May 10, 2013

Watch with holes for numbers by Michiel Cornelissen

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 9:08 am

Designer Michiel Cornelissen created this watch for Lorenz after the Italian watch maker had heard of his experience with 3D printing and laser cutting.

The watch has a face that consists of several layers (the name of the watch, Camada, means layer in Portuguese). Holes cut out of those layers represent the time.

Cornellisen writes:

In Camada, I wanted the time-telling aspect of the watch face to be integrated into the form and build of the watch, rather than applied as a graphical element.

For this purpose, I proposed to build the entire watch up from layers of metal, to be joined in a process called brazing. The first layer of the face indicates the hour division of the watch, while subsequent layers provide a minute indication – creating functionality while giving depth and structure to the product.

Lorenz decided not to manufacture the watch because their processes currently cannot handle the design.

(Link: Bright. Photo: michielcornelissen.com)

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December 30, 2011

Dutch astronaut André Kuipers wears Heerlen space watch

Filed under: Design,Dutch first,General by Orangemaster @ 6:06 pm

The watch Dutch astronaut André Kuipers is currently wearing in space was specially designed and made for him by watchmaker Roland Oostwegel from Heerlen, which is positive news from a city that has had to tear down an entire shopping mall right before Christmas for fear of collapse.

The watch bears the name R.O.1 SPACE Special Edition (pics) and will stay five months in space at the ISS on Kuipers’ wrist. It is the first-ever Dutch watch to go into space. I love how the second watch has a number four that looks like the capital Russian letter ‘d’ (Д).

When Kuipers met Oostwegel he told him about how astronauts lose their sense of time. Oostwegel then decided to create a watch for astronauts to solve this problem, with a mission counter that displays the elapsed mission time in days and weeks, and an extra sub dial for when the space ship has made one full lap around planet Earth in 91 minutes and 59 seconds.

Price for the stainless steel limited edition starts at 4900 euro.

(Link: limburger.nl, www.fratellowatches.com, Photo of a telescope at the Brunssummerheide (‘Brunssum heather’) in Heerlen)

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December 18, 2011

The teenage watchmaker

Filed under: Design,Dutch first by Branko Collin @ 3:48 pm

In a way Mick Mooren is a typical teenager. He has a got a typical teenager’s room at his parents’ house with the highsleeper bed and the posters adorning the wall.

But the posters hint that there is more to Mick. They are posters of watches, and Mick is a 19-year-old watchmaker from Venray in the North of Limburg. And this year he became a watch manufacturer as well.

The first watch that Mooren is producing himself is the New Vintage and is available in black/orange and white/orange. It will set you back a cool 840 euro.

Mick’s back story is worth reading in itself. His watchmaking career was propelled earlier this year when he took on the restoration of a classic 1973 Zenith El Primero chronograph, a watch that doubles as a stopwatch. He wrote about the restoration process in detail over at Watchuseek.com. Although the son of a goldsmith and nephew of a watchmaker, Mick did not take up watchmaking until two years ago.

(Via BNR. Photo: moorenwatch.com)

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