Architect Norman Foster Unveils His First Watch, Made With Lebond
British architect Norman Foster has unveiled his first watch, designed with the watch brand Lebond. The launch was set for Wednesday, 28 October, at the Norman Foster Foundation in Madrid, according to The New York Times.
The watch is a mechanical model with a strap built into the case. Its Grade 5 titanium case, a strong and lightweight form of the metal, measures 38.5 millimetres across and widens to 40 millimetres where it meets the strap. Most watches attach their straps through small projections called lugs. This design drops them entirely, so the strap wraps around the case instead.
The watch has a rotating bezel, the ring around the dial. It turns in both directions and carries 12 hours, so the wearer can read a second time zone using the main hour hand. The dial sits under a domed sapphire crystal, a scratch-resistant glass-like cover, with a coating that cuts down on reflections. It is water-resistant to 50 metres. The movement inside is Swiss and automatic, which means it winds itself as the wearer moves.
Two versions are on offer. The Natural Titanium Edition has a textured titanium case, a brushed-metal dial and a grey rubber strap. The Black Edition has a matte black, coated titanium case, black lacquered hands and dial, and a black rubber strap. Cases and straps can be swapped, so owners can change the look of the same watch.
Foster said the process of designing a watch was "very similar to architecture," according to Dezeen. The watch was created with the Norman Foster Foundation and developed with Lebond. LEBOND has announced a worldwide release and sells the watch through its official website, lebondwatches.com.
For anyone who has followed Foster's buildings, the link is easy to see. His work has long been about how parts fit together, and the strap-and-case join here follows the same idea. The watch is simply a smaller object to test it on.
