understanding required to craft: Understanding of wax as a material
Time division: Sexigesimal
Time division: A candle that is 12 inches tall and made of 72 pennyweights of wax takes about 4 hours to burn, thus every inch would represent 20 mins and 6 candles measured 24 hours.
Value Added: This was the first timekeeping device that didn’t rely on celestial cues for time telling. Accuracy: Since a change in temperature affects a change in viscosity of a liquid, consistent timekeeping would also be significantly affected. Limitations: Could only measure hours. Also, water freezes at 0 degrees celsius. It was later replaced with mercury which freezes at -38 degrees celsius.
Value Added: Allowed for timekeeping at night or on cloudy days. Accuracy: Since a change in temperature affects a change in viscosity of a liquid, consistent timekeeping would also be significantly affected. Limitations: This method required high maintenance and was uncyclic.
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Timekeeping Device: Hourglass
Timekeeping Device: Mechanical Clocks
Timekeeping Device: Pocket Watch
Examples: Tower Clocks of Venice and Prague
Examples: Tower Clocks of Venice and Prague
Examples: John Harrison’s H4, Patek Philippe 973J
Timeline: 800 AD
Timeline: 1100 AD
Timeline: 1500 AD
Working Principle: The time taken for the outflow of sand from an aperture was used to calculate time.
Working Principle: You can measure time based on a repeated process given that it is consistent enough - Most tower clocks used weights to keep the mechanism going, while the escapement (the part of the movement that counts the seconds) was a notched wheel whose movement was regulated by a back and forth movement. Accuracy varied greatly until a pendulum drive the escapement (1656 AD).
Working Principle: You can measure time based on a repeated process given that it is consistent enough - Most pocket watches used a system of springs to keep the mechanism going. A mainspring stores mechanical energy, while a balance spring is used to count the seconds based on the moving parts
Understanding required to craft: The flow of sand through an hourglass is entirely different from the flow of liquid. In the case of a liquid. Time division: Varied as per the kind of hourglass Value Added: Ocean travel was required an accurate timekeeping to aid navigation - Time established longitude. The hourglass was ideal for this because the bobbing waves didn’t affect its accuracy the way it would for a pendulum clock. Famous Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan had 18 hourglasses on his ship
Understanding required to craft: Deep understanding of controlled mechanical energy conversions. Time division: Sexigesimal Value Added: Standardized what we meant by hour or minute.
Understanding required to craft: Deep understanding of controlled mechanical energy conversions. Time division: Sexigesimal Value Added: This made timekeeping devices very portable and sowed the seeds to watches being associated as personal objects of value - to which one would attach notions of style and class.
Accuracy: Accurate within +/- 10 %. Limitations: The device needed a user’s complete attention to be able to tell time beyond the length of the hourglass’s complete drainage from it’s aperture - Time was read upon the hourglass being drained of sand on one end. Since hourglasses did not have markings to easily read time, the duty of computing time rested on the hands of the user. 54 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
Accuracy: With the exception of .Precision Pendulum Clock made by the harrison brothers, mechanical clocks only became as accurate as +/10 seconds a day. Limitations: Required frequent maintenance and repair.
Accuracy: Pocket clocks were largely inaccurate. It was with the invention of the H4, a pocket watch developed for the British Crown’s Longitude Challenge(1714), that we could calculate time with an accuracy of upto a second a day. Limitations: Early pocket watches could only measure hours.
Timekeeping Device: Wrist Watch
Timekeeping Device: Laptops, Cellphones, Practically any gadget.
Examples: Cartier Tank, Santos. Examples: Macbook, iphone, kindle.. Timeline: 1900 AD Timeline: 2000 AD Working Principle: Wristwatches went from being powered by by the same mechanical movements as pocket watches, to being powered by quartz, PCBs, and GPS. Understanding required to craft: Apart from understaning the mechanism,w ristwatches made it necessary for manufacturers to adopt an understanding of wrist based accessories. Time division: Sexigesimal Value Added: Wristwatches made it easier to look at time. Thus they were useful for pilots who need their hands on the flight controls at all times, or military personal who could look at time while still holding their riffles up and without shifting their line of sight. At the core of the wristwatch proposition was the idea that you could now wear time instead of carrying it. We’ll talk more about this at length.
Working Principle: Every gadget works differently Understanding required to craft: Every gadget would require a different understanding to craft Time division: Sexigesimal Value Added: A lack of accuracy would affect stocks and shares, hence this is extremely accurate and in-sync globally. Watches no longer have a monopoly of time. Time can be read out of any device and this has changed how valuable the public perceives watches to be. Accuracy: Atomic time is very accurate, it loses a second ever 15 billion years. Limitations: Reading time from gadgets makes us prone to distraction. A lot of people take out their phone to check time and get carried away by the other notifications.
Accuracy: This depended entirely on what movement was used. Limitations: Early wrist watches were very prone to damage via shock or water. Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 55
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Figure 51. Jansher 2018 Watching Watches Cartier Santos (Sketch)
The Instagram Blog Series ‘Watching Watches’ was started during the research phase to document the watches that changed history. This track the Cartier Santos from 1904 - 1988.
WRISTWATCH DESIGN EVOLUTION
Figure 52. Patek Philippe 1968 First Wristwatch
In the Guinness Book of World records, Patek Philippe is credited with having created the first wristwatch. It was an elaborate gold bracelet designed on commission for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary. While Breguet lays claim to having created the first wristwatch (Breguet archives list Breguet No. 2639, commissioned by the Queen of Naples on the 8th of June 1810 and completed on the 21st of December 1812. The design features a guilloche oblong-shaped case held by a wristlet of twister hair and gold thread),however, no public or private collection lists it on their inventory thus we can only hope that it will one day reappear. Whether the credit goes to the Breguet or Patek Philippe, we can be sure that watches at the point were made on a custom basis. The hefty commissions that gave birth to these pieces came from Royal Families and set a tone for watches as objects of luxury.
Figure 53. Girard-Perregaux 1884 German military watch.
Watches remained objects of luxury until 1880 when historian can confirm that the wristwatch was used on the battlefield as a safe means to read time and synchronize time without having to pull out their pocket watches. Girard-Perregaux was the first brand to produce large quantities of wristwatches for the German military in the 1880s.
Figure 54. Cartier 1904 Santos
Despite the watch having made its way on the wrists of men during times of war, in the early 1900s, wrist watches were typically worn by women while the pocket watch was considered the Gentleman’s timepiece. The Santos, with it’s design, imbibed a masculine character and the watch worn constantly by Santos-Dumont was favored not only by him but also by the many others who saw it on his wrist. The aviator was gifted with a flamboyant personality, already a celebrity across Europe, and by wearing the watch he made its design equally famous. Whenever people saw a picture of him, they were intrigued by the the thing strapped around his wrist. They were impressed when they discovered it was an innovative timepiece. The Cartier Santos may have been just a pocket watch strapped onto the wrist, but it still played a huge role in shifting notions of what the wristwatch was.
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Figure 55. Cartier 1914 Tank.
Figure 56. Rolex 1927 Oyster
At the time, watchmakers were not really concerned with style. Yes, you did get many beautifully designed pocket watches, but these watches were kept in the pocket and the watchmaker’s main concerns had to do with how well the watch was running - how is it performing in this test or that exhibition? Cartier, being a jeweller, had an edge in that respect and was equally concerned with how the wristwatch would look on one’s wrist. It was this concern that gave birth to the the Cartier Tank. We can place it in history as one of the first wristwatches that wasn’t just a pocket watch on a strap. The Tank incorporated the geometry inspired from the Art Deco movement and integrated the face and the band together in a seamless design
Upto this time, watches were delicate accessories. One would always have to be very mindful to keep it out of the reach of water and shock - the two biggest causes for watches to pack up. It was in this context that we began seeing the birth of a new genre of watches - ‘Tool Watches’.
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On the 7th of October 1927, Mercedes Gleitze became the first English woman to swim across the English channel. The highly publicized swim captured Mercedes wearing a gold watch on a riband. Her testimonial later revealed that the new Rolex Oyster had been with her during the entire 11 hour swim in frigid water and had not lost a second’s accuracy. This cemented the Rolex Oyster with the reputation of being the first waterproof watch and significantly influenced the success of Rolex as a watchmaker.
Figure 57. Jaeger-LeCoultre 1931 Reverso
Watches, now having established dominance over the space of real estate on one’s wrist, was beginning to adapt itself to brave all of man’s varied activities. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso designed in 1931 is often looked at as the first sports watch. It was designed with a slide-andflip mechanism that allowed the dial and crystal of the watch to to be protected during a game of polo - The watch had a steel backside that could withstand the knocks that came with the game. The design of the watch, with its square face, established itself as an Art Deco classic before circular dial designs gained popularity during World War II.
Figure 58. Luminor 1948 Italian Dive Watch.
The Luminor is given credit for having first changed the trend of size in watches. At the time, gent’s watches were 37 - 38mm in diameter. The luminor, having been built as a diver’s watch for the Italian Navy was 45mm in diameter - that’s a significant difference given the scale that watches operate in and especially huge when you see it on the wrist. Surprisingly, a lot of women took to wearing this.
Figure 59. Rolex 1953 Sir Edmund Hilary’s Oyster.
This was a period when watch companies were aggressively competing with one another to be the best of different things. Watches were subject to great trials to perform feats that they had never achieved before. In 1953, we witnessed a momentous occasion when the crew of mountaineers including Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary successfully scaled Mount Everest and got back safely. Despite the harsh conditions and high altitude, the rolex watches worn by all the team members neither broke down or lost a second. This established Rolex’s claim that their watches could survive anywhere on Earth. Also in 1953, The Great Dive Challenge tested how deep watches could be submerged in the ocean and established Blancpain as the creator of the world’s first dive watch.
Figure 60. Omega 1969 Aldrin’s Moonwatch.
In 1957, The Omega Speedmaster Professional was approved by NASA to be used for timekeeping after having passed a series of stringent test that included temperature fluctuations between -160 degrees Celsius and +120 degrees Celsius. 1960 saw a special Rolex Oyster attached to the outside of a research submarine that ventured to a depth of 10,916 meters in the Mariana Trench without losing a minute’s accuracy.
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Figure 61. Bulova 1961 Accutron
Upto 1960, we saw watchmakers working feverishly to improve incrementally on the existing mechanical watch movements to get watches to work better than they did before. However, it wasn’t until Bulova introduced the accutron that we actually saw a completely different movement. It was the first time that someone had thought to use a transistor and tuning fork to drive the motion of the gears that guided the the movement of the hands on a watch. This innovation significantly reduced the number of parts required to craft a watch movement.
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Figure 62. Seiko 1969 Quartz Astron.
It was no secret that the swiss were in race against all of europe and the rest of the world to craft more affordable and accurate timekeeping devices. All movements in existence still required a significantly high degree of precision craftsmanship and with the wheels of the industrial revolution turning, the swiss were very seriously looking to find a way to effectively mass produce watches. However, it was the Japanese company Seiko that beat them to it. On the 25th of December 1969, Seiko unveiled the quartz Astron, the world’s first quartz watch. This had a huge impact on the Swiss watchmaking industry and many legacy watchmakers were forced to close their doors and pack up. While the world was celebrating the ‘Quartz Revolution’, the Swiss were trying to cope with the ‘Quartz Crisis’ Seiko also released the now reputed Seiko 5 watches as part of their double edged plan to seize the market. These watches were reliable and much less expensive to inspire a whole new generation into the world of watches.
Figure 63. Patek Philippe 1976 Nautilus.
The Quartz Movement saw the majority of remaining Swiss watch manufacturers exist as luxury manufacturers. It was in this place of luxury, that famous Watch designer Gerald Genta, introduced Stainless Steel to the luxury watch market through three of the most iconic watch designs in history - Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak (1970), IWC’s Ingenieur (1976) and Patek Philippe’s Nautilus (1976).
Figure 64. Hewlett packard 1977 HP - 01
Perhaps we can look at the HP - 01 as the predecessor to the smartwatch. This was the first watch that combined an LED display, wristwatch and a calculator. By this time, the Casio and Seiko digital watches were also very popular and had created a niche in making highly durable watches, with multiple features which consumed very little battery. They were so reliable that the notorious Casio F-91W became a common component in many bomb making setups.
Figure 65. Swatch 1983 Swiss Quartz
Figure 66. Apple 2014 Smartwatch
The 1980s marked an air of freshness in Switzerland with the Swatch being the Swiss answer to Quartz Crisis, finally putting an end to it. As Michael Foley puts it, Swatch was the “T-shirt of watch companies.” They ushered in a new persona for watches from Switzerland by making watches fun, cheap, cool and disposable (while at the same time very collectible - certain collections that were born from collaborations with artists like Keith Haring are worth a lot of money today).
The Apple watch was a turning point in wristwatches and wearable technology. It’s creation marked the first mass adapted wearable technology whose functionality was sound and yet was still attractive as a design object - it did not have a negative impact on the perception of its wearer like we saw with the Google glass. In the first quarter of this year, the Apple watch outsold the entire Swiss watch Industry.
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INDIA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH WATCHES
“When it comes to timepieces, Bengaluru has been a hub of watchmaking from the 60s, and the trend, no matter how niche, continues even today”
- Bangalore Edition, INDIATIMES, 5th August 2018
The Indian story on watchmaking:
The Story of Mass Indian Watch Manufacturers:
Two years ago, in September 2016, we saw the Indian government phase out the watch division of HMT (Hindustan Machine Tools). It was a brand founded in Bengaluru in 1961 and perhaps those much older than I may remember that the first set of manual winding watches were inaugurated by none other than Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Technical collaborations with Japanese watch company Citizen saw HMT reach its peak in the 70s when supply was not able to meet the rising demand for watches. In 1981, another Public Sector Unit, Allwyn, entered the market in partnership with japanese giant, Seiko, but was still unable to fill the gap between supply and demand.
Sure, HMT watches were not as fine as some of the Swiss watches that one saw back in the day, but they were as Indian as any watch company could get - with its watches named Vijay, Sainik, Janata, Sona, etc and the letters ‘made in India’ proudly marked on the lower half of the dail, not to forget the commemorative editions made for anniversaries of the Indian Tobacco Company,etc.
Having observed the effect of the quartz revolution on the global market for watches, Tata saw an opportunity. In a joint venture with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), the Tata Group founded Titan Watches Limited in 1984. Titan set up a factory in Hosur (then, Tamil Nadu), hired a retiring executive director from HMT at the helm and decided to go with 100% quartz electronic watches. Titan’s first collection, ‘Titan Acura’ met with great success and today Titan holds roughly 60% of the market share.
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India has had a unique relationship with the watch world. From European watch brands relying heavily on Indian patronage, to Indian watch Microbrands at the helm of what they hope will be looked down in history as the legacy of Indian Watch Making, we’ve got it all. There’s an interesting story on Cartier’s blog that talks about the Delhi Durbar of 1911, when Jacques Cartier opened boxes of glittering jewels only to find that the Maharajas wanted something more simple - Cartier’s Silver pocket watch. Several European Watch companies are known to have made exotic timepieces for Indian clients. Documented in the Cartier archives are orders like that from the Nawab of Rampur, who commissioned four carriage clocks to be designed to sound like European cathedral bells. Even Jaeger LeCoultre claims that their iconic Reverso model
Figure 67. The Hindu 2016 Royal Indian Patronage
was created upon the request of a polo player from India in 1931. The blend of local traditions and international luxury made India a unique market for foreign watch companies. Marc de Panafieu, director of Jaeger LeCoultre in the middle east, holds that the era of late 19th to mid 20th century was a great time for European luxury brands as the Indian market was dominated by royal families who, had absolutely no dearth of wealth. Due to the extremely centralized nature of India’s relationship with horology, middle class India would be educated in the world of watches only much later. With the advent of HMT, who sourced their movements from Citizen, in an attempt to mass produce and its succession by Titan who sold Quartz watches and phased out mechanical watches, it seemed as if no one had the time to
learn the intricacies of fine horology when there were cheaper and more efficient alternatives that could serve the purpose of telling time. With the decentralization of information and travel, Indians begun to appreciate the fine workings of mechanical timepieces, this is where the swiss dominate. In recent times, the Swiss watch industry in India is worth anywhere between 1,000 - 1200 crore rupees. And while tourbillons, minute repeaters and other fine mechanical watch complications may not get the average watch consumer excited, notions of value for money and a chance to stand out does.
studio to create authentic product design for their products. Prior to this, companies would often take stock from China and rebrand for sale in India.. In later years, Titan also began making their own movements and in 2002, their edge movement made worldwide acclaim for being having created the world’s thinnest watch at 3.4mm (the movement thickness was 1.15mm).
As a country, we’ve been known to have fantastic jewellers but watch making has never been our pedigree. However, perhaps that is about to change. Titan was one of the first companies in India to take the leap of establishing a design Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 63
INDIAN MICROBRANDS
Figure 68. Jaipur Watch Company 2014 Coin Watch
Figure 69. BMC 2018 Renaissance Series
Jaipur Watch Company:
Bangalore Watch Company:
Founded by Gaurav Mehta, The Jaipur Watch Company started their business in 2013 with the release of their Imperial collection. They now have 7 collections including a range of peacock feather inspired pocket watches. You’ll find them doing bespoke commissions of requests ranging from watches inspired by Indian gods to watches inspired by Obama.
Founded by Nirupesh Joshi and Mercy Amalraj in 2017, the microbrand is trying to revive the fine watch culture in the country by making the watches in India. Their first series - The Renaissance Collection - is limited to 500 pieces per model was launched in March this year.
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Figure 70. Aiqon 2018 Uhren.
Aiqon: Operating between the price bracket of below 10,000 rupees, Chinmay Shah started Aiqon and released his first watch - Maximum City 1888 which was a rose gold piece with a square dial that was inspired from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
Figure 71. Horpa 2018 Multifuction Watch.
Figure 72. Sivaraman 2017 Gato
Figure 73. Indian Watch Forum 2010 Hedge and Golay
Horpa:
Dilip Sivaraman:
Inspired from independent watchmakers from Switzerland like MB&F, Deepak Choudhary and Rajeev Asrani combined the words ‘horology’ and ‘passion’ to name their brand Horpa. Their first collection, called C1, is a 45mm men’s chronograph, with seven variants, priced between Rs. 14,500 - 16,500. Horpa has sold 150 pieces in the last four months, mostly via word-of-mouth and social media.
Sivaraman’s clocks focus on two things – high precision and minimalism – and he manufactures only on commission. In 2015, Sivaraman was going through the website of AHCI (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants), a Swiss company that promotes handmade timepieces, and decided to enter their competition. And thus, the first clock he made – called Gato, which means ‘cat’ in Spanish – went on to become one of the 10 finalists at the AHCI competition in 2016.
Hedge & Golay introduced the eponymous brand, in association with none other than the Swiss brand Longines. And in 1977, they introduced digital electronic quartz watches. In fact, the company also used to offer a fantastic course in horology. However, by the mid to late-80s, H&G watches were through. Khaleel and Sons was famous as a pioneering watch shop in Bangalore and has been around for a hundred years. Apart from having made a name by stocking the world’s best brands – Longines, Rolex, Favre Leuba, etc. they maintained and repaired several clock towers in Bangalore and were famous for the manufacturing of a clock tower in 1941.
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WHERE ARE WATCHES GOING?
When you’re associated with a wristwatch company in any way, you tend to get asked about what you think about smartwatches - are they going to wipe out normal watches the way scifi movies show aliens wiping out less advanced races? That tends to be the general assumption. Without making a case for why the simple wristwatch will survive, it was necessary to end this chapter on a note that gave readers a macro view of the watch design landscape so that they may be better equipped to make their own projections about the future of this sector. This will be explained from a Titan point of view. There are three major forces that disrupt the business of a watch company like Titan from a competitive standpoint. The first is the availability of other time telling devices. If we look at what the world was like 30 years ago, then we’d find that there weren’t too many objects that told time. Thus the wristwatch became an object of great value because in this sense, it had a ‘monopoly of time’. To be able to tell time is an essential. The other features like telling the date,etc were less so. For the longest time you had chronographs and all kinds of other watches that offered more features, however, they weren’t popular among the masses and thus did
not pose a threat to the classic ‘only time’ telling watch. Thus it must be noted that more features doesn’t necessarily mean better functionality. The biggest threat posed to the wristwatch in modern times is the general availability of time - the fact that our other gadgets tell time is the biggest reason why people do not wear watches. Second, is the perceived face value of watches made by fashion companies. Watch companies like Titan spend a lot of money in developing greater manufacturing techniques to deliver a better quality of product. This can be through the movement used to power the watch or the materials and manufacturing methods used to craft it. However in modern times, where watches are often looked at as objects of fashion(rather than functionality), watches from fashion companies seem to offer more aspirational value to users. Watches made by these companies are often made using substandard movements and low quality materials, They may not hold up over the course of time but they look great in the stores and that is enough to get them a significant number of consumers. The third factor is that tech companies have started making watches as well. While this may seem like the biggest threat, it is no bigger than
the other two. The apple watch may have outsold the entire swiss watch industry in the first quarter of this year but no other smart watch company is doing nearly as well (apple has a cult following in any case, it’s not just about the product). For smartwatches to bring in users in a big way, they need to be able to offer more value than just being another phone on the wrist. Like with the chronograph example, more features don’t necessarily mean better functionality Thus, if the argument for smartwatches is based on functionality, it will need to offer wrist-based solutions that truly make life better. The battery problems also needs to be resolved and that will take some time (just like with phones). There is another factor that could stir up trouble for companies like Titan - Kickstarter watch brands. As of now there is no kickstarter brand that poses a direct threat to Titan, however, it is the idea that is important. By selling directly to the consumer, kickstarter brands are able to offer great value to the end consumer. While there is no way of guaranteeing how the watch sector will change, one can be sure that as of today it might be too early to start writing an obituary for the humble time-telling wristwatch.
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TITAN’S DESIGN PRACTICE Every company is unique. An understanding of how the company practices design is necessary to get better context. This section looks at who the Titan user is and how the company attempts to cater to a wide consumer base. A plan of action is decided when looking at the problems that the design studio cannot devote enough time to solve due to the day to day design requirements of the corporate machine.
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TITAN WATCHES FOUNDING PHILOSOPHY
TITAN - USERS & NON-USERS
What is the thought that goes into the design of Titan Watches? How does the company leverage design to promote or differentiate their products?
Who is the Titan user? What moves people to buy Titan watches? What consumers have Titan not been able to attract?
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COMPETITIVE OVERLAPS WITHIN TITAN
RE-FRAMED BRIEF
Are some of Titan’s own brands competing with each other? What do the user and design overlaps within the company look like?
What course of action is most relevant for the company at a macro level? What are the kinds of design problems that the design team cannot solve due to their day to day design focus?
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PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION PARAMETERS
SUB BRANDS AND TARGET GROUPS
COMPETITIVE OVERLAPS OUTSIDE TITAN
If all watches tell time, how does Titan craft a proposition to differentiate them over a price spectrum? What aspects are considered before designing a Titan watch?
How does Titan cater to a wide user base? How are the user and consumer clusters grouped within the company?
What kind of competition does Titan face? Who are the main competitors? How does Titan’s end products differentiate from its competitors?
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Figure 74. Jansher 2018 Sketchnotes
TITAN WATCHES FOUNDING PHILOSOPHY
“Titan was one of the first companies that put in place new product development on a very short cycle. This was largely because the company depended entirely on what kind of products sell at what time of the year. Since Titan was pitching watches as a very seasonal product, it had to have a design studio that managed creative processes on a very quick response time to markets. That is why it imbibed a studio very fast.a lot of companies still work with independent firms however Titan took a risk to invest in their own design studio”, Michael Foley Titan entered the market with two key differentiators: One, it brought in quartz watches, which it promotes aggressively, and two, it introduced the element of fashion changing with the season, which until then was missing in this segment. It also ushered in a completely new retail experience, brought out advertising with aspirational value and offered after sales service in a showroom environment.
As mentioned before, the watch portfolio for Titan Company Limited consists of four brands: the flagship brand Titan (addressing the mid- and premium segments), Sonata (the budget segment), Fastrack (the youth segment) and Xylys(Titans top-end, Swiss-manufactured brand). This project was done under the flagship brand - Titan. Below are some of the key aspects that go into the philosophy of this brand: 1) Desirability quotient The watches have to be desirable enough to be picked from the store where hundreds of other watches from competitors are also displayed in their full glory.
3) Authenticity In terms of design details, the services offered, materials sourced, finish rendered and non-toxic plating that is used. 4) Dynamism Watches have to be dynamic in character because time is always ticking away. 5) Expressiveness Titan doesn’t just design watches, they design watches that narrate a story. The concept of expression via product is essential.
2) Functionality The watch has a purpose to serve, thus: i) The fonts, typefaces that are used have to be legible ii) The form has to be ergonomic, the watch should hug the wrist well. iii) As a product, the watch must serve the purpose of time telling. Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 71
Figure 75. Jansher 2018 User Photographs
Figure 76. Jansher 2018 User Photographs
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Figure 77. Harsh Vardhan 2018 User’s Photographs
Figure 78. Harsh Vardhan 2018 User’s Photographs
TITAN - USERS & NON-USERS
“As long as you have visibility of the end user, you can chalk out a plan of action for design.” Mahendra Chauhan, Design Head, Titan Company Limited User profiling is perhaps the strongest design differentiator. In the last chapter, we explored how a product can change entirely based on the user it is designer for. As a mass brand, Titan has created several sub brands and collections to cater to all user segments under the sun. However, who are the people that really pick a Titan watch off the websites and stores?To be able to do justice to answering that question, one needed to be able to look at how the design of watches at Titan found a home outside the company’s walls. The first method used to address this question was to visit stores of varying scale. By going to the
stores, one could see for themselves as to who the end user was. Titan’s distribution system ensured that there were a handful of avenues through which a user could come into contact with the Titan Brand and its products. Smaller stores were in abundance on the outskirts of the city, while the bigger stores and mall kiosks could be found at the heart of town. During this process, one ended up visiting many stores that sold more than one brand and this brought about a sense of clarity with respect to which brands were competing directly with Titan. Earlier in the process, it seemed as though the users who frequented the smaller stores on the outskirts had very little in common with those who visit the larger stores but later it became clear that the individuals who were picking up a Titan watch for themselves were mostly above 30 years old.
At the smaller shops, younger customers walked into the store looking for chunky multi-function watches. When asked if they would consider a Titan, they quickly reacted by calling Titan an ‘Uncle’s Watch’. Shopkeepers of Smaller stores mentioned at they do not store many iconic edge watches because the shapes that come for a more a more affordable price do not excite the younger buyers who come looking for watches. When interacting with users at the bigger stores, something interesting came up. A lot of the people coming to buy watches from Titan were buying watches for someone else as a gift. This meant that in a lot of cases, the user and consumer were not the same person. Younger women would come to buy Raga watches for their mothers rather than anything for themselves.
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Figure 79. Jansher 2018 Watch Markets (Unorganized)
Figure 82. Jansher 2018 Watch Markets (Collector auctions)
Figure 80. Jansher 2018 Watch Markets (Showrooms)
The next step was to observe what watch people were wearing on their wrists. While you could do this as a general practice over a long period of time, a good way to do this in a shorter window of time is to jump on shared transport. In cities like Bangalore, buses and shared cabs are a very popular mode of transport. While people may still chose to use their own vehicle to commute, Bangalore’s traffic menace has put a lot of the working people off the idea of taking their own car out during weekdays. In a bus, it’s very easy to be able to look at what watches people are wearing. Taking pictures of people’s wrists became easy on buses. The added benefit of catching users on the bus is that people enjoy conversations that eat up the wait time that one spends in trying to get to their destination. The bus rides revealed that the Titan watches that were most common to see on people’s hand were the ones that you wouldn’t be able to assign a collection to. The most significant thing about these watches was that they had the Titan branding on them which meant that people bought them even if they looked like any other watch. These were the kind of watches that just blend in
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Figure 83. Jansher 2018 User Photographs (Buses)
Figure 81. Jansher 2018 Watch Markets (Vintage Stores)
without really asking for your attention and you’d not find these on the wrists on a younger person. The last method used to reach users was to look at facebook groups. Facebook groups are where people with similar hobbies/passions come together to discuss a subject of interest to them - say, watches. In a facebook search for watch groups/forums, there was a link to the ‘Indian Watch Forum’. After registering with a public introduction on the group, the platform was now open to speak specifically about watches with over 900 watch enthusiasts. Upon making a few friends on the group, an invitation to a collector’s meet a Bangalore was received. Attending the meet and talking watches with the collectors reiterated that the Titan brand was more ‘serious’ than ‘fun’ and attracted an older audience. The average Titan user is not young. One can conclude that Titan appeals to those users for whom the Titan brand stands for trust and reliability. Titan, in the eyes of these users, stands for simple classic styling and reliable products with good after sales services.
Need convincing, gifting or new functionality to adopt watches.
Convinced or experimenting with the functional or stylistic aspect of wearing a watch.
Looks for a watch with basic time telling features and classic styling.
Looks for watch that runs fully on a mechanism to radiate a premium appeal.
Looks for a watch with multiple functions and sports styling.
Looks for a watch with vintage appeal and features like an alarm, timer and stopwatch.
Looks for a watch with the added functionality that enables the user to keep the phone in their pocket or bag.
Looks for wrist based device to inform basic health monitoring features like step count and heart rate..
Looks for a watch that doesn’t need excessive care or maintainence to function flawlessly.
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Figure 84. Jansher 2018 Sketchnotes
PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION PARAMETERS
Titan has watches that range from Rs. 1200 to Rs.22995. This is a wide spectrum and it makes one curious as to what nuances differentiate one watch from another. In the construction of watches there are four main parts: 1) The bezel ring with a crystal 2) The case which contains the mechanism, hands and dial 3) The caseback, which is the closure of the container and it helps to make the watch water resistant 4) Metal bracelet or strap These four components define the watch and the way in which these parts are constructed, the materials used and finish rendered is what causes the difference in price. There are watches that are handmade and hand polished while there are some others that are made in a 5 axis where even the polishing is done by robotic hands. Thus with varying price, you can have many varied outcomes.
The thumb rule is that the more expensive the watch is, the more it will celebrate craftsmanship -the craftsmanship of technology or of finishing, etc. However, there are four external factors which also determine the differentiation within the company and they are as follows: 1) Consumer profiling This is very important for designing the form language of the watch. The desires of the consumer makes a completely different form language of the watch. A watch designed for a traveller would be very different than a watch designed for an athlete. Similarly, a watch designed for a scuba diver would be very different from a watch designed for a person who loves biking. 2) Mechanism The mechanism is the motor that drives the watch. Fundamentally there are three types of mechanisms: Quartz mechanism, mechanical mechanism and the smart module. What is most
important is to figure out what functions these mechanisms are going to serve: Would they power a watch that will measure your heart rate and activity, or would they power a chronograph that measures 1/100th of second with a tachymeter function, or would the movement simply be one that is of a watch with only watch with three hands. There are hundreds of mechanisms that can be used modified or customized to define the look of the watch. 3) Design character Considered the designer’s playing field, this is where product semantics plays a very important role - the kind of line, curve, geometry, proportion, texture that is used helps to differentiate one watch from another. 4) Price point Price can define and dictate form language, the kind of module to be used, the kind of finishing rendered, the material that will be opted for and the production methods.
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SUB BRANDS AND TARGET GROUPS
The Titan brand has multiple product segments that span out over a broad customer base. Through different Sub Brands and Collections, Titan offers a wide variety of watches within a price bracket of Rs.1200 to Rs. 22995.. The Sub brands and collections are tailored to fit the specific user segments and have each been established from core consumer insights. Trend Mapping is done frequently and over the years Titan has acquired a deep understanding of buying behavior and user psychographics across categories. At titan, users are categorized based on psychographics rather than demographics. Research is fed into design and storytelling is used as a tool to generate compelling narratives. These stories resonate with consumer segments, build a base for insights mining and translate into product development. These design stories become marketing campaigns.
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There are many aspects that need to be considered when designing a collection. One of the core aspects is to provide a unique resonance to the user. Collections are curated to suit a segment of people who have a need for that kind of timepiece. Apart from drafting an enriching story drawn from insights of a collection, which have a strong user connect, it is essential to understand the market gaps and competition portfolio. Designing a collection is a confluence of design , strategy, marketing and communications. Thus we will look at Titan’s product portfolio from a competitive point of view to compare sub brands/ collections to their competition.
Figure 85. Titan 2018 Raga
Figure 86. Titan 2018 Edge
RAGA
EDGE
Rs. 1835 - Rs. 17025 Raga started out as a sub brand of Titan which was targeted to fill the accessory gap for ethnic clothing. Having studied what women wore on their wrists, Titan was able to make a strong case for wristwatches that would blend effortlessly into the wrist real estate space within the constraints of Indian clothing. Raga’s Design DNA is unique to anything in the market and is one of Titan’s strongest product lines. Raga’s branding is so strong that often when people think of Titan, they think of Raga. In fact, one could easily make a case for Raga to be a separate brand from Titan altogether. Raga is exclusively feminine and designed the modern Indian Woman - all campaigns are aimed at self definition, independence and competence in line with social currents that run across the country. These often have sensual and romantic expression but the trend for self love is stronger now more than ever before. Raga is seen as a brand that doesn’t inspire any
Rs. 5995 - Rs. 21225 negative emotions in the public perception. A younger audience may not be able to resonate with the brand, but they have respect for it. Thus, Raga is now positioning itself to attract a younger audience. We now see Raga diversifying outside of its ethnic and ornate roots to suit the mass culture that uses ethic clothing just for special clothing, thus we see raga veering into more ‘everyday’ design.
Titan Edge is a sub brand of watches that are minimal and ultra-slim. Designed with an intention to give the wearer the feeling that they aren’t wearing a watch, edge strives for seamless design that embodies the ‘less is more’ design culture. Having often been marketed as an innovation at the intersection of craft and technology, Edge watches have an aura of sophistication, elegance and precision and are targeted for the modern design-sensitive gentry that like to express themselves with subtlety. Edge, owing to its neutral character, lends itself as a unisex offering outside of male user profile that the company had envisioned for it. Also, having been perceived as a true premium line of watches, edge has the potential to capture the fancy of a younger audience and thus help the company in its plan to create adoption beyond its
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Figure 87. Titan 2018 Octane
Figure 89. Titan 2018 Purple
Figure 88. Titan 2018 Regalia
OCTANE
REGALIA
PURPLE
Rs. 3495 - Rs. 18495
Rs.5995 - Rs. 18995
Rs. 1995 - Rs. 10495
Octane is Titan’s collection of multifunctional watches that carry the sport style statement through their design, material and style innovations. The mood, inspired from notions of sportiness and sportsmanship, often manifests itself through metallic finishes, bold colors, the use of record turning on counters. Enduring materials like Steel, rubber and kevlar (to name a few) find their way into the material vocabulary of this Sub Brand. If Titan made Tool watches (Diver, Pilot, etc), they would feature under Octane.
Regalia is a collection that is built on the aspirational side of Royalty and falls within the more formal side of dress wear in Titan’s portfolio. Affluence and Luxury are at the heart of the collection’s inception. These themes manifest themselves in the end product through intricate detailing, layered dials and gold/bicolor casebracelet combinations.
Bold, Brazen, Flamboyant, Unapologetic and very ‘Bling’, Purple is Titan’s fluid fashion trending watch category. Poised as stylish, outspoken and unique, this collection features all the shapes and colors of fashion from Swarovski studded cases to multifunction complications.
A glance at the collection would be enough to see that these watches are masculine. Octane is targeted at younger men who appreciate all things sporty and aspire to embody the sensibilities of endurance, accuracy and time.
Regalia has the highest detail-density of all Titan Watches. It is positioned as an eye catching wonder in gold for individuals who seek to strive for or celebrate their success through material possessions. The gold-look is auspicious in India and associated with status and glamour. I like to think of Regalia as Titan’s ‘Wall Street Watch’ since within the company, it is targeted towards affluent businessmen. While Regalia may have been very popular and sought after due its intricate design DNA, it has started to feel the pressure of having to produce more minimal designs due to widespread public demand for watches with a minimalistic aesthetic approach.
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Purple is intended for the fashion forward men and women who have one foot steeped in trends and the other in search of something new.
Figure 90. Titan 2018 Classique
Figure 92. Titan 2018 Karishma
Figure 91. Titan 2018 Neo
CLASSIQUE
NEO
KARISHMA
Rs. 1995 - Rs. 8995
Rs. 2795 - Rs. 4995
Rs. 1495 - Rs. 3995
Classique is a collection intended for those who keep with the traditional styling of watches. These watches have simple case architecture, minimalist dial layouts and feature shapes that are associated with classical watchmaking.
Titan Neo is tagged as the collection of ‘designs that suit modern everyday wear’. The Collection features neutral and versatile watches that give a user the flexibility to use the same watch for different settings.
‘Classical Design’ in the classique context is not nostalgic, it is the company’s take on the simple, elegant, pure and timeless genre of watches that have existed in history before the the adoption of multiple complication. Classique takes the purity of thought in pure timetelling and gives it contemporary expression.
Neo represents formal/semi-formal everyday watches targeted towards men and women who can’t or don’t spend money on multiple watches for different occasions.
If you’ve known of Titan when you were growing up, then image of a titan watch that you have in your mind is probably a Titan Karishma. This collection from Titan is extremely popular across the country as being ‘The Titan Watch’. Simply put, Karishma Watches are the more affordable Titan watches that feature steel and gold aesthetics with incremental change in the case designs. These are the watches that were given out as the dowry watch, the gift watch, the daily watch or very simply, “The Watch”.
Classique is targeted at a segment of the male audience that still look at a watch as an object value with core utility and refined expression. Its case designs can be seen in other collections like Titan Steel and Titan Karishma.
Due to the whole process of Raga diversifying more into a younger audience with watches that can be worn everyday, Neo risks competition with Raga.
Titan Karishma is targeted at Tier 2 cities and rural India where gifting a Titan is seen as a temporal landmark. The old strategy of Gold and silver watches for the current audience is also under threat as people all over have better access to information and demand more refined design.
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Figure 93. Titan 2018 JUXT
Figure 94. Titan 2018 WE
Figure 95. Titan 2018 Automatic
JUXT
TITAN CONNECTED
AUTOMATIC
Rs. 15995 - Rs. 19995
Rs. 9995
Rs. 11995 - Rs. 20995
The JUXT is Titan’s first smartwatch that displays messages in a small screen on the dial. Time is represented via a classical analog dial format. The watch is unisex but the large size lends itself to greater adoption by male users.
Titan Connected is Titan’s hybrid smartwatch offering that features classical watch styling with basic ‘SMART’ functionality. The watch measures activity and sleep and displays notifications as per your preferences.
While Titan has an Automatic watch collection, it hasn’t released a watch with an inhouse mechanical movement just yet. Titan’s automatic watches normally feature classically styled watches with clear casebacks that give the user a peek into the watch mechanism.
JUXT PRO
It’s still to early to analyse Titan Connected as the series has just been released.
Rs. 22995 The JUXT PRO is Titan’s all screen Smartwatch offering. It displays notifications in a read only format, measures activity and has basic features like a timer, alarm clock, etc. While the hardware of the Titan JUXT comes across as being really well built and of premium quality, the software issues and feature set fall short of the public expectation given the competitors at this price point. 82 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
Titan WE Rs. 9995 - Rs. 12995 Titan WE is an innovative woman’s Smartwatch offering that measures activity, displays notifications and has a unique feature to send out an SOS message discreetly. Oh and it also has a feature to help you find your phone when you misplace it.
These are targeted at working professionals who appreciate horological machines and classical styling.
Figure 96. Titan 2018 HTSE
Figure 98. Titan 2018 Zoop
Figure 97. Titan 2018 Bandhan
HTSE
BANDHAN
ZOOP
Rs. 9995 - Rs. 16995
Rs.3995 - 15995
Rs. 440 - Rs. 995
HTSE is a collection of light powered watches that are sensitive enough to get charged via candle light. HTSE watches are intended to look both luxurious as well as futuristic. These watches are in the oversized genre and intended to be bold in their design. Unfortunately, HTSE has now been discontinued.
Titan Bandhan is the name given to a collection that makes watches as pairs - One male, One female. The core differentiator between the two watches is the size since one that is how a gender difference is established.
Zoop watches are Titan’s Kids offering. The watches are designed keeping the little consumers in mind and taking into account their point of view on what they want in a watch as opposed to an adult’s view on kids watches. Each watch is designed keeping in mind the playfulness, vivid imagination and the cool attitude of today’s children.
HTSE was intended for the urban, future forward men and women who believe in clean energy.
As the name suggest, this collection is intended as a couple’s gift package.
Titan is trying to create a brand recall in this segment amongst kids below the age of 12 years.
Unfortunately, HTSE has now been discontinued.
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COMPETITIVE OVERLAPS OUTSIDE TITAN
With an understanding of titan’s product portfolio, a comparative analysis can be done to see where the company stands with respect to its immediate competition. Titan is compared with six other major watch manufacturers that it competes within its price bracket. They are: 1) Timex 2) Casio 3) Fossil 3) Citizen 4) Seiko 5) Skagen We will lay out Titan’s primary sub brands and collections and show how they compare in contrast with three main competitors in that given segment. Each competitor focuses mainly on producing quartz watches for the Indian consumer. Thus this comparison will be grouped on the genre of watches offered and the consumers that they are targeted at. Contrast will be shown by virtue of comparing price, movements, complications and materials. A clear understanding of each of the sub brand was necessary to carry out such an analysis and the process to reach such an understanding involved the following processes: 84 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
Mapping out the design codes for each sub brand and collection Identifying how the consumer segments were divided and catered to Exploring the Unique Selling Point (USP) of each brand and their individual sectors. Locating gaps within the product portfolio Understanding the psychographic profile evolution that sub brands are going through. A lot of this will not be printed in this document to maintain client confidentiality. Before the comparison is done, two points must be noted: 1) We will not be including mechanical watches or watches with highly specialized features like diver’s rating water resistance, barometer, temperature gauge, etc. These watches fall into the category of ‘tool watches’ and are used in extremely specialized fields. Titan neither competes with these watches nor has any plan to venture into this space. Existing as a lifestyle company, Titan may sport the dive watch aesthetic or the master chronometer styling cues but does not claim to have a diving watch or a chronometer in its portfolio. You can think of this as Titan designing a watch inspired from a plane’s cockpit,
but not designing a pilot’s watch. 2) While the comparison draws things out neatly, reality is not as neat. Other companies approach the idea of a designing for a wide audience differently. While Titan may have different sub brands and collections that cater to each customer segment that they have identified, other companies may not divide their audience in the same way or even create sub brands to resolve this problem. The comparison is pitted against those portions of the competitor’s portfolio that intersect with Titan and thus the portion used to for the comparison may not be the whole collection or sub brand of the competitor’s portfolio.
Information and Image Source:
PRICE RANGE: (INR) MOVEMENT:
COMPLICATIONS:
MATERIALS: (CASE, BAND, CRYSTAL)
TITAN
TIMEX
CITIZEN
SEIKO
RAGA
FRIA
SILHOUETTE
CORE
Figure 99. Titan 2018 Raga
Figure 100. Timex 2018 Fria
Figure 101. Citizen 2018 Silhouette
Figure 102. Seiko 2018 Core
1835 - 17025
4995 - 6695
8995 - 23995
8700 - 21995
Quartz
Quartz
Quartz, Solar Hybrid
Quartz
Second’s hand, date, day-date
Second’s hand
Second’s hand, date
Second’s hand, date, day-date
Brass or SS case, Leather/PU or metal band, Mineral or sapphire crystal
SS case, Metal band, Mineral crystal
SS case, Metal band, Mineral crystal
SS case, Leather or metal band, Hardlex crystal
TITAN
CITIZEN
SKAGEN
FOSSIL
EDGE
ONE
ULTRA-SLIM
MINIMALIST
Figure 104. Citizen 2018 One
Figure 105. Skagen 2018 Ultra-Slim
Figure 106. Fossil 2018 Minimalist
Figure 103. Titan 2018 Edge
PRICE RANGE: (INR) MOVEMENT:
COMPLICATIONS:
MATERIALS: (CASE, BAND, CRYSTAL)
5995 - 21225
16995 - 45995
6495 - 13995
5995 - 13995
Quartz
Quartz, Solar Hybrid
Quartz
Quartz
No complication
No complication
Second’s hand, date
Second’s hand, date, day-date
SS, ceramic or titanium case, Leather or ceramic band, Mineral or sapphire crystal
SS or titanium case, Leather band, Sapphire crystal
SS or titanium case, Leather or metal band, Mineral crystal
SS case, Leather or metal band, Mineral crystal
PRICE RANGE: (INR) MOVEMENT:
COMPLICATIONS:
MATERIALS: (CASE, BAND, CRYSTAL)
TITAN
CITIZEN
SEIKO
FOSSIL
OCTANE
BRYCEN
SPORTURA
DECKER
Figure 107. Titan 2018 Octane
Figure 108. Citizen 2018 Brycen
3495 - 18495
13995 - 52995
13995 - 35995
6595 - 12495
Quartz
Quartz, Solar Hybrid
Quartz, Automatic
Quartz
Chronograph, date, tachymeter
Chronograph, daydate, tachymeter, perpetual callendar
Chronograph, daydate, tachymeter, perpetual callendar
Chronograph, date, tachymeter
Brass or SS case, Silicone/fabric/leather or metal band, Mineral or sapphire crystal
SS or Titanium case, Silicone or metal band, Sapphire crystal
SS case, Silicone or metal band, Hardlex or sapphire crystal
SS case, Leather/silicone or metal band, Mineral crystal
Figure 109. Seiko 2018 Sportura
Figure 110. Fossil 2018 Decker
TITAN
CASIO
CITIZEN
REGALIA
EDIFICE
ECO-DRIVE
CHRONOGRAPH
Figure 112. Casio 2018 Edifice
Figure 113. Citizen 2018 Eco Drive
Figure 114. Seiko 2018 Chrono
Figure 111. Titan 2018 Regalia
PRICE RANGE: (INR) MOVEMENT:
COMPLICATIONS:
MATERIALS: (CASE, BAND, CRYSTAL)
SEIKO
5995 - 18995
6495 - 15995
11495 - 28995
8700 - 21995
Quartz
Quartz
Quartz, Solar Hybrid
Quartz
Second’s hand, day-date, month, chronograph
Second’s hand, day-date, month, chronograph
Chronograph, day - date, tachymeter
Chronograph, day-date, month
SS or ceramic case, Leather or metal band, Mineral or sapphire crystal
SS case, Metal band, Mineral crystal
SS case, Silicone or metal band, Mineral or sapphire crystal
SS case, Leather or metal band, Hardlex crystal
TITAN
PRICE RANGE: (INR) MOVEMENT:
COMPLICATIONS:
MATERIALS: (CASE, BAND, CRYSTAL)
SKAGEN
TIMEX
FOSSIL
CLASSIQUE
HOLST
FAIRFIELD
GRANT
Figure 115. Titan 2018 Classique
Figure 116. Skagen 2018 Holst
Figure 117. Time 2018 Fairfield
Figure 118. Fossil 2018 Grant
1995 - 8995
6495 - 12,995
3995 - 11995
6995 - 16995
Quartz
Quartz
Quartz
Quartz
Second’s hand, date, day-date
Second’s hand, date, day-date
Second’s hand, date, month
Second’s hand, date, month
Brass or SS case, Leather or metal band, Mineral crystal
SS case, Leather or metal band, Mineral crystal
SS case, Leather or metal band, Mineral crystal
SS case, Leather or metal band, Mineral crystal
COMPETITIVE OVERLAPS WITHIN TITAN
Figure 119. Titan 2018 Octane or Regalia?
While ‘competitive overlaps outside Titan’ has been within the radar of things that the company has always had its eye on, there was another problem that went unchecked for a long time until it made the design and coordination of sub brands/collections difficult. It was the problem of sub brands and collections competing with each other. While ‘competitive overlaps outside Titan’ revealed the relative ‘sameness’ in the design and core offerings of watches from different companies within a certain price and target group, ‘competitive overlaps within Titan’ will try to focus on how ‘differentiation’ between the sub brands and collections within the company has become a muddy subject. A few pages ago, we saw each collection laid out with a description of the core distinctive characteristics and their target audience. However, 90 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
there are three things that make the division less clear in the day to day design of products within the company. The first is the fact that the base on which we build our sub brands and collections (the user) evolves and shifts with time, just like the tectonic plates beneath our feet. Today most users across categories want more watches that are designed ‘simple’ and ‘dressy’. In case, that sounds like a paradox, I’ll clarify what simple and dressy means. A public demand for ‘simple’ watches mean that most people are not looking for a busy dial packed dense with detail or multiple complications. ‘Dressy ‘ means that the watch should look premium and combine well with the kind of business casual clothes we find ourselves in for the most part. The change in the desires of users are more nuanced than just ‘simple’ and
‘dressy’ but to speak broadly, we’ll leave it there for a moment. We can see this happen with Titan Regalia. In the past, Regalia was all about gold and detailed layered designs. However with a change in the Regalia consumer, Regalia needed to change as well. You’ll see less gold and more silver or black in their latest Grand Master series. While this may be a good move to contemporize the Regalia collection, it eats into the octane design space. The second is an unfortunate consequence of how design plays out in a mass company. While the flagship models of every collection will look distinct and stand out, as we start looking at the less expensive models in the collection, we find that they all look very similar. Due to these watches being at the lower end of the hierarchy, designers in the company are not able to devote enough time to designing them differently. However, most of the watches that are bought
Figure 120. Titan 2018 Karishma
are from this fuzzy spectrum of watches and thus they affect the business metrics of each sub brand significantly. To the end user, it may not matter whether the commodified watch he/she bought is from one sub brand or another, however, as a design effort, if you’re spending time to design difference that won’t be perceived, then you’re wasting your time. Even if that time is a week’s work, when you add up all the weeks then you get a significant amount of time that you could have saved had you established better clarity at the start. Lastly, Titan is a brand that is often associated with an older target audience. The company is well aware of this and is actively trying to attract younger users to buy into both watches and the Titan brand. One example can be highlighted from Raga. Raga watches have always been seen as the
Figure 121. Titan 2018 Raga
kind of watches you either buy for special festive seasons(when you’re clad in heavy ethnic armor) or a raga is bought by/for an elder women (while the company cites this age bracket to be around 30 years and above, I would gauge that number to be older). To keep the Raga sub brand from getting older by moving along with the same set of users that have already adopted their watches, they are seeking to appeal to younger women. They are also looking at moving away from being all about ornate designs and special occasions to being more everyday. Newer releases like Raga Viva are proof of this move. This shift has caused them to eat into the consumer space for Titan Neo and Titan Classique.
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REFRAMED BRIEF
A deep study into the world of watches reveals that the way in which the watch sector works is very unique and that an approach to design in this space would need to be thought of with respect to the path dependency that watches had developed through history.
To develop ‘just another product’ without knowing what business goal it would serve would be futile given the Titan context. Thus, the redefined brief was to develop a range of approaches that attempt to recraft the wristwatch value proposition from a Titan point of view.
From a Titan perspective, there was a sense of urgency in developing a strategy that would help differentiate Titan from its competitors and bring in younger consumers. At a brand level, Titan needed to be able to compete with Fashion brands and their perceived face value. At a product level, it needed to be able to be able to create differentiated products that were memorable to users. Technologically, it was challenged for bodily real estate space by giant tech companies who could very easily upskill to make smartwatches.
The project ends with the initiation of a full fledged design language project for Titan products, the release of a new Raga watch series and product development for a new genre of smart wearables.
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4
DEFINING TITAN WATCHES To be able to effectively embed differentiation and harmony into a brand’s products, one has to start at the roots. Design within a company takes the shape of the company’s ethos and core values. Thus clarity needed to be achieved to decipher these values and bring fresh clarity to the way that design could be practiced going forward. Several methods were used to define the brand, its core attributes and these were synthesized into three story arcs.
01 TITAN AT CORE
SYNTHESIS FROM INTERNAL CONVERSATIONS
Did Titan have a core set of values and principles that affect the product outcomes? Was there a problem in clarity of the core attributes or were the design efforts unsuccessful in creating a differentiated product?
What understanding did the company have of its core values and how did it help them direct product releases?
06 WHERE ARE COMPANIES HEADED? How are companies evolving across the spectrum? How do brands differentiate themselves when they are selling the same commodity? How should a company weild the power and responsibility to create its own products?
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07 DEFINING BRAND USING CORE METHOD Can a unified structure be used to incorporate all the varied brand defining method? How did the company’s perception of itself differ from that of the user?
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DEFINING BRAND FROM PARENT BRANDS
DEFINING BRAND FROM SUB BRAND CODES
DEFINING BRAND USING JUNG’S ARCHETYPES
What can be learned about the Titan brand from looking at how it fit within the matrix of its parent brands? What were the points of similarity and contrast?
Was there a thread that aligned all the products from different sub brands? How would a user perceive the Titan Brand from looking at its varied products?
If brands can be looked at like people then what kind of a persona would Titan assume? Who was Titan and how did it feel to interact with him/her?
(Removed to maintain client confidentiality)
08 BRAND STORIES Can the core brand be synthesized into story arcs to better suit the storytelling business model?
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TITAN AT CORE
As a mass brand operating with several different collections and sub brands, Titan had become accustomed to defining each of its products via the sub brand/collection design codes. Thus each watch would be moulded according to the trend of the moment (which works like a seasonal fruit) and the sub brand codes. However, there was no visioning exercise done to align all the watches across different categories under one central Titan narrative. The old system of having the main themes of functionality, desirability, authenticity, dynamism and expressiveness needed to be recrafted to have stronger application. To illustrate this, we’ll take how some of the words are interpreted in a design sense. The word dynamism was thought out because of the idea that time is dynamic always moving. However, the way this was often executed was to add a seconds hand to have the watch always ticking. As you can imagine, this did not have a profound impact on the design of the watches. Also with more premium offerings, the start stop movement of the seconds hand from a quartz movement was deemed as cheap. Titan also used the word ‘authenticity’. Indeed, authenticity
is essential for watch companies as the industry focuses heavily on it. However, apart from the Raga and Edge sub brands, Titan had not hit a golden number with authenticity. Its watches, while being original in design, did not hit a thread that made it memorable to users. Thus in order to lay down the golden thread that would pass through all collections and sub brands to harmonize them, it was necessary to define the brand. The last time Titan had rebranded themselves was in 2002 and it marked a shift of the brand from being solely about timekeeping to being about lifestyle and fashion. The rebranding exercise had been done by Sujata Keshavan, legendary NID alumni, and ever since Titan had apprehensions about getting the rebranding done by an external consultants. There was a lot of talk within the company about alignment but such an exercise would be challenging and the design team would not be able to take out time from the normal day to day design to work on a project of this kind. Thus with this crisis, came opportunity. Defining a brand is not easy and it can’t be done in isolation. It needs to take into account what
all stakeholders have to say. As an intern, it was difficult to get appointments with people in different departments. The sad truth is that no one takes an intern seriously and interns rarely know how to speak in terms of what the other person wants. Thus to the readers of this document, I would recommend you to make friends early on in the project with as many people as possible within the company. Catch people over chai and coffee breaks to talk about the things you need to discuss with them. Waiting for an appointment is only going to delay your process, the writer learnt the hard way. During the course of the project it helped to form rapport by joining in one the group games and events. These are social lubricants that give one a chance to talk to people without the raised mental guard that you would find them in at the workplace. Each brand definition method has limitations and counter arguments. We’ll go through several methods that were used in this project. A designer needs to think of the attributes that arise from a gutt perspective to be able to make sense and convert these into the actual business of design
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Figure 122. Titan Core 2018 Conclusion from Internal Discussions
SYNTHESIS FROM INTERNAL CONVERSATIONS
At Titan, the design briefs come from the marketing team and every sub brand has a brand manager who directs the design efforts to match the user segments. It is the conversations with these brand managers and marketing team that has been synthesized into two contrasting words that create creative tension between them Classic and Contemporary.
1) Trust Factor: Tata has established itself as an honest brand in the mind of the consumer.
When talking to the marketing team, it was important to understand how Titan’s business works. A lot of the assumptions that we walk into projects with disappear once confronted with the reality of business and this is precisely what happened. At present, Titan has approximately sixty percent market share of the organized watch market. As a mass brand, it would be impossible to achieve this without crafting different watches for different categories of people. Some categories of watches do not really make the company any money but are necessary to maintain to keep the competition at bay. This was idea behind the setting up of Sonata.
3) A watch for every price Titan has tried to craft itself as a one-stop destination where a user can find a design for every whim, fancy and price point.
When zooming out to look at the Titan brand as a whole, the marketing team would argue that the following makes a strong case for the USP of Titan watches:
2) High Quality product when a purchase is made, users can often sit back and not worry about the quality of product or after sales service.
4) Original Design Titan prides itself with creating its own designs. Sub brands like raga are truly unique and have no real parallel. Innovative products like the Titan Edge give hope that India is actively participating in adding its share to horological history. 5) A pedigree in the watch industry While this was not fully articulated, it is worth considering. With the advent of tech companies getting into the watch space with smart watches, it is worth thinking about whether a watch company can craft it’s value proposition around its experience in designing wrist based artifacts. Designers from the watch industry have with them
deep user insights and would need to up-skill to adapt smart technology. However, the journey is different for tech companies that need to uncover such insights on their own, or via collaboration with other watch companies (for example, Apple watch collaborated with Hermes). 6) Contemporary Design Assurance was given that Titan will never fall behind in terms of market trends. If there is something in vogue in the market, you won’t have to wait for it to hit the market, Titan would be one step ahead in making sure that it is already there. When engaging the marketing departments in conversation about the changing design landscape in watches, it was brought to my notice that the region that watches operate within today is largely that of minimalism. Modern minimalism has great resonance with the classical way in which watch design is practiced. Titan, despite having been perceived as brand for older folk, has always had classical watch design as its strength. Thus the new brand culture, as well as the well as the design of watches, is at an interesting place because it is born out of interpretation of what is contemporary as per trend and what is classic as per Titan’s inherent design DNA.
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Figure 123. Tata 2018 Attributes
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Figure 124. Titan Company Limited 2018 Attributes
DEFINING BRAND FROM PARENT BRANDS Another way to look at the Titan watch brand would be to understand how it nested within the larger scheme of the parent brands. Tata has many different brands of which Titan Company Limited is one brand. In the same way, today the Titan Company Limited has multiple brands of its own within which Titan Watches is one brand. The nesting exercise helps look at the companies from a zoomed out view and helps form an understanding of how each company is positioned within its larger parent brand. Tata has several brand portfolios, of which Titan Company Limited is the ‘Lifestyle Product’ division. What this means is that if Tata has to make watches, backpacks, jewellery, accessories, shoes, clothes, etc then they would be made under Titan Company Limited. Essentially everything that you ‘wear’ on your body from the Tata Company comes from Titan Company Limited. Likewise, Titan watches is one out of four other watch companies within Titan Company Limited and is positioned to make the mid to high range priced watches. While each company that stems out of a parent company will have some points of similarity, it is the differences that will be most important to point out. Looking at the brand design of each of these, we get better clarity to where Titan sits. The Tata logo was designed by Wolff Olins, and the branding design for Titan Company Limited was handled by Ray and Keshavan. By reading more into the branding design we can lay out some defining attributes. This was further interrogated, mapped and organized as shown on the next pages.
Figure 125. Titan Watches 2018 Attributes
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Having aggregated a whole list of keywords on speaking to people from within Titan, it was now time to speak to people outside the organization to ask them what they felt about Titan Watches. Sometimes the stories we create within the company take on a life of their own outside, and including users early in the design process helps to get a ‘third eye’ on the design efforts of this kind. As the keywords rolled in, an attempt was made to group them into bigger buckets. At this stage in the process, it was thought that brand ressolution, would set a tone of voice (establish a personality), be indicative of the company’s promises and reference the company’s rich history. Thus this is how the key words were grouped.
Figure 126. Jansher 2018 Brand Model - Big Buckets
Titan’s tone is embodied by the people who work at the organization, their communication through media platforms and the feel that is designed into the experience of walking in to a Titan Store. At the heart of the Titan promise is integrity. It is integrity that inspires trust from users. Consumers opt for Titan products because they can be relied upon. Titan entered the jewellery space and organized it to a point where a 7 step test allowed a great level of standardization and transparency. Honesty is a big part of the package - material used with be mentioned as is. One won’t think that many companies would be able to market an 18k gold watch with as much ease as Titan does. The company’s history is testimony to the sheer tyranny of scale that Tata is known for. Tata is looked at globally as an Indian powerhouse. Having been a pioneer in different industries, Titan was also one of the first companies to introduce the 8 hour work day and medical benefits for its employees.
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Figure 127. Jansher 2018 Brand Model Titan Watches
Having just read Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts, formerly CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, there was intrigue surrounding the the question of how one can make brands that people love. This wasn’t about thought. It was about seduction! In the book, Kevin Roberts talk about how most successful companies fell on the left left corner of the page on the left. The products created by these companies does what it says on the packaging - they are high quality, with good performance and readily available. But their adoption was susceptible to price, innovation and new entries. Brands, he reasoned, create loyalty for a reason. Lovemarks, on the other hand, created loyalty beyond reason, discount, benefit or attribute. Perhaps ‘love’ as Kevin Roberts puts it, wouldn’t work the wonders in the way the book talks about. However, it was about time that one began thinking of how to work seduction in the brand DNA of Titan. This was thought of by infusing the brand with mystery (through good storytelling), sensuality (by allowing for a greater experience though the senses) and intimacy (by leveraging how our species anthropomorphizes objects). This is marked by red triangles on the next page.
Figure 128. Lovemarks 2018 Titan Plan of Action
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Figure 129. Jansher 2018 Titan Brand Model (Seduction)
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Figure 130. Carl Jung’s Archetypes 2018 Titan Model
DEFINING BRAND USING JUNG’S ARCHETYPES
When attempting to boil down and detail out the attributes that should ideally define the core of Titan watches, there was a gut feeling that could no longer be ignored - the attributes that existed as words felt dry and lifeless. At this point, conversations had been penned down with all the major stakeholders and a significant amount of time had been spent collecting information and attempting to make sense of it through mapping and cluster formation. One of the core skills of a designer is to be able to make sense of chaos or ambiguity and in that effort, a lot had been resolved. However, there were still questions that were unanswered. For example, the word ‘adventurous’ could feature as a brand attribute of both Fastrack and G-Shock watches, and yet the outcomes were so very different - While the G-Shock interpretation is to explore the outdoors, the Fastrack interpretation is to break rules that you haven’t before. Both these interpretations did justice to the word
‘adventurous’ in their own right but were different in a way that had not be worked into the structure laid down to define the brand. It was in the search of how to account for these nuances at a structural level that one came across Carl Jung’s 12 brand archetypes. When looking at the archetypes, one could assert the previous branding efforts a place. The first branding effort done in 1984 was done in line with the ‘Hero’ archetype. This was a point when Titan was all about creating a positive impact in the world. Later in 2002, Sujata Keshavan’s rebranding of Titan marked the company’s move from being about timekeeping to being about lifestyle and fashion. This was in line with the ‘Explorer’ archetype where the company wanted to offer its users ‘emotional travels’ to project to the multiple facets of a single person. Today things were much more nebulous than in the past and the way the company communicated needed to be looked at to assert an archetype for the current brand.
In the following pages, you will see how Titan’s voice across media platforms was considered to get an accurate picture of what the company was about today. Looking at ads on YouTube, facebook and instagram, all the ‘hashtags’ were jotted down and common thread in the story arc was sought out. The more information one consumed, the more it became clear that Titan as a brand fell into the region of brand archetypes that pursued connection. There were tones of intimacy, love, passion, warmth and sensuality. At the same time there were currents of light-hearted humor and notions of being down to earth. The Titan jingle that is one of the most memorable things about Titan has been extracted from Mozart’s symphony 25 is the part of the symphony that inspires a feeling a jubilation. Titan’s mission statement talks about creating uplifting experiences for its customers.
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Figure 131. Jansher 2018 Sketchnotes Jungian Archetypes
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Figure 132. Jansher 2018 Sketchnotes Jungian Archetypes
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Figure 133. Jansher 2018 Brand Study Map
WHERE ARE COMPANIES HEADED? To be able to address any kind of ambiguity, it helps to have structure so that one knows where to start and can see a few steps ahead. In attempting to figure out where brands a headed, more than 50 brands we broken down in terms of their mission/vision statements, slogans, typical story arcs, core beliefs, value propositions and business mantras. The process involved in the selection of brands made sure that the top players in each sector were chosen to be pitted against each other to reveal how brands selling the same commodity attempt to stand out. The findings have been boiled down to the following points: 1) Companies are seeking to portray more honesty Every company is looking to garner greater trust. This leads conversations centered around better products and ethical production. 2) More and more brands want to avoid looking corporate and cold. Brands putting up rainbow display pictures for the LGBT movement gives the image of being more up to date, open minded and supportive. 3) Brands are not just a set of visual cues. They are everything from the visuals to the tone of speech to the sounds to kind of photography used. The mess of rebranding is to prepare for the stresses of being a modern brand. Changing media makes brands go through cycles of rebranding. The design systems in place in place at a given time need to be retrofitted to cope with this. Therefore the challenge today is not only to stay at pace with
time but to design systems that can work and adapt as the brand evolves. 4) The consumer is more more educated and well read - he/she doesn’t just stick to Colgate or Coca Cola because the brand means something to them. We switch to whatever product is better designed and has more value in the blink of an eye. 5) The simplifying of Logos and other brand touchpoints is part of the zeitgeist of creating a better and more efficient design system to support better designed products. 6) Personal brands have emerged as a another way to promote companies. Elon Musk’s following is more than that of Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity combined. While people may not trust the corporate faces of these companies, they trust Elon musk since he comes across more as a person who wants to save the world than a person who want to just make money. Personal Brands are aspirational. An individual may not have anything in common with the people they follow but it’s their lifestyle and achievements that draw a person in. 7) There a certain level of wave of premiumization that has happened across all sectors. All companies need to be able to frame their offering as something that is elite and luxurious without really excluding anyone. 8) Brands start looking generic within their sector there is a fixed reason that was identified for this, but within a given sector, all brands start following the same visual language of the Sector. An example
of this is the usage of bespoke sans serif typefaces by Tech Giants - Google, Facebook, IBM, Spotify, AirBnB, etc. 9) Converse to this is brands like Glossier. Created by a beauty editor, their products aren’t revolutionary or game changing but their visual identity is everything - it puts a skin on their products. Their Instagram page is full of images shot by regular people - it isn’t a design marvel but feels colloquial to millenials who love makeup. 10) Branding is not everything - the frills of branding are not going to hold up if the product or service is bad. Differentiation depends on what sector you are in and it can be about what your product is and who is endorsing it. With respect to watches, it worth noting that the appeal of watches is sometimes beyond function. All watches do the same thing, thus are they closer to jewellery than products? However, the idea of looking at the watch as a platform indicates the zeitgeist of a return to function. Watches are objects of value and thus they make great gifts.The price point at which they are offered by Titan make sense for a watches as a gift. However, when we look to buy something for ourselves then we need to justify the price tag. In that case, either the price for beautiful objects comes down or the value comes from it being handmade, unique, made to order or cause serving.
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Figure 134. CORE 2018 Session with Users
Figure 135. CORE 2018 Session with Company
DEFINING BRAND USING CORE METHOD
The last method used to define the brand is a method called ‘CORE’. It was framed by ‘TheFutur’, a podcast that discusses problems at the intersection of business and design. What ‘CORE’ does is provide structure to the process that you would need to define the brand through the user, brand and business. Aligning the user meant that one would need to define the user and their unmet needs. Defining the brand is essentially about defining ‘who’ the brand is. Aligning business simply meant that as a designer, one needs to know what business goal they are solving. Satyam Kantamneni, founder of UX Reactor, lays down five business outcomes that designers can directly correlate and drive. They are as follows: 1. Adoption Finding new users 2. Retention Retaining old users 3. Satisfaction Raise user delight and loyalty
4.Engagement Raise user memorability and involvement/ participation 5. Efficiency Reduce friction and loss of energy In Titan’s case, the most immediate business goal to solve was to create younger users. Thus adoption was the first priority.
CORE is usually carried out within a company so as to define the company from within, however, for this project it was adapted to be able to speak to users about the brand as well. This was done because sometimes the story we craft within the brand takes a life of its own outside the company. Since Titan was an outside brand, it was insightful to get user feedback as to what their perception of the brand was.
Next, a process needed to be laid out to define the brand. This is a six fold structure. It lays out ‘Culture’, ‘Customer’, ‘Voice’, ‘Feeling’, and ‘Impact’. ‘Culture’ explores the founders and how the community would describe the brand. ‘Customer’ explores how the brand would describe its customers. ‘Voice’ lays down how the brand sounds to others. ‘Feeling’ talks about how people feel after interacting with the brand and lastly, Impact attempts to capture what tangible impact the brand and/or its product has on others. CORE engages an ‘x-factor’ note at the end to talk about what is unique about the brand or its product.
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BRAND STORIES
Having defined the brand via different methods to account for the nuance that is involved in bringing clarity, the final summation was aggregated into three main story arcs. The story arcs act as a unifying element that allow the brand to navigate through changing times with clarity of what the brand stands for. Both product and communication can be tied together and aligned to a ‘North Star’ early in the design process.
employees, Tata has always been about fair play and empathy. This is the ‘why’ that guides the company to practice business as it does. This is the brand’s unchanging core.
These condensed brand stories allow for the brand to be defined with simplicity and clarity without radically limiting the kind of design outcomes or communication avenues that the brand would naturally express itself through. They are as follows:
2) “Evolving Relationship Dynamics” Evolving relationship dynamics expands on how the brand is built on the idea of pursuing connection. The gift culture and symbolism of a watch makes it a object of great value. Evolving relationships allow the brand to blur the divides between age and gender. This works at solving the business goal of creating adoption by allowing new users to discover the brand through the support of existing users. This is what keeps changing in a manner that can aid memorability.
1) “Best Practices” The idea of a best practices has been there since Tata’s conception. With the introduction of the 8 hour work week and medical benefits for its
3) “Future Forward” Future forward allows the brand to take ownership of the developments that happen in the world of watches. As the business exists today, Titan
follows in the path trodden by other companies. It was perhaps one of the first brands to come up with the smartwatch but it did not release. It. Stepping into new territory involves risk but it is the only way that the brand that be remembered for real innovative leaps. Future forward suggest a plan of action that attempts to look at the watch as a platform for more elegant interactions. Instead of looking at the watch as an object of style, fashion or status, Future forward attempts to stretch the walls of the gadget-like smartwatches to explore solutions that can bring real value to the life of users.
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5
DESIGN LANGUAGE The setting up of a design language is one the most effective ways for a brand to differentiate itself from its competitors and create harmony within its product portfolio. A design language allows users to perceive difference between companies that sell the same kind of product. Design language enables the user to discern the difference even if they are not able to articulate it. If this kind of differentiation is done successfully at a product level, it aides the company’s core communicate by bringing about coherence in the perception of the brand in the user’s mind and thus helps create a more memorable brand.
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DESIGN LANGUAGE
DESIGN LANGUAGE AT SCALE
What is design language? How does it manifest in products? Why should a company invest in creating a design language for their products?
How does the execution of design language change with scale? How do we see design language play our with watches?
06 TITAN CASE SHAPE VARIANTS What are the differentiated case shapes that will need to accounted for in the design language system?
07 SILHOUETTE, SURFACE & DETAIL What does the process of creating a design language system for products look like?
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APPLICATION ON TITAN
MANUFACTURING
WATCH CONSTRUCTION AT TITAN
What is the best system that can be adapted to Titan’s business model?
What are the manufacturing constraints and touch points that such an exercise will need to touch base with?
What options can a designer leverage from a manufacturing stand point to play with the design and construction of watches at Titan?
08 DEVELOPMENT (Removed to maintain client confidentiality)
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Figure 136. Jansher 2018 BMW Sketch Compilation
DESIGN LANGUAGE
In the past, we used ‘brands’ to solve the problem of ‘commodification’ - to differentiate objects of the same kind (commodities). For example, you would pick up Surf Excel washing powder because you trust Surf Excel more than an unnamed washing powder. However, today we are surrounded by brands and the modern consumer is vigilant enough to not fall for just communication. Today we often talk about how cellphones have hit ‘grand commodification’ in that we cannot really distinguish two phones from one another very easily. However, as demonstrated in section 3, this is much the same with heavily mass manufactured watches. All watches within Titan’s price bracket suffer from the same problem - If you were to remove the brand name and logo from the watches, it would be hard to tell who they are made by.
Differentiation is necessary for a company’s product to stand out from its competition. However, the different products that a company produces also require a certain degree of homogeneity in order to create resonance in the user’s mind. Usually this is achieved through communication. However, crafting competitive differentiation and internal coherence at the product level itself can have a massive impact on the system. One can make the argument that modern brands like Apple and Tesla have been able to really stand out because differentiation and harmony are seeded within the narrative at early stages in the product development process - Their products set them apart. In such cases, communication efforts like advertising augment the company’s competitive shield but may not even be necessary - Ask yourself, have you ever seen a Tesla ad? Referring back to all the branding touchpoints,
crafting differentiation at the product level is going to be what lies ahead to creating ‘Lovemarks’. (Read Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts) Given the challenge at hand, it was worth considering the idea to see whether any other sector in product design had faced this problem and was able to effectively resolve it. It was this thought that inspired a deep investigation into design language. One often hears of the term ‘design language’ associated with cars, thus cars became the starting point to demystify the subject and see if it could help solve the problem at hand.
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Figure 137. Ferrari 1957 Testa Rossa
Figure 138. Lamborghini 1973 Countach
Figure 139. Porsche 1956 Porsche 356 C
Figure 140. Ferrari 2007 Enzo Ferrari
Figure 141. Lamborghini 2010 Murciélago
Figure 142. Porsche 1965 Porsche 912
Figure 144. Lamborghini 2017 Veneno
Figure 145. Porsche 2004 Carrera GT
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Figure 143. Ferrari 2016 La Ferrari
Figure 146. Carbodydesign 2018 BMW Design Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 123
Figure 147. Jansher 2018 BMW Design Language Study Side View
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To study design language, 9 car companies were chosen - Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche, BMW, Audi, Chevrolet, Toyota and Maruti - a sample was chosen to include companies from different parts of the world and different price segments. Up to 48 car models were selected from each company and 1 car company’s cars (BMW) were sketched out in an attempt to read between the lines more deeply. While different car companies go about crafting design language differently, a study of this kind will confirm that cars are designed as avatars (Watch Chris Bangle’s talk on TED - Good cars are Art). People anthropomorphize products like a car - the face of a car evokes the same quality of emotion that the face of a living being does. The sawn off headlights on a BMW give the impression of the car being focused and the precise lines drawn on the body are intended to convey precision because a BMW drives very precisely. Likewise, the form of a mini embodies that of both masculine and feminine characteristics. The face of a mini is also inspired from the smile of a baby. Similar to these, there are several other elements that give expression to a company’s language. All these elements are loaded with intent and can be traced back to a company’s core values. Essentially, that’s the whole idea of crafting a ‘design language’ - to be able to communicate viscerally by leveraging invisible threads that can be felt without reasoning. Design language enables our species to discern difference even if you can’t fully articulate it. Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 125
Figure 148. Jansher 2018 BMW Design Language Study Front View
Figure 149. BMW 1977 Series 7 - E 23 (Sketch)
At its heart, design language is also about communication. While communication may have become central to the design culture today, design language is an example of how early designers had figured out the quickest and most direct way of communicating. We’ve always had the tendency to judge a book by it’s cover. If we take cues from how attraction works in human beings, then perhaps the ‘sight first, thought later’ philosophy applies to products as well. Form, color, finish(and 126 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
Figure 150. BMW 1986 Series 7 - E 23 (Sketch)
the like) are the hooks that create interest in a commodity. By taking cars that span over a good length of time, we really get to see how design language works. You see, there are three things that can determine the look of any product:
Figure 151. BMW 1994 Series 7 - E 38 (Sketch)
1) Function (Form follows function) Cars will look a certain way because of how we have thought out their function. For example, the wheels of the car will be placed where they are based on how we want the car to work. The footprint of a Mini is designed like that of a go-kart, and thus it drives like one. A BMW is supposed to drive very precisely and thus the . A Rolls Royce is supposed to feel like a palace gliding on a magic carpet, thus the exaggerated wheelbase.
Figure 152. BMW 2002 Series 7 - E 65 (Sketch)
2) Time (The structure of the all cars will look the same at any given point in history) Cars of a certain era will look similar across companies because the functioning of a car is based on the same existing technology and innovation. Having an engine that needed to suck in air meant that you’d need to design an air intake. This is how the front grille on the face of the car came to be. BMW’s take on it was to make it ‘kidney’ shaped. Now that we’re moving towards
Figure 153. BMW 2008 Series 7 - E 68 (Sketch)
electric technology, you don’t need an air intake and thus a grille is not necessary. Should a car manufacturer remove it? Tesla did and it caused quite a stir.
Figure 154. BMW 2015 Series 7 - F 04 (Sketch)
brand to shape their product differently based on their values and core attributes. While engineering may allow design to operate only within a small canvas space, designers have enough tools to be able to design great difference within it.
3) Brand (Lamborghini and Porsche cars have a distinct consistent look despite the passage of time) Brands try to differentiate products to between one another and thus, it is within the hands of the Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 127
Figure 155. Breguet 2018 5140BB (Hand Drafted Sketch)
Figure 158. Rolex 2018 Submariner (Hand Drafted Sketch) 128 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
Figure 156. BMW 1986 Series 7 - E 23
Figure 159. Rolex 2018 Datejust (Hand Drafted Sketch)
Figure 157. Junghans 2018 Chronoscope (Hand Drafted Sketch)
Figure 160. Swatch 2018 Irony (Hand Drafted Sketch)
DESIGN LANGUAGE AT SCALE With a car, you be able to draw a long swage line across the side view and have it recognizable from thirty feet away. You can’t do the same with watches. Thus in order to study if design language applied across watches, one would need to acknowledge that the way design language is applied changes with scale. To begin to understand this, we need to gravitate back down to the ‘why’ that causes us to carry out a design language project. While studying design language in cars and consumer electronics, it became evident that design language served four core functions for the brand - creating recognizability, desirability, differentiation from competition and homogeneity across the internal product portfolio. In trying to identify how these goals were achieved in watches, 8 different approaches were noted. They have been named according to the company they have been identified in and are as follows: 1) The Breguet method Breguet has 8 or so unmistakable signs. They include caseband fluting, ‘Breguet’ hands, screwed-on lugs, machine milled dials, Arabic numerals on enamel dials, a hidden signature and the Breguet unique number. Unlike with cars, where you see language cues on every car, Breguet chooses to lay down only a handful of these signs on every Breguet watch.
2) The Cartier method: Cartier is known for the way the words ‘Cartier’ is embedded into 10 hour marker and their distinct art deco styling with roman numerals. However, most the most notable aspect of their design language is how Cartier celebrates the crown of the watch. It does this adding a blue crystal to it. In certain models, you’ll even see the case moulded differently to accentuate the crown. 3) The Junghans method Junghans got its design language established by engaging famous Bauhaus artists like Max Bill to design their models. Through this process, their whole line has adopted the Bauhaus minimalism as its core defining aspect and it carries this till today. 4) The Rolex method Rolex has became famous as manufacturer of tool watches. It is in this respect that their whole portfolio lies in the genre of highly functional or luxury sport watches. Think of their watches are a combination of the regalia and octane collections. Establishing a set genre means that design too gets limited to within a certain zone. Their cyclops crystal and bezel design makes them instantly recognizable. 5) The Swatch method Michael Foley rightly tagged swatch as the ‘T-Shirt of watch companies’. The swatch case and band integration remains consistent across all its models. Like a T-shirt, the basic design of the
watch is the same but you can do a lot with colors and graphics. 6) The Vacheron Constantin method If it were up to me, which it might be since no such classification exists till date, I would tag the Vacheron method as the ‘ball on the eye’ method. In an automatic watch where there is a dial cut out to reveal the mechanism (referred to colloquially as ‘open heart’), a person’s eyes go straight to the ticking and moving of the movement. On a Vacheron, when you look here, you will instantly see the Vacheron logo (It’s a Maltese cross) crafted as a structure on over the open heart. 7) The Audemars Piguet method Audemars Piguet are famous for their iconic ‘Royal Oak’ model. Most of their watches are derivations of this iconic model and thus when you look at the collection, you can feel the harmony across the different products (even the cuff-links). 8) The Tiffany and Co. method If you’re familiar with the glamorous side of history, you might be familiar with Tiffany and Co.’s iconic blue boxes. For those who are not familiar with this, Tiffany’s boxes (colored in the patented pantone 1937) have a cult like legacy. Jewellery brands do not focus on design language in their products, but companies like Tiffany & Co. remind us how seriously they take packaging as a means to create harmony.
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Figure 161. Jansher 2018 Concept Seletion IDEO method
APPLICATION ON TITAN
An understanding of design language led to an investigation to see how design language could be established for the Titan brand. A quick filter with the manner in which design language is carried out for watches reveals what system has the potential to work for Titan. 1) The Breguet method Since Titan is a mass brand that likes to make a variety of watches in different shapes and sizes, creating ‘unmistakable signs’ would work for Titan since they intervene to create language at a detailed scale. While embedding a hidden signature is very straightforward, designing elements in the case and the hands would be a more complex process that would need managerial clarity to able to proceed. 2) The Cartier method: The idea of accentuating a particular element to make it the center of the company’s design focus would be interesting. It would definitely set Titan apart as not many manufacturers use this method to differentiate their products. Another aspect that makes it interesting is the fact that it could potentially adapt to any case shape or size. This method would need a central fundamental thought/narrative to be agreed upon but if this can be achieved then it would still allow almost any kind of form exercise with scope for adapting with time.
3) The Junghans method The idea of Titan setting its core as a particular design movement is not feasible because a lifestyle brand follows the religion of the consumer. Today minimalism is in vogue, so Titan makes minimalist watches. However, if tomorrow ‘maximalism’ became fashionable then it would have to change accordingly. If Titan were to adopt this kind of design language, then it would need to consistently work on changing its narrative to contextualize its core in a modern sense.
points of unification and harmony like at the corners (as done with cell phones) or edges.
4) The Rolex method Titan’s strength lies in making classical dress styled watches. However it needs to maintain other product portfolios to keep the competition at bay in different consumer groups. Thus adopting a single genre of watches would not suit the business of a mass brand like Titan.
7) The Audemars Piguet method Perhaps the idea of making one iconic model and designing all other models and products as derivations from it is not the ideal route for a mass company like Titan. However this can be done to expand the sub brands to a point where it would be easy to identify products within the Titan product portfolio
5) The Swatch method Titan is a mass brand that to makes a variety of watches in different shapes and sizes. This is not going to change any time soon. While round case shapes are popular today, Titan would need keep making the other shaped cases as well because a large segment of its consumers still buy those cases. Therefore, one case shape for all its watches is not a feasible option. That being said, cases in different shapes could still be designed to have resonance with one another by creating
6) The Vacheron Constantin method Since Titan prides itself on quartz movements, a direct application of this method may not be possible. However, research could be conducted to see what other points in a watch easily catch a user’s eyes in India. Having mapped this out, it would be possible to design methods of instant recognizability around this.
8) The Tiffany and Co. method Packaging is definitely a point that could be used to harmonize all of Titan’s products till date. In Titan’s case it is the lowest hanging fruit and perhaps the impact that it would have would not be as profound as being able to seed differentiation at a product level. These methods have been weighed out on the impact to complexity matrix.
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MANUFACTURING
Figure 162. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Blanking.
Figure 163. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Forming.
Any design language project would be futile to carry out if it didn’t take into account the product manufacturing and construction techniques of the company it was intended for. Since Titan predominantly makes quartz watches, the manufacture of watches happens in four main stages. The Case (main body) is made at the Case Plant. The movement is made at the Movement Assembly Division. The auxiliary parts are made in their individual plants. All parts are assembled at the Main Watch Assembly Unit.
Cases are sourced from Hong Kong. The process below details out the process of making Brass and Stainless Steel as these were the materials at the factory that was visited in Bangalore. The process is as follows:
or Cold Forging is applied. Hot forming is done to a case with a very simple design. The more complex cases are formed through cold forging. Cold Forging involves the case going through more stages of the press shop and delivers shape in great resolution. In both cases the press operation is repeated more than one to add a new facet with every press. Both the cases and back covers are made using the same process.
1)Case Plant Cases and Casebacks are made at the here. Titan makes cases in Brass, Stainless Steel, Titanium and Ceramic. Of these, Brass and Stainless Steel cases are made in the Bangalore Plant. Titanium cases are made at the Chennai Plant and Ceramic
ii) Forming Metal blanks are then sent to the Press Shop where they are pressed into the desired shape using die applied with high pressure. There are two types of forming processes. Depending on the design and material of the case, Hot Forging
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i) Blanking Blanks of metal are punched out from strips of the raw material. Excess material is either melted to form new strips or sent back to the material supplier for recycling.
iii) Computer Controlled Milling (CNC) In the Machine Shop, finer details are machined into the case by using a CNC machine. iv) Drilling and Turning The machine shop is equipped with drills and lathes that create the holes for crown and spring bar. The Thread and hooks for the case and
Figure 164. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Computer Controlled Milling
Figure 165. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Electroplating
Figure 166. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Final Construction.
caseback are also added at the stage.
ii) Stepper Motor sub-assembly which involved special coiling procedures for the motor.
The parts of the case are assembled manually while the movement is assembled semiautomatically with a worker loading the machine that attaches each part. The watch itself is assembled by hand. The dial and hands are attached to the movement and the assembly is inserted into the case with mounting and sealing gaskets. The movement is usually screwed into place, with the crown being attached through the an opening drilled into the case (Case Plant process iv).
v) Electroplating The last process at the Case Plant is the electroplating of watches. Brass cases are electroplated with nickel to protect them from corrosion and ensure that the plating sticks to the case. In-House manufactured bracelets are also give the same treatment. A second coat is applied using Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD). This allows the case to be colored in a number of different colors. 2) Movement Assembly There are four sub-assemblies that run in this section.
iii)Gear Train sub-assembly involves the making of all the sprockets and pinions by automated or semi automated machines. iv) The Main Plate is also machined and germs are assembled onto it after proofing 3) Plants for Auxiliary Parts Parts such as the Strap, bracelets, buckles, crystal are normally sourced from Vendors, however the dial is sometimes made in-house. 4) Watch Main Assembly
i) Printed Circuit Board or PCB sub-assembly.
Different straps and bracelets from vendors are then attached to the watch body with the aid of a spring bar. Watches are then inspected, packed and shipped to stores. Since the watch case lies at the heart of the watch design, we will focus our main design effort on the case.
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Figure 167. Jansher 2018 Titan Watch Construction
WATCH CONSTRUCTION AT TITAN
The manufacturing process at Titan allows for three types of watch case construction. If these are understood and respected, design can begin to take scalable measures without replacing infrastructure. While we saw a peak of this in the product tear-down, the construction methods are as follows:
Type of Construction: Top Loaded Construction:
Type of Construction: Bottom Loaded Construction
How it works: Like the name suggests, a top loaded construction is one where all parts of the watch are mounted from the upper cavity of the watch (into which the crystal sits).
How it works: A bottom loaded construction is one where all parts of the watch are mounted from the lower cavity of the watch (into which the caseback is fitted).
Benefit: This kind of construction has the potential to make a watch thinner and is less expensive to produce since a caseback need not be manufactured.
Benefit: This kind of construction allows for easy repair since one doesn’t need to break the crystal to access the components of the watch. Bottom loaded watches are also easy to make watertight and thus a lot of the diving watches are bottom loaded.
Drawback: In this kind of construction, the watch can only be repaired by breaking the crystal (which is often glued down onto the watch). Other companies that follow this construction method: Swatch, Flik Flak.
Type of Construction: Combination of Top and Bottom Construction How it works: This kind of construction involves parts like the crystal and hands to be mounted from the top, while other parts like the movement, dial, and caseback load onto the back of the watch. Benefit: This kind of construction enables companies to make thin watches that are also easy to repair.
Drawback: This kind of construction is expensive.
Drawback: These kind of watches are usually water resistant up to only 5 ATM.
Other companies that follow this construction method: Rolex, Blancpain
Other companies that follow this construction method: Skagen, Timex.
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Figure 168. Titan 2018 NF1599 (Hand Drafted Sketch)
Figure 171. Titan 2018 9277WL (Hand Drafted Sketch)
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Figure 169. Titan 2018 1698SL (Hand Drafted Sketch)
Figure 172. Titan 2018 ND1577TL (Hand Drafted Sketch)
Figure 170. Titan 2018 NF1044SL (Hand Drafted Sketch)
Figure 173. Titan 2018 1698KM (Hand Drafted Sketch)
TITAN CASE SHAPE VARIANTS
There are several case shapes in the design of watches - you have rectangles, squares (which mind you, are not perfect squares), circles, ovals and many mix breeds of the basic shapes. To understand how the design of different case shapes work and how a design language project could accommodate for them, a study was undertaken to draft different case shapes from the multiple sub brands and collections. Iconic models from different collections were chosen on the basis of how well they reflected their collection/ sub brand and what kind of variety they added to the entire palette. Each model was scaled within 3.6 to 5 times the original size to make the design footprint constant at the dial opening. Since watches are small and the proportion systems dense and precise, freehand sketching was not favored for this study. This part of the project involved hand drafting with measurements
and geometric tools. The drafting of the these watches gave insight into the kind of proportion systems used for watches. For instance, size is often used to determine whether the design of the watch is classic or contemporary. Ideally, you would say that case sizes below 40mm are more classical and reserved while case shapes above 40 mm are contemporary and flamboyant. However, there is another system. If one were to use the golden ratio as a mean to compare the size between the case size and the strap width then you would find that everything close to and under the golden ratio steers toward being more classical in design. You can try this - say your case size is 39mm and your strap width is 22mm, the ratio between the size of the case and the width of the band is 1.77. This means that your watch has more contemporary proportions. You can try this on a vintage watches and will be amused with the results.
The dial layout is also done in a way so as to maintain perfect geometric composition - sub dials will emanate from the centers of midpoints within the construction. Everything in watch design is about rules in geometry and thus, classical designs are those that abide by such geometry. This is in essence what differentiates the design of Titan watches from Fastrack. These drafts are used to progress to the next stage in the design process.
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Figure 174. Jansher 2018 Titan Hand Drafted Sketch Compilation
SILHOUETTE, SURFACE & DETAIL
The drafting of Titan case shape variants allowed for a look at the individual cases in a way that was not biased to size. Having chartered out all the major case shapes produced at Titan, a design effort began to open a new chapter for Titan watches. Titan had moved from importing watches from China, to making its own watches and now after 30 years of producing watches on a quick product development cycle, it was going to set out to consolidate its own design DNA. Since this part of the project will not be added in the document to respect client confidentiality, I wanted to pass on the the reader the process of how I went about this part of the design challenge since it can be a challenging task to set a design language and we do not have enough documents in our archives that really lay out the process to do so.
The process of crafting a design language for Titan started with looking at the case shapes as alphabets. The design effort as to whole was looked at as though it was an exercise in crafting a new typeface. With all the different case shapes drafted out in plan, it was ease to look at each case as an individual character. Gateway sheets were applied on top of the drafting sheets and black paint was used to paint the silhouettes of each case. Once the the silhouettes were extracted, they were laid out together and rescaled to work as letters in the same fashion that one would lay out type form. At this stage, one needs to resolve the forms to make them coherent with one another. You cannot start resolving the silhouette simply on the basis on what looks nice, it needs to be done in accordance to the company’s core values, history and
promises. If there are too many different attributes that come from the value stage, one will need to sit with the client and resolve the brand until the attributes are actionable. One cannot do this on their own, the client has to spell these out. The branding exercise done in the chapters before will laid out some clarity in this respect but the design cues were resolved beyond the stage of the three brand stories, which again, cannot be shared at this point. After silhouettes are resolved, one can move to surfaces and details, however it is essential that the key attributes start to reflect right from the silhouette stage and stay consistent as one details things out.
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6 CREATING NEW USERS To be able to effectively embed differentiation and harmony into a brand’s products, one has to start at the roots. Design within a company takes the shape of the company’s ethos and core values. Thus clarity needed to be achieved to decipher these values and bring fresh clarity to the way that design could be practiced going forward. Several methods were used to define the brand, its core attributes and these were synthesized into three story arcs.
01 ADOPTION STRATEGY - RAGA
RAGA USER - CHANGING ATTITUDE
How might Raga create newer consumers? Can design be leveraged to create adoption?
How has the existing Raga user evolved?
06
07
DESIGN DIRECTION
ADOPTION PLAN & DESIGN STORY
What can be inferred from the research and clarity exercises to guide new product development?
How might a design story be crafted to attract a the new potential consumer via future advertising campaigns?
11 INTERCHANGEABLE BEZEL Unique bezel feature prosal for the new line of watches.
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02
12 FIRST MANUFACTURE DRAFT First draft from Titan’s New Product Development Team at the Hosur Factory.
03
04
05
ATTRIBUTES: RAGA USER (EXTREMES) & GAP
S.W.O.T ANALYSIS
TREND - BRANDS, STORES, USERS
What do the current Raga design codes accommodate for at the moment? What is the user gap that can be explored to create adoption?
What is the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats of the existing Raga portfolio? What are the highlights that shed insight for new product development?
What are the kind of products that one can see in stores? What new kinds of products have competing brands released in the last three months? What is the potential user’s state of mind with respect to new market entries?
08
10
09
MOODBOARD
IDEA DEVELOPMENT
FINAL DESIGN
Visually stimulating images to set the tone for design to be carried out based on emerging trends in related sectors.
Key Sketches and Quick prototypes to test idea feasibility.
Final product direction approved by all departments concerned with new product development.
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ADOPTION STRATEGY - RAGA
“With it’s constantly introduced exciting new collections,that connects with the various facets of deep-rooted human yearnings for self-expression Titan owns over 60% of the domestic market share in the organized watch market.” About page, Titan Company Limited. Titan owned a significant part of the organized watch market but it had a serious problem to worry about. The brand was viewed by younger users as a brand for ‘Aunties and Uncles’. Thus as the company’s existing users got older so did the brand. For the brand to survive it needed to be able to attract younger users. Thus a new plan needed to be developed to recraft the Titan watch proposition in a way that would bring younger users in significant numbers.
During the research phase, it was discovered that many young people walk in to Titan stores to purchase something for an older family member. What this indicated was that in many cases, the customer and the user were different people. While gifting had always been a large part of the watch culture, there was reason for concern here. A lot of the younger users liked and respected the Titan brand, but did not see anything for themselves in it. This triggered a thought process to question whether it would be possible to start a design effort that would allow younger consumers to own the brand for themselves.
to test. It was thought that the company could use the DNA thread of exploring the changing relationship dynamics to see if a narrative could be crafted to create resonance with younger users. For the purpose of the test, a design effort needed to be focussed on an existing sub brand. The Raga sub brand was chosen and a design effort to serve the business goal of creating adoption was carried out under it.
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RAGA USER - SHIFT IN DAILYWEAR
Figure 175. Reena Reegmi 2018 User’s Photographs (Special Occasions)
SPECIAL OCCASIONS
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Figure 176. Reena Regmi 2018 Users Photographs (Everyday)
EVERYDAY
RAGA USER - CHANGING ATTITUDE
Home manager
Life manager
Just a job
Career orientation
Gender inequality
Emerging equality without losing femininity
Subdued
Expressive about views and opinions
Self-effacing
Seeking makeover, attention and admiration
Financial dependence
Growing financial independence
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ATTRIBUTES: RAGA USER (EXTREMES)
High on Confidence
Strong but not dominating
Ambitious
Balanced
Status Conscious and Materialistic
Happy and Content
Individualistic
Family Oriented
MATURE
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MATURE
ATTRIBUTES: RAGA USER (GAP)
High on Confidence
Spontaneous & Expressive
Strong but not dominating
Ambitious
Active & Hardworking
Balanced
Status Conscious and Materialistic
Quiet Determination
Happy and Content
Individualistic
Zest for Life
Family Oriented
MATURE
YOUNG
MATURE
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RAGA - S.W.O.T ANALYSIS STRENGTH
WEAKNESS
Unique Design
Too ornate/ fixated designs,
Indian-ness/ Ethnicity
limited occasions to wear the same
Femininity
Not seen as Everyday-wear
Specialness
Seen as mature brand/design
Heritage
Lack of international/ Multicultural image
OPPORTUNITY
THREAT
Huge base of loyal customers (ready to buy any
International/Fashion Brands and their face
differentiated product introduction)
values
Special space occupied by brand in minds of
Current Raga Design might not be in line with
consumer/non consumer
current trends
Young users who does not buy Raga today
Changing taste of the user
S.W.O.T ANALYSIS
Raga is Titan’s most iconic sub brand. Often when users think of Titan, Raga is the first thing that will come to their mind.
The brand is respected and appreciated by users and non users alike. Younger people like the brand, but do not find anything for themselves in it.
Raga has established a design language that is synonymous with special occasions. However, it struggles for a place in everyday wear.
A modern take to Raga watches would need to represent the modern Indian woman and externalize her desires and aspirations. What is considered as ‘classical Indian styling’ needs to be reinterpreted to represent modern India.
International/Fashion Brands constantly use design cues from Indian culture to bring richness to the design of their products. As a company operating from India, Raga is in a position to craft deeper design solutions that are tailored to the Indian market. Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 149
TREND - BRANDS, STORES
Merchandise across brands are focusing on putting up variety of finishes on Metal (eg Copper). Every product category (earrings, bracelets, neck wear) is available in different finishes
Cut work, Intricate patterns, Bold looks are marking ubiquitous across categories (bracelets, earrings)
Stones are becoming a major part of the accessories. They are mostly present in neutral and subtle color tones (like Gold, Off White, Pink, Turquoise Blue) in various finishes and cuts.
Rose Gold and Gold (followed by steel) are the dominant colors currently used for accessories. Beige and Softer shades of Pink, Tan are emerging as favourites colors for bags
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TREND - USERS
Users are readily experimenting with new materials (paper mache, copper, wood) and finishes in accessories. As per them, various finishes in these material give them a style statement
Most users prefer Rose Gold as the color of their metal accessories as it goes with all their attires. The youth is however more incline towards steel/silveras it maintains neutrality
Beige/ White / Pink/ Gold were the most preferred colors in the other materials of accessories
Users prefer wearing bigger, bolder accessories
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DESIGN - NEXT
Designs need to be able to make women feel special everyday (irrespective of occasion)
Designs currently represent one facet of the current Indian woman but not the whole. The product designs must reflect a recognition of her many identities and her contemporary aspirations; while retaining the grace and richness.
Designs must infuse the current trends (shifting towards Indo-western) keeping the Raga codes / heritage intact. Contemporary elements need to be added to create desired balance that goes with current wardrobes
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DESIGN DIRECTION
NEW PRODUCTS
AIDES (BASED ON TREND ANALYSIS)
Irresistibly beautiful
Bigger case size
Sophisticated and exclusive
Trendy plating colors
Symbolize feminine grace and elegance
New finishes
Youthful face of Indian ethnicity
New material story
Sensual and confident
Blend with Indo Fusion young dressing
Expressive yet balanced
Boast new design feature in watches
Rich yet understated
New technology
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Figure 177. Malika Talwar 2018 Mother and Daughter
ADOPTION PLAN & DESIGN STORY
It is important that any product released under Raga is moulded in the Raga design codes and interpreted to accommodate for current trends. However, if the design process ended with just this having been done, the product would seem lifeless and uninteresting. It is in recognition of this fact that companies like Titan have identified a solution to bring freshness to what would otherwise seem like a meaningless commodity. That solution is a Design Story. One might wonder as to what a ‘Design Story’ is and how it might differ from any other kind of story and why storytelling is useful in business at all. In his book, The Storytelling Animal, Jonathan Gottschall talks about how stories come naturally to us - we understand the world through stories. In recognition for how powerful storytelling can be, companies like Titan use storytelling to talk about how their products fit within the larger scheme of socio-cultural trends that take place in the country. Thus, a Design Story is a tool used to tie design strategy and product development to the broader social cultural currents in the country. The
way in which a Design Story differentiates from any other form of advertising is that advertising usually looks at how you can tie a product to cultural context after the product has been developed. An example of this is how Coca Cola is advertised in different countries without changing the essence of the core product - it still tastes the same everywhere. However, exercises like these become much more meaningful if the storytelling angle is embedded early in the design process to change product development outcomes. This what a design story does. Design Stories crafted by the design team become marketing campaigns when the product is released. For this line of products, it was necessary to think of how a design effort could serve the business goal of creating new and younger users. While one approach was to create collections within the raga brand it was highly divisive in nature and didn’t help the effort of trying to create homogeneity within Titan. Could Raga instead create the same set of products that would work across the age gap? An interesting insight from user research was
that younger people often walk into the World of Titan stores to pick up something as a gift for their mothers (or for other elder folk). Younger women respected the Raga brand, but were unable to find anything for themselves in the stores. It was this line of thought that was explored as a Design Story that would capture an evolving relationship dynamic between mothers and daughters. When speaking to users, it was noted that mothers and daughters would do small things together. They would go for shopping, and even take appointments for hair spas together. In several cases, the kind of outfits that were worn were by both mothers and daughters were from the same brands. They would sometimes dress alike and mothers would often get compliments of how they looked younger. Daughters would also urge their mothers to stay fit and in some cases, mothers and daughters made a strong enterprise together. Thus, could we now use this information to make a set of products that would expand on this relationship dynamic?
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Figure 178. Titan 2018 Moodboard
Figure 179. Titan 2018 Moodboard
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Figure 180. Titan 2018 Moodboard
Figure 181. Titan 2018 Moodboard
MOODBOARD
You can look at moodboards as a set of visual cues that are used to inspire and stimulate ideas. Once the strategy is decided, the design team crafts a set of moodboards to be able to discuss and consolidate ideas with the marketing team. Moodboards allow designers to start creating stories that can be used for the release of products into the market. In Titan, these design stories become marketing campaigns. The process is a beautiful example of how storytelling can be used to align multidisciplinary teams across a parent company’s many divisions. The moodboard gives a preview into the designs that are to come Think of it as the trailer you see before the movie gets released. This is done so as to iron out any difference in opinions and ideas early in the design process.
Since Titan puts product development at on a very short cycle, any method that can cut down time in the design process is valuable. This is where moodboards help - since approvals from different teams are needed to move ahead with a design direction, moodboards allow the designers to discuss ideas and stories with some fidelity without having spent any time on the physical design of the products. This allows the two teams, to come to an agreement much quicker and with less friction. If things were not done like this, designers would spend significant time on the design of concepts only to have a majority of their ideas scrapped by another department.
fit within the accessory systems that people adopt for themselves, awareness of how these other systems change can help the design team to respond quickly to trends in the market. Looking at how resin was adopted to many of the other accessory systems, a decision was made to set the design theme around resin and acetate based outcomes.
For the purpose of our design effort, a study was done into the kinds of unique contemporary jewellery that are worn by women. Since watches Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 157
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Figure 182. Jansher 2018 Master Ideation Sheet
IDEA DEVELOPMENT - KEY SKETCHES
The picture on the left illustrates what a master ideation sheet looks like. When ideation happens on a short design timeline, it helps take steps that allow you to have greater visibility in a short amount of time. A master ideation sheet does that. This kind of broad based ideation helps you to flesh out multiple design ideas on a single A4 canvas in a short amount of time. If done with some care, master ideation sheets can be used to discuss ideas with people from different departments with minimal explanation.
taking the risk of depending heavily on resin for the product’s structural integrity. Thus you’ll see resin used with some degree of caution. The next few pages further explore possibilities and show the key sketches that were responsible for bringing clarity in the design process to a point where options could be tested with a few quick prototypes.
During the sketching process, thought was given to different parts of the watch that could be infused with resin. With an understanding of how the parts are assembled together, it became easy to chalk out the different ways in which resin could be used so as to have enough space to exhibit it without
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Figure 183. Jansher 2018 Bezel Design Key Sketch
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Figure 184. Jansher 2018 Case Shape Key Sketch
Figure 185. Jansher 2018 Strap Integration Prototypes
Figure 186. Jansher 2018 Interchangeable Strap Prototype
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Figure 187. Jansher 2018 Buckle-less Strap Mechanism
Figure 188. Jansher 2018 interchangeable Bezel Prototype
IDEA DEVELOPMENT - QUICK PROTOTYPES
Elon Musk, in his speech at the California Institute of Technology, talks about how it helps to convince people when you have a model with you, even if it is a low fidelity one. This is how quick prototypes help. While the term ‘rapid prototyping’ is used synonymously in Titan for 3D printing, it isn’t as ‘rapid’ a process as you’d hope. To get things 3D printed quickly, you would need to make a 3D model on a software of the parts you need and discuss your intentions with the ‘tech-team’ so that they can resolve the model to a print ready stage - if there’s something they think can’t be done, you’d have a tough time to convince them otherwise, let alone get your model. The process is requires clarity at the start, is time taking, involves
too many people and expensive (as an intern, you need to keep asking for approvals for 3d prints and you make people cringe if you want to take out too many prints). To keep testing out sketch ideas, it helps to have a few pieces of scrap to tie together quickly to test the feasibility of an idea. The prototypes on the left used cardboard to make the watch case and tiny bits of rolled up paper were adopted as ad-hoc straps. No workshop resources were needed - only a cutting blade, some tape, bits of cardboard and a sheet of paper. These prototypes were used to test the different ways in which the strap could be integrate into the case. One prototype that tested the idea of a swap-able bezel needed a cutter and glue gun as it was forged out of the pieces of a tiny
plastic water bottle. Creating prototypes like these bring clarity quickly and allow for a good ideation progression. If personal clarity is at a good stage after ideating with quick prototypes then your proposals are less likely to be tweaked by any other individuals involved in the process because quick prototypes allow for the passage of an idea from one mind to another with greater net clarity than a sketch or digital render would. Quick prototypes also allow a designer to demonstrate the structural integrity of a design idea that deviates from the standard watch blueprint.
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FINAL DESIGN
The final design is made with a circular case shape crafted in 33mm diameter. Two variants were crafted to allow the design to function across the age gap. The top-half of both variants look identical, but the bottom half is structurally different to allow for different strap integrations the idea was to give the appearance that the two watches are the same at first glance( to align with the mother and daughter design story). What is unique about the construction of these watches is that the bezel of the watch overflows to cover the sides of the case. This creates the illusion that the case is made of resin(from the collection’s moodboard theme). The proportions between the strap and the case have been exaggerated to make the watch look
delicate and accentuate the presence of resin in the same way that jewellery accentuates precious stones. The different strap integrations allow for a differentiated design character. The version intended for a younger woman(next page, left-hand side) has a leather thong-type strap integration that radiates a seductive, semi-revealing presence. This has been achieved with a C-shaped section that runs along the bottom half of the watch into which the strap fits. The two metal rivets holding the two-part strap together form a composition that is reminiscent of the gladiator type sandal construction that is popular among younger women.
The version intended for an older woman (next page, right-hand side), however, has a more reserved and stately presence. A two part metal chain is integrated at both ends with a metal cap. This cap connects to the case via a metal circular ring on one end and a group of chain links (for size adjustment) on the other. The bottom half of this watch is designed to have a ‘bowl -shaped vessel’ design to give an illusion of thinness to what would otherwise feel like a chunky 7.5mm thick watch. A trick is used in the design of business-class tool watches to integrate the strap at a position that is lower than usual so that the watch can sit higher and more confidently on the wrist. This is what prompted the design to incorporate the strap in the lower half of the case construction.
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INTERCHANGEABLE BEZEL OPTIONS
Since the bezel became the main focus of this design, it would be possible to offer the user something that would feel like a different watch if the bezel could be interchanged. Since resin combines with different materials in countless different ways, the permutations and combinations would be endless. If the user wanted to opt out of resin completely, an option could be arranged to create a steel, gold plated or ever a ceramic bezel.
a way that is as simple as swapping the bottle caps from different soft drink bottles. Thus, in the final design, an interchangeable bezel system is made possible by using a screw on mounting system.
One would think that a simple no fuss solution to this problem would be to use magnets. However, magnets interfere with the accuracy of the watch moment. A quick prototype made from the base and cap of a water bottle (Figure 188) made it possible to test an interchangeable bezel system in Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 171
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Figure 189. Jansher 2018 Raga Gladiator Manufacturer’s First Draft
FIRST MANUFACTURE DRAFT
For a product to see the light of day, it must cross many stages. The design needed to be approved by the tech-team, design head, and marketing head for it to get a green signal to go for production. Titan makes a batch size of 5200 pieces for each of its watches and therefore, a special team at the Hosur factory is tasked with overseeing product development from the point when a design is selected to the final release. This team is tagged the NPD (New Product Development). While testing and iterating on the scalability of resin components will be allotted another six months, the NPD shares drafts with the respective designers as the tooling gets finalized. This is the first mass manufacture draft. Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 175
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7
WATCH DESIGN FUTURES The Path dependence of watches teaches us that watches have conventionally used as objects of style, fashion, expression and , in a few cases, greater functionality in the micro moments of carrying out a specific task. The design for watches rarely steps out of this well defined space. Smartwatches are a departure from the norm of conventional watch design, however, the core of their utility is centered around fitness, health monitoring and surveillance . Thus, how might the smart technology of watches find expression in different sectors through the discovery of fresh use cases?
01 WATCH DESIGN FUTURES
STORYTELLING AS A VISIONING TOOL
Can watch be used as a gateway to more elegant and efficient interactions? Can a watch be used as a vessel that bridges the gap between man and the natural environment?
How might we use storytelling as a tool to get better visibility of possible future scenarios?
06 IDEA DEVELOPMENT (Removed to maintain client confidentiality)
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02
03
04
05
DESIGN IS [...]
PRODUCT DIRECTIONS
IDEA SELECTION
How might research into other sectors of design practice inspire new conversations for the development of watches?
Ideas for new wrist based use cases that have not been tested in the market yet.
(Removed to maintain client confidentiality)
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WATCH DESIGN FUTURES
The last story in the proposal for a new Titan was an exploration of watch design futures. In the previous chapters, this document had explored how smartwatches hadn’t really caught on to the market in a big way. While the apple watch has seen some success, none of the other smartwatch manufacturers are doing nearly as well. While many reasons can be cited for this and debated (as they have been in section 3), it would be safe to summarize that tech companies still need more time to discover deep consumer insights that illustrate the nuances of how the watch sector works. If we can end on the note that more features doesn’t necessarily mean better functionality and that a second phone on your wrist may not be what is needed right now, then
we can lay down some research, enroll a group of users for co-creation and start chalking out a plan to find use cases might have a may reveal features that could have a big impact if embedded into a watch. This is what we will explore in this section.
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Figure 190. Jansher 2018 Design for Tata 2050 Exhibition
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Figure 191. Jansher 2018 BMW Future Storytelling
STORYTELLING AS A VISIONING TOOL
Before diving straight in to research, an exercise was done to allow for some ‘blue sky thinking’ into the world of the future. To be able to talk about how watches would exist in the future (or whether they would in the first place), one needed to be able to understand the world that would be. This exercise was inspired from reading Alvin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock’. Like with Future Shock, an attempt was made to look at how systems existed in the past and make projections as to how they might take shape in the future - how individuals formed groups, what the state of wealth generation would look like, etc. Storytelling was an essential part of this. Building a sequence of events and scenarios allows us to visualize what the future might look like without having something to show for it in any visual form.
When this was presented to Revathi Kant and the other heads of departments, they were informed that there would be no screen, no slides for the presentation. They just needed to close their eyes and allow the narrative to unfold. What is beautiful about stories is that they are capable of grabbing everyone’s attention. As human beings, we are so hooked to stories that they get us to listen and initiate discussion. As it turns out, topics surrounding the future get everyone excited. The presentation was followed by a round of discussion where different people from different departments would excitedly talk about how they felt about the future and where it might go.
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Figure 192. Jansher 2018 Sketchnotes - Visioning
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Figure 194. Jansher 2018 Design is Human
Figure 193. Rohit Kartha 2018 Instagram page expe.des
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Figure 195. Jansher 2018 BMW Design is Empathic
DESIGN IS [...]
If you think of it, every design project that we do is a future design project - every project attempts to create something that doesn’t exist just yet, even if that means a feature or small facet of an existing design system. In some cases, the projects aim to design for futures that are distant, but in most others, futures are interpreted in shorter cycles that can be dialed down in months. To create a vast network to explore possibilities for the watch, design was tracked in varied sectors like augmented and virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, machine learning and many others. These were grouped into larger buckets that were tagged as ‘Design is Simulation’, ‘Design is Autonomous’, ‘Design is Smart’, etc. Research was allotted 8 days and the idea trees were condensed to hint at possible design outcomes that would be relevant as wrist based solutions. Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 189
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Figure 196. Jansher 2018 Watch Hydration System
Figure 197. Jansher 2018 The Living Watch
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Figure 198. Jansher 2018 Medicine Carrier
Figure 199. Jansher 2018 Hitchhikers Watch
PRODUCT DIRECTIONS
The ideation process started with churning out and emptying the mind of ideas that would come very easily to anyone - this included proposals of how one can eliminate the cellphone through a wrist based product. Once the mind was empty of that which was most obvious, the became a fertile ground for new ideas. A total of 68 ideas was generated from which, roughly 20 have been shown and explained very briefly in the pages that follow.
that was funded and lobbied for by insurance, and tech companies that seek to gain from creating patients out of users. Creating patients in just one part of the whole issue, monitoring and surveillance gets very muddy the more one looks into it. A few products have also been proposed as diegetic prototypes to raise concern in this area and initiate discussion.
A conscious effort was made to stay away from solutions that promoted greater monitoring and surveillance because for one, that is an area where all the development is happening already. Second, the move to push smart devices towards greater monitoring and surveillance is a deliberate one Graduation Project | Titan Vision Next: Explorations in Recrafting the Watch Proposition | 193
Figure 200. Jansher 2018 I. O. T Watch
Figure 201. Jansher 2018 Inhaler Watch
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Figure 202. Jansher 2018 Pepper Spray Watch
Figure 203. Jansher 2018 BMW Replacing the cell phone
Figure 204. Jansher 2018 Designed for a Pause
Figure 205. Jansher 2018 Payment System Watch
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Figure 206. Jansher 2018 Perfume Watch
Figure 207. Jansher 2018 BMW Circadian Rhythms Watch
Figure 208. Jansher 2018 Anism to change behavior
Figure 209. Jansher 2018 Augmented Reality Concept
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Figure 210. Jansher 2018 Black Mirror diegetic prototypes
Figure 211. Jansher 2018 BMW Confidence building Watch
Figure 212. Jansher 2018 Temperature Control Watch
Figure 213. Jansher 2018 Add Time to Life Concept
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Figure 214. Jansher 2018 The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
Figure 215. Jansher 2018 The George Carlin Watch
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REFLECTIONS
“Confusion is good, but to stay confused isn’t.” Sonam Tashi Gyaltsen If there was one big learning that I took away from the graduation project, it is that clarity is as important as any design skill that one may struggle to refine. While this may not be taught to us, arriving at a state of clarity is essential for the design process to bear fruit. Automobile companies look to hire designers who can sketch and conceptualize well on paper because the cost of prototyping is quite significant - while it may cost a small fortune to get a prototype in place, it doesn’t cost much to sketch. Thus we can look at sketching as a tool to arrive at greater clarity. Similarly, every part of the design process aims at gaining greater visibility of the end user and the landscape of opportunity that surrounds them. The final act of design may not be a huge one in terms of what was needed to be done, but designers break their backs to ensure that the final act of design is a relevant one.
Just like any design skill, every inch of clarity needs to be earned and its overall impact on design is everything. Clarity brings confidence, conviction and belief in what a designer says and does. Clarity of thought brings peace of mind and gives meaning to action. During the systems design course, I had come across a graph from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyiv’s book on ‘Flow’. The graph plots ‘skill’ on the x-axis, ‘challenge’ on the y-axis and illustrates how one can deduce an individual’s state of mind at any point in time by comparing the challenge of completing a task with the individual’s level of skill. If the challenge outweighed an individual’s skill level, then the individual found himself in a state of anxiety. Likewise, if an individual’s skill was significantly greater than the challenge posed by the task, a person would get bored. I’d like to think that the missing part of the equation is clarity. If you are clear about the nature of the challenge that lies ahead of you, you can plot a course of action to reskill or upskill accordingly to match
your skill with the greater challenge at hand. The conversations surrounding design at this point in time have opened up watery spaces like the world of emotion that have not been vastly explored by design yet. If one decides to take the road less travelled, then things can often seem more nebulous and abstract than they have ever been before. However, it is my firm belief that as long as we can continue to leverage design’s potential to create greater clarity then designers will be able to create a home in even the most abstract spaces of future exploration.
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INFORMATION REFERENCES WATCH COMPANIES
Accurist Watches - Since 1946. (2018). Accurist. co.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from http:// www.accurist.co.uk/ BOVET 1822 Swiss Handcrafted watch. (2018). Bovet 1822. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.bovet.com/ Breguet | Swiss Luxury Watches - since 1775. (2018). Breguet.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.breguet.com/en Chopard - Swiss Luxury Watches and Jewellery Manufacturer. (2018). Chopard.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.chopard.com/ intl/ Citizenwatch.com. (2018). Citizen Watch US Official Site | Citizen. [online] Available at: https://www. citizenwatch.com/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. Fossil. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www. fossil.com/us/en/watches.html [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. GENEVE, P. (2018). Patek Philippe | New Models | Watches & Timepieces. Patek Philippe SA. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.patek.com/
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en/collection/new-models-2018?gclid=CjwKCAiA jNjgBRAgEiwAGLlf2vwDQon2d0bhDBLJPBmms3 Ft3Cm0XV9izJFKKctJnQoTJ6ix3IPVnxoCjEIQAvD_ BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds IWC Universe. (2018). Iwc.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.iwc.com/en/ IWCUniverse.BolBoCIyYQAvD_BwE Luxury Watches and Fine Watches. (2018).Vacheron Constantin. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from http://www.vacheron-constantin.com/en2/home. html Maximilian Büsser and Friends. (2018). Maximilian Büsser and Friends. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.mbandf.com/en Official Cartier websites & online stores - The renowned French jeweler and fine watchmaker. Bridal, Luxury Accessories, Fragrances & Exceptional Gifts. (2018). Cartier.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.cartier.com/ SEIKO INDIA WATCH. (2018). SEIKO INDIA | Moving Ahead.Touching Hearts.. [online] Available at: https://www.seiko.in/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. Skagen.com. (2018). Watches for Men & Women,
Bags, Jewelry & Wallets - Skagen. [online] Available at: https://www.skagen.com/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. Swiss watch | Jaeger-LeCoultre. (2018). JaegerLeCoultre. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.jaeger-lecoultre.com/ww/en/homepage.html Watch. (2018). Apple (India). Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.apple.com/in/watch/ Watches from Timex | True Since 1854. (2018). Timex.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.timex.com/
ONLINE ARTICLES
Nid.edu. (2018). National Institute of Design History & Background. [online] Available at: http:// www.nid.edu/institute/history-background.html [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. Titancompany.in. (2018). Titan Corporate. [online] Available at: https://www.titancompany.in/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. Connor, A. (2018). 50 Terms Every Watch-Lover Needs to Know. [online] Gear Patrol. Available at: https://gearpatrol.com/2018/03/07/glossary-ofwatch-terms/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. TheWatchIndex.com. (2017). Watch Case Materials: The Go-To Guide for Buying Watches. [online] Available at: https://www.thewatchindex.com/ Watches-101/Watch-Case-Materials-Guide-BuyingWatches [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. Content by Watch Gang. (2018). Watch Case Materials Explained - Content by Watch Gang. [online] Available at: https://content.watchgang. com/2018/03/31/watch-case-materials/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. Gevrilgroup.com. (2018). Different Types of Watches | Gevril Group. [online] Available at: https://
gevrilgroup.com/watch-types/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. The Rankings. (2016). Watch Rankings. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.watch-rankings. com/watch-rankings/
Baselworld 2018: The Year’s Biggest Trends In Watches. (2018). The Watch Guide. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.ethoswatches. com/the-watch-guide/baselworld-2018-yearsbiggest-trends-watches/
Talking Watches - HODINKEE. (2018). HODINKEE. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www. hodinkee.com/packages/talking-watches
Accueil - SIHH. (2018). Sihh.org. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.sihh.org/
Baselworld 2018: The Year’s Biggest Trends In Watches. (2018). The Watch Guide. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.ethoswatches. com/the-watch-guide/baselworld-2018-yearsbiggest-trends-watches/ Announcing The 15 (+2) Prize-Winning Watches at the 2018 Red Dot Design Awards. (2018). WatchTime - USA’s No.1 Watch Magazine. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.watchtime.com/ wristwatch-industry-news/industry/announcingthe-15-2-prize-winning-watches-at-the-2018-reddot-design-awards/ Red Dot Design Award. (2018). Red-dot.org. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www. red-dot.org/search/?q=watch
Baselworld 2019 – The World Watch and Jewellery Show. (2018). Baselworld.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.baselworld.com/ en-US.aspx Macdonald, F. (2018). The most iconic timepieces of the last 100 years. Bbc.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from http://www.bbc.com/culture/ story/20150424-nine-of-the-most-iconic-watches https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/ opinion/sunday-read/time-is-of-the-essence/ articleshow/65274569.cms?fbclid=IwAR3K0YjTMG9 ym9QT_8iYtvA-J8jDVEqmFJ91ztgeAVfGZHkCLvtS21 n9a4o How To Design Watches That Everyone Wants. (2018). Forbes.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/
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BLOGS/VLOGS
arieladams/2013/02/07/how-to-design-watchesthat-everyone-wants/#1f6bccd378e1
HODINKEE. (2018). HODINKEE. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.hodinkee.com/
Style, L. (2018). The India watch story. The Hindu. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www. thehindu.com/life-and-style/the-india-watchstory/article20103193.ece
India Watch Blog. (2017). Watchesindia.blogspot. com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from http:// watchesindia.blogspot.com/
Apple sold more watches than Rolex, Swatch, and the rest of the Swiss watch industry combined. (2018). Business Insider. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.businessinsider.in/Applesold-more-watches-than-Rolex-Swatch-and-therest-of-the-Swiss-watch-industry-combined/ articleshow/62864632.cms
Luxury Swiss Watches & International Watchmaking from Europastar. (2018). Europastar.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.europastar. com/ Watches | Yanko Design. (2018). Yankodesign.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from http://www. yankodesign.com/category/accessories/watches/ watchuseek.com - Watch you seek is Watch you get!. (2018). watchuseek.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.watchuseek. com/ YouTube. (2018). Alux.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCNjPtOCvMrKY5eLwr_-7eUg YouTube. (2018). Long Island Watch. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/ islandwatchdotcom [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018].
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YouTube. (2018). The Urban Gentry. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/ theurbangentry [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. Teachingmensfashion. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UChNN7VBxPTiNrqjUaQd9bxA WIRED. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCftwRNsjfRo08xYE31tkiyw
BOOKS
ROBERTS, K. (2007). Lovemarks. New York: PowerHouse. ANDERSON, S. P. (2011). Seductive interaction design: creating playful, fun, and effective user experiences. Berkeley, CA, New Riders. GLADWELL, M. (2005). Blink: the power of thinking without thinking. New York, Little, Brown and Co. PINK, D. H. (2018). When: the scientific secrets of perfect timing.
PODCASTS
TYPEFACE USED
99% Invisible. (2018). 99% Invisible. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://99percentinvisible. org/ Debbie Millman | Design Matters . (2018). designmattersmedia. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://www.designmattersmedia.com/ designmatters
Frutiger by Adrian Frutiger. Raleway by Matt McInerney, Pablo Impallari and Rodrigo Fuenzalida. Montserrat by Julieta Ulanovsky Work Sans by Wei Huang
The Design of Business | The Business of Design: Design Observer. (2018). Designobserver.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https:// designobserver.com/designofbusiness Future Thinkers Podcast. (2018). Future Thinkers Podcast. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https:// futurethinkers.org/ The Futur. (2018). Thefutur.libsyn.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018, from https://thefutur.libsyn.com/
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IMAGE REFERENCES Figure 3. Titan 2018 EDGE. Amazon.in [online] Available at: https://www.amazon.com/Titan679SL02-Ultra-Slim-3-5mm-Leather/dp/ B007MPEXHW [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 10. Taneira 2018 Taneira. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/taneirasarees/photos/a. 989445357849405/1259111197549485/?type=1&thea ter [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018].
Figure 4. Sonata 2018 Sleek. Sonatawatches.in [online] Available at: http://www.sonatawatches.in/ [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018].
Figure 11. Amalfi Bleu – SKINN by TITAN 2018 Amalfi Bleu – SKINN by TITAN. [online] Available at: https://skinn.in/amalfi-bleu/ [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018].
Figure 5. Xylus 2009 Connoisseurs. [online] Available at: https://discussdesign.wordpress. com/2009/09/30/xylys-by-titan/ [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018]. Figure 6. Fastrack 2011 Tripsters. INTERPLAY Productions. [online] Available at: http:// interplaypro.com/portfolio/fastrack-watches/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 7. Nebula 2014 Nebula Rambagh Palace Collection | Studio ABD. [online] Available at: http:// studioabd.in/work/nebula-palace-collection/ [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018]. Figure 8. Titan Eye Plus 2018 Eyewear. Get 10% Discount at Titan Eye Plus. [online] Available at: https://www.sbicard.com/en/personal/offer/titaneye-plus-offer.page [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018]. Figure 9. Mia By Tanishq 2018. (@MiaByTanishq) on Twitter. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/ miabytanishq?lang=en [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018].
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Figure 13. Rolex 2011 Patina on Vintage Dial | Christie’s. [online] Available at: https://www. christies.com/features/The-patina-trend-inwatches-8023-1.aspx [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 14. Omega 2016 ‘Lume’ on Indices. | TIMΣPIΣCΣS | Pinterest | Omega, Omega speedmaster and Watches. [online] Available at: https://in.pinterest.com/ pin/444660163182887905/?lp=true [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 15. Rolex 2014 ‘Pepsi’ Timing Bezel Bezel & Barrel. (2012). The Cerachrom Insert – The Rolex Ceramic Bezel for Submariner, Deepsea, and GMT - Bezel & Barrel. [online] Available at: http:// bezelandbarrel.com/the-cerachrom-insert-therolex-ceramic-bezel-for-submariner-deepsea-andgmt/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 16. Audemars Piguet 2017 ‘Skeleton’ Watch. [online] Jewels In Paradise. Available at: http:// www.jewelsinparadise.com/shop/watches/ audemars-piguet-royal-oak-double-balance-
wheel-openworked-15407st-oo-1220st-01/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 17. Monochrome Watches 2009 Watch Jewels. Monochrome Watches. [online] Available at: https://monochrome-watches.com/technicalperspective-jewel-bearings-watch-movementrubies/jewels-synthetic-ruby-pierhor/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 18. Sinn 2015 Decissant Crystal in WatchSinn. Sinn Uhren: Modell T2 B. [online] Available at: https://www.sinn.de/en/Modell/T2_B. htm [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 19. Watchuseek 2014 Retrograde Markingings Forums. [online] Available at: https://forums. watchuseek.com/f381/single-hand-high-endwatch-1473153.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 20. Vacheron Constantin 2010 Tourbillon. Crystalworld.com [online] Available at: http://www. crystalworld.com/vacheron-constantin-99535. shtml [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 21. Reddit 2006 Oil Filled Diving Watches [online] Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/ Watches/comments/942ns9/time_arrow_oil_filled_ on_a_budget/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 22. Hublot 2018 Big Bang Red Magic Ceramic Red Magic 45mm. [online] Available at: https:// www.hublot.com/en/collection/big-bang/big-bang-
unico-red-magic-45mm [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 23. Chrono24 2018 Cases in Carbon Fibre. [online] Available at: https://www.chrono24.com/ magazine/ceramic-carbon-and-other-modernwatch-materials-2-p_5384/#gref [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 24. Bulgari 2018 Titanium Case | aBlogtoWatch. [online] Available at: https:// lockerdome.com/6553906218013249/852954144664 3476 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 25. Apple 2018 Apple watches in Aluminum Atomic Delights. [online] Available at: http:// atomicdelights.com/blog/a-glimpse-at-how-theapple-watch-is-made [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 26. Autodromo 2018 Chronograph. A Week On The Wrist: The Autodromo Prototipo Chronograph - HODINKEE. [online] Available at: https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/autodromoprototipo-review [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 28. IWC 2018 Pilot Watches | Watch Haven. [online] Available at: http://www.ewatchtime.com/ iwc/iwc-big-pilot-perpetual-calendar-top-gun [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 27. Szanto 2018 Field Watches. [online] Available at: http://www.lifestylefancy.com/ category/style/watch/page/2/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
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Figure 30. The Vault 2009 Dual Time. Top Tier Style. [online] Top Tier Style. Available at: https:// toptierstyle.com/watches/the-vault-dual-timezone-mens-watch/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
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Figure 41. Casio 2018 Vintage Digital Series. [online] Available at: https://www.comprarrelojesonline. es/casio-b640wb-1bef-el-negro-lo-inunda-todo/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 42. Jin Hao 2017 ‘Guilloche’ work on Pens. Twitter. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/ cultpens/status/781810971119673348 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 43. Cartier 2017 ‘Guilloche’ work Watch Dials | Massdrop. [online] Available at: https://www. massdrop.com/talk/704/best-value-guilloche-dialwatches [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 44. Apple 2010 Oil-Filled Touchscreen Devices | Trusted Reviews. [online] Trusted Reviews. Available at: https://www.trustedreviews. com/news/original-iphone-announcement-launchreddit-thread-january-2007-comments-2953183 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 45. Ressence Watches 2018 The Oil-Filled Type 3. HODINKEE. [online] Available at: https:// www.hodinkee.com/articles/hands-on-with-theressence-type-3-live-pics-pricing [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 46. Wikipedia 2018 Baselworld. Baselworld. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Baselworld [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 47. ABlogtoWatch 2017 Big Bang Magic Gold. aBlogtoWatch [online]. Available at: https://www. ablogtowatch.com/hublot-big-bang-unico-magicgold-watch-review/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 49. Tag Heuer 2017 Autavia Facelift Tagheuer.com. (2018). TAG Heuer HEUER HERITAGE [online] Available at: https://www.tagheuer.com/en206 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
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Figure 63. Patek Philippe 1976 Nautilus. [online] Patek Philippe SA. Available at: https://www.patek. com/en/collection/nautilus/5712-1A-001 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
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Figure 73. Indian Watch Forum 2010 Hedge and Golay Collectorsweekly.com. Hegde-Golay “Gladstone Gander” Wristwatch | Collectors Weekly. [online] Available at: https://www. collectorsweekly.com/stories/178429-hegde-golaygladstone-gander-wristwatc [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
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Figure 68. Jaipur Watch Company 2014 Coin Watch. Jaipurwatches.com. (2018). Home - JWC . [online] Available at: http://jaipurwatches.com/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 69. BMC 2018 Renaissance Series. Bangalore Watch Company. Bangalore Watch Company. [online] Available at: https://www. bangalorewatchco.in/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
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titan-ne9929sl01j-purple-watch-women/p/ itmf3zhczhft6pdx [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 90. Titan 2018. Classique. [online] Available at: https://www.titan.co.in/product/titan-silverdial-multifunction-watch-for-men-90102sl01 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 91. Titan 2018 Neo. [online] Available at: https://www.titanworld.com/in-en/men/ watches/1697sm01/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018] Figure 92. Titan 2018 Karishma. Rediff Shopping . [online] Shopping.rediff.com. Available at: http:// shopping.rediff.com/product/titan-karishmaanalog-watch-for-men-gold-1638ym02/13506530 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 93. Titan 2018. Juxt. [online] Available at: https://www.titan.co.in/product/titan-smart-watchwith-black-leather-strap-90056nl01 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 94. Titan 2018 WE. Tata CLiQ. [online] Available at: https://www.tatacliq.com/titan90060wl02-we-smart-watch-for-women/pmp000000002135964 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 70. Aiqon 2018 Uhren. Aiqonwatches.com. Aiqon. [online] Available at: http://aiqonwatches. com/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 88. Titan 2018.Regalia. [online] Available at: https://www.titan.co.in/product/titan-blue-dialanalog-watch-for-men-1749ym01 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 95. Titan 2018 Automatc. Titan NC9365SL01 Automatic Watch - For Men - Buy Titan NC9365SL01 Automatic Watch - For Men NC9365SL01 Online at Best Prices in India | Flipkart.com. [online] Available at: https://www. flipkart.com/titan-nc9365sl01-automatic-watchmen/p/itmf3zhcmgs47sxj [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
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Figure 96. Titan 2018 HTSE. Titan World. 1635KP03. [online] Available at: https://www.titanworld.com/
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in-en/men/watches/1635kp03/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 97. Titan 2018 Bandhan. Titan World. Bandhan. [online] Available at: https://www. titanworld.com/in-en/campaigns/bandhan/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 98. Titan 2018 Zoop. Titan World. NEC4040PP01J. [online] Available at: https://www. titanworld.com/in-en/kids/watches/nec4040pp01j/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 99. Titan 2018 Raga Raga. [online] Available at: https://www.titan.co.in/product/titangrey-dial-analog-watch-for-women-2576wm01 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 100. Timex 2018 Fria. Buy Timex TWEL12403T Watch Online at Best Price | Timex India. [online] Available at: https://shop.timexindia.com/women/ timex/fria/twel12403t [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 101. Citizen 2018 Silhouette. Ladies EcoDrive Rose Gold Pearl Dial Watch | Citizen. [online] Citizenwatch.com. Available at: https://www. citizenwatch.com/us/en/ladies-silhouette-crystal/ EX1483-50D.html#start=1 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 104. Citizen 2018 One. Citizenwatch-global. com. CITIZEN announces three new Eco-Drive One models with Super Titanium™ and one Limited Edition model with Altic at BASELWORLD 2018. [online] Available at: https://www.citizenwatchglobal.com/news/2018/20180322-3/index.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 105. Skagen 2018 Ultra-Slim. Britishwatchcompany.com. Skagen 233XLTMB Men’s Ultra Slim Black Titanium Watch 233XLTMB Watches from British Watch Company UK. [online] Available at: https://www.britishwatchcompany. com/skagen-mens-ultra-slim-black-titaniumwatch-p3794 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 106. Fossil 2018 Minimalist. Fossil.com. The Minimalist Slim Three-Hand Black Leather Watch. [online] Available at: https://www.fossil.com/us/en/ products/the-minimalist-slim-three-hand-blackleather-watch-sku-fs5376p.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 107. Titan 2018 Octane [online] Available at: https://www.titan.co.in/product/titan-white-dialchronograph-watch-for-men-90106km01 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 102. Seiko 2018 Core. Discover More SUP226P1 watches for Women from Seiko. [online] Available at: http://www.seiko.co.uk/collections/ women/discover-more/sup226p1#.XBWEkWgzaUk [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 108. Citizen 2018 Brycen. Men’s Eco-Drive BL5558-58L Super Titanium Watch | Citizen. [online] Citizenwatch.com. Available at: https:// www.citizenwatch.com/us/en/mens-brycen/ BL5558-58L.html#q=brycen&lang=default&start=7 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 103. Titan 2018 Edge. [online] Available at: https://www.titan.co.in/product/titan-white-dialanalog-watch-for-men-1595wl01 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 109. Seiko 2018 Sportura. Ethoswatches. com. Seiko Sportura. [online] Available at: https:// www.ethoswatches.com/product-seiko-sporturassc357p1.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
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Figure 110. Fossil 2018 Decker. Fossil.com. Decker Chronograph Stainless Steel Watch. [online] Available at: https://www.fossil.com/us/en/ products/decker-chronograph-stainless-steelwatch-sku-ch2600iep.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 111. Titan 2018 Regalia. [online] Available at: https://www.titan.co.in/product/titan-blue-dialanalog-watch-for-men-1749ym01 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 112. Casio 2018 Edifice.. Casio Edifice Ef-550D-1Avdf (Ed390) Men’s Watch. [online] Snapdeal.com. Available at: https://www.snapdeal. com/product/casio-edifice-chronograph-menswatch/697810075 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 113. Citizen 2018 Eco Drive. Beaverbrooks. co.uk. Citizen Eco-Drive Two Colour Chronograph A.T Men’s Watch. [online] Available at: https://www. beaverbrooks.co.uk/0001662/Citizen-EcoDrive-TwoColour-Chronograph-AT-Mens-Watch/p [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 114. Seiko 2018 Chrono. Jomashop.com. Seiko Chronograph Gold Dial Gold-tone Men’s Watch SKS426. [online] Available at: https://www. jomashop.com/seiko-watch-sks426.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 115. Titan 2018 Classique [online] Available at: https://www.titan.co.in/product/titan-silverdial-multifunction-watch-for-men-90102sl01 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 116. Skagen 2018 Holst. Jomashop.com. Skagen Holst Charcoal Dial Brown Leather Men’s Watch SKW6086. [online] Available at: https://
www.jomashop.com/skagen-watch-skw6086.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 117. Time 2018 Fairfield. Fairfield Chronograph 41mm Leather Watch | Timex. [online] Timex US. Available at: https://www.timex.com/ fairfield-chronograph-41mm-leather-watch/ Fairfield-Chronograph-41mm-Leather-Watch.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 118. Fossil 2018 Grant. Amazon.in[online] Available at: https://www.amazon.in/FossilGrant-Chronograph-Beige-Watch-FS4735/dp/ B00AMWDOEK [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 119. Titan 2018 Octane or Regalia. Titan Regalia Black Dial Watch - For Men - Buy Titan Regalia Black Dial Watch - For Men Regalia Black Dial Online at Best Prices in India | Flipkart. com. [online] Available at: https://www.flipkart. com/titan-regalia-black-dial-watch-men/p/ itmf3zh7z3hhgb6p [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 120. Titan 2018 Karishma. Titan 2574sl01 Watch - For Women - Buy Titan 2574sl01 Watch - For Women 2574sl01 Online at Best Prices in India | Flipkart.com. [online] Available at: https:// www.flipkart.com/titan-2574sl01-watch-women/p/ itmf4twd7kmtvzrb [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 121. Titan 2018 Raga. Titan Raga Viva Analog Silver Dial Womens Watch-2579SL0 Best Deals With Price Comparison Online Shopping Price | CheapestInIndia.com. [online] Available at: https://www.cheapestinindia.com/price/titanraga-viva-analog-silver-dial-womens-watch2579sl0-48668814 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 128. Lovemarks 2018 Titan Plan of Action. Lovemarks.com. (2018). About Lovemarks. [online] Available at: http://www.lovemarks.com/learn/ about/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
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Figure 137. Ferrari 1957 Testa Rossa. Freelancers 3D. Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. [online] Available at: http://freelancers3d.com/en/portfolio/850/ferrari250-testa-rossa [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 142. Porsche 1965 Porsche 912. DeKorne, B. 1976 Porsche 912E Coupe. [online] Heacock Classic. Available at: https://heacockclassic.com/ articles/1976-porsche-912e-coupe/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018].
Figure 140. Ferrari 2007 Enzo Ferrari. Gde-fon.com. Download wallpaper front view, Ferrari, Enzo, red free desktop wallpaper in the resolution 1680x1050 — picture №441258. [online] Available at: http://gdefon.com/download/front-view_Ferrari_Enzo_red_ Ferrari/441258/1680x1050 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 143. Ferrari 2016 La Ferrari. Hypercar. info. [online] Available at: http://www.hypercar. info/media/djcatalog2/images/item/0/ferrarilaferrari.2_f.jpg [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 138. Lamborghini 1973 Countach. Carscoops. com. [online] Available at: https://www.carscoops. com/2009/05/lamborghini-countach-homage-raw/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 141. Lamborghini 2010 Murciélago. Seriouswheels.com. 2001 Lamborghini Murcielago - Front. [online] Available at: http://www. seriouswheels.com/2000-2003/2001-LamborghiniMurcielago-Front.htm [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 144. Lamborghini 2017 Veneno. ERIC KIM. Lamborghini-Veneno-front-end. [online] Available at: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2017/05/12/ why-i-want-to-buy-a-lamborghini/lamborghiniveneno-front-end/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 139. Porsche 1956 Porsche 356 C.
Figure 145. Porsche 2004 Carrera GT. BUZZERG. Porsche Carrera Gt (id: 179607) - Buzzerg.com. [online] Available at: https://buzzerg.com/349660porsche-carrera-gt-id-179607.htm [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 146. Carbodydesign 2018 BMW Design. Carbodydesign.com. BMW: design DNA - Car Body Design. [online] Available at: https://www. carbodydesign.com/2012/05/bmw-design-dna/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 162. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Blanking. Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional | OMEGA®. [online] Available at: https://www.omegawatches.com/ watches/speedmaster/moonwatch/professional/ product [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 163. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Forming. Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional | OMEGA®. [online] Available at: https://www.omegawatches.com/ watches/speedmaster/moonwatch/professional/ product [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 164. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Computer Controlled
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Milling. Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional | OMEGA®. [online] Available at: https://www. omegawatches.com/watches/speedmaster/ moonwatch/professional/product [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 165. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Electroplating. Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional | OMEGA®. [online] Available at: https://www.omegawatches. com/watches/speedmaster/moonwatch/ professional/product [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 166. Omega 2018 Process of forging case from raw material blank - Final Construction. Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional | OMEGA®. [online] Available at: https://www.omegawatches. com/watches/speedmaster/moonwatch/ professional/product [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 178. Titan 2018 Moodboard. YouTube. Resin Art - How To Paint The Ocean With Acrylic Paint. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=sRIjxJeAD1k [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 180. Titan 2018 Moodboard. Energievernunft. info. (2018). Epoxy Resin Coffee Table Live Edge Big Round River Coffee Table with Epoxy Resin energievernunft.info. [online] Available at: http:// energievernunft.info/epoxy-resin-coffee-table/ epoxy-resin-coffee-table-epoxy-resin-coffeetable-live-edge-big-round-river-coffee-table-withepoxy-resin/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2018]. Figure 179. Titan 2018 Moodboard. Rexdixon.com. (2018). Blue Epoxy Wood Table | Wooden Thing. [online] Available at: https://www.rexdixon.com/ topic/blue-epoxy-wood-table [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. 210 | Jansher Aidan Bakhshi Nongrum | Product Design
Figure 181. Titan 2018 Moodboard. Elements of Summer. (2018). Elements of Summer. [online] Available at: https://www.elementsofsummer.nl/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018]. Figure 193. Rohit Kartha 2018 Instagram page expe. des. Instagram. Rohit Kartha on Instagram: “There’s no substitute for quality research. And this is what a room full of it looks like. And the man behind all this epic work..…”. [online] Available at: https:// www.instagram.com/p/BnWO7gRnjjz/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018].
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