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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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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04 INDIA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH WATCHES INDIAN MICROBRANDS

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? 05 WHERE ARE WATCHES GOING?

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?