If there is one thing architects never seem to have quite enough of, it’s time. Rarely are there enough hours in the day to sleep, eat, socialize and design a career-defining architectural landmark — but we do our best to make every second count. Perhaps that is why so many architects are fascinated by timepieces and have switched buildings with watches on their drawing boards over the years. From Gehry to Graves, each watch in this collection reflects its designer’s architectural ideals and reveals their love for the detail-oriented challenges of industrial design. Waste no time in admiring these classic clock faces:
Images courtesy of LEBOND
Lebond Siza by LEBOND
Lebond Siza is a mechanical watch designed by the renowned Pritzker Prize Architect Alvaro Siza at the age of 89. The inspiration for the watch came from the Le9a swimming pool, which Siza designed in 1966 at the age of 28. The watch case shape was based on the square main pool, and the watch hands were adapted from the minimal restroom signs that Siza used on numerous projects. Learn more here.
© David Banks
Via Virginia Duran
Positive/Negative by Frank Gehry
Designed for classic high-end brand Fossil, the unconventional display on Gehry’s watch merges digital technology with a hand-sketched aesthetic. It also offers owners a characteristically quirky way to tell the time: rather than 2:49, the watch above reads “11 til 3.”
Via Richard Meier and Partners Architects
High Museum by Richard Meier
American architect Richard Meier designed this wearable homage to his High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. The pale, semi-opaque clock face and minimal detailing evokes the modernist aesthetic of one of Meier’s most well-known buildings, and can be illuminated to read the time after dark.
Via Watch Reviews and Discount Codes
Junghans Automatic by Max Bill
The multi-skilled Max Bill was an architect, industrial designer, artist and graphic designer who studied under Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee at the Bauhaus in Dessau in the late 1920s. His watch design reflects the philosophies of the famous school and incorporates a minimal display, carefully crafted details and beautiful materials.
Via Virginia Duran
Botta 2 Watch by Mario Botta
Swiss architect Mario Botta’s buildings are characterized by bold forms and distinctive geometry, and so is the Botta 2 Watch. The clock face is encircled by a thick gray band that frames a minimal display — evoking the circular centerpiece of the architect’s original design for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Via MCA Store
Cubit Watch by Michael Graves
For his contribution to the Projects range of watches, the late Michael Graves was uninterested in confining himself to the straight-laced look adopted by many of the other architects on this list. The American master of Postmodernism opted instead for a bold combination of three-dimensional geometry and vivid colors, with a cube of azure seemingly floating in a sea of brushed chrome.
Via Virginia Duran
Free Time by Laurinda Spear
Arquitectonica cofounder Laurinda Spear’s watch displays a radical interface that does away with numbers and hands. Each ring on the abstract clock face rotates in time with the hours, minutes and seconds, mimicking the celestial orbit of planets around the Sun.
Will.i.am’s multi-use Puls Smart Cuff …
…and Zaha Hadid’s special-edition version; via Forbes
Bonus: Puls Smart Cuff by Will.i.am and Zaha Hadid
Former Black Eyed Pea and occasional industrial designer Will.i.am’s multi-use, high-tech wristband didn’t go down so well with the critics at Gizmodo, Mashable or The Verge — but did you know that star architect Zaha Hadid created a special edition of the Puls cuff? The late British-Iraqi architect’s version has a striking sculptural form, but perhaps those who look for a well-functioning smartwatch should look elsewhere …
Find all your architectural inspiration through Architizer: Click here to sign up now. Are you a manufacturer looking to connect with architects? Click here.
Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletters.Top image: Déjà Vu Watch by Denis Guidone