Time, time, and time again!
Watches and design, design and watches. ⌚︎
People think of watches as fancy over-priced accessories that you don’t need, and that’s a fair take. I’m willing to bet there are at least 3 ways for you to get the time right now with barely any movement. But I’m still going to dedicate this entire issue to watches anyway. Not only because some heat dropped recently that I can’t stop thinking about, but also because I’ve been intrigued with the concept of time ever since reading a book called "The Order of Time” by Carlo Rovelli a few years ago (highly recommended if you want your mind blown). My main takeaway was that time is an emergent property of the universe. And we as humans can track it with tiny devices that we wear on our wrists. That’s insane!
in this issue:
☕ Metric - Digital Blend Watch
⏱️ Timex x Huckberry
🎨 Figma x Wear OS
Metric - Digital Blend Watch
Brew Watch Co. is a small independent watch maker that combines two things I love: watches and coffee. The company usually makes funky chronographs (think stopwatch) so that you can perfectly time 30-second espresso shots. I don’t even have an espresso machine but I love the idea of having such a specific use case built into a product. It doesn’t hurt that every watch the brand makes just happens to be stunning. The newest offering is called Digital Blend and I love that it exists, even if I’ll likely never own one.
The Digital Blend combines the look of an analog watch with a digital 30-second countdown display. That’s all well and good, but what really got me about this watch is the tiny LED coffee in the corner complete with steam rising up off the cup. To start the timer you simply click the pusher on the side which begins the countdown. When the timer hits zero, the steam begins to rise from the cup. It also happens to be just a very sleek looking watch with a charming retro design and two-tone watch face. I wish more watch brands would experiment with designs like this. With most people opting for smartwatches nowadays we don’t need yet another super serious gold-plated luxury watch that costs the same as a house. We need more whimsy.
Timex x Huckberry Ironman Flix
Who doesn't love a good collab? The Ironman from Timex is one of, if not the most iconic tried and true tool watches you can get. It’s durable, easy to read, and has functions designed for tracking triathlons. Huckberry is an online men’s shop with the Midas touch. Everything they work on turns to gold whether it’s YouTube videos about cooking and travel or collabs like this one. The original Ironman watch was already a master class in good design, but this new beige color with bright orange accents just looks so dang sick.
I enjoy sleek smartwatches as much as the next guy but buttons on a watch are objectively better. When I’m wearing a standard smartwatch, there is a noticeable difference in how long it takes me to start a timer compared with a digital or analog watch with good buttons/pushers. There is always a slight lag when you swipe through screens or ask a voice assistant to start a timer. That isn’t the case with watches that have physical buttons on it like the Ironman. Once you get the layout memorized, you can start any function on the watch with barely a glance. That said, it helps if it's a fun watch like this.
Figma x Wear OS
Deep down, I would love to design my own watch. Unfortunately, I don’t know the first thing about watchmaking. I’m also not a designer or an engineer or anything else that you might need to be to make watches. The closest that most people like myself can get to making a real watch is designing watch faces for smartwatches. Specifically Android watches since Apple would never allow the blasphemy I’m about to tell you. Unless you pay for an app like Facer (which is an awesome app, just pricey) it’s hard to know how to go from idea to watch face that you can use on your watch. Thankfully there is a simple way if you happen to own a Wear OS watch. Google and Figma partnered up to make the Watch Face Designer plugin for Figma that lets you make your own watch faces for free!
If you know how to use Figma then you can jump right in and start making cool designs, but if not then there is a helpful template and tutorial to help you get started. For the uninitiated, Figma is a super powerful design tool used mainly for prototyping apps, websites, etc. But it isn’t as complicated as it sounds. If you’ve ever messed around with something like Photoshop or even Canva, you’ll be able to find your way around Figma. The app has a ton of plug-ins you can use, but what makes this one great is that it turns your design directly into code that you can then export directly to your watch! There are also more advanced options like publishing straight to the Play Store or exporting into Android Studio if you’re a developer, but it can be even simpler. If you plug your watch directly into your computer using the charger it came with you can easily export your design straight to your watch which is what I did. It’s worth playing around with and definitely won’t be the last time I design my own watch face.
Special thanks to Cool Supply members:
Abstronautica
Taylor Cash
Ben Sorensen
Daniel Hernandez
❤️
