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Friday, November 19, 2010

Devon Works Thread 1

Imagine if you will...a designer...talented, no doubt. But who has worked designing cars, and electric guitars. Imagine that this same designer took his thoughts on a watch, discarding all the normal ideas on watch design...like having hands, like the way you show time. Imagine if he was unlimited by traditional watchmaking...and the movement is mechanical, but yet, modern and electronic, yet not like a quartz machine from China or Taiwan.

Well, imagine no more. Made out of a case of stainless steel, but clad in PVD titanium, Scott Devon, and industrial entrepreneur who saw the vision of the young designer - one Jason Wilbur.

The final watch, known as the Thread 1, is shown below:



Belts driven by electric motors. Running in several different directions. And it runs on a battery not unlike that found in most mobile phones. The charger is built into the watch box, and when resting inside, the watch charges by induction. Cool. Each charge will last about 2 weeks.



The watch can go to sleep...like the Seiko Kinetics...where the timekeeping functions continue, but the watch saves energy by not displaying it. At the press of the crown, the watch can be re-started and it becomes up to date with the time display. The rear of the case, showing the engraving, and proudly proclaims "Made in California/USA"



Detail of the dial. The seconds belt in the photograph is not as sharp because it happened to be moving during the exposure. It moves one small step each second...



The crown is massive. Used to stop and start the display mechanism, making the watch go to sleep as described above. It also allows the time to be adjusted. Press to activate the adjustmet system, clockwise to move the hour belt in hourly increments, and anti-clockwise to move the minute belt by one minute increments.



Another look at the side...showing the belts as they wrap around.

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