Main Project Plans and Inspirations

For my final project, I have a vision of creating a wristwatch and its aesthetic would be heavily inspired from Art Nouveau and Clockpunk aesthetics.

Art Nouveau was a movement that emerged in the late 19th century and was popular in the early 20th century. It is characterized by its organic, flowing lines, and decorative elements inspired by nature. The movement’s aim was to combine art and design to create a total work of art, with a focus on craftsmanship and quality. The project’s use of organic detailing, minimal straight lines, and carved steel, blue, and copper colors embodies the Art Nouveau aesthetic.

While Clockpunk is a relatively new design movement that draws inspiration from the steampunk subculture. Clockpunk is characterized by its intricate, mechanical details and the use and working of clockwork mechanisms and gears. The project would use a skeleton mechanical watch movement which would suit this aesthetic and the focus would be to find a mechanism with suitable intricate designs as well to also suit the art nouveau aesthetic.

Since a long time I had plans to build my own wrist watch, and after I came upon Casa Batlló and Hôtel Tassel shown in the above images; which are world renowned examples of Art Nouveau architecture; I was fascinated by the organic detailing and minimal straight lines, and it made me think about how I could incorporate these elements into my project as well. Also, I had planned to create a wrist watch since a long time and really appreciated the engineering and intricate designs of a mechanical watch movement and wanted to showcase it which helped me to choose clockpunk aesthetic as well.

Clockpunk was a natural choice, but choosing Art Nouveau as done as a means to challenge myself to how I could implement it in a wrist watch. Art Nouveau primarily seems as an architectural aesthetic and I want to explore its principles and try to incorporate it into a tiny object of a wrist watch. I understand that choosing the latter aesthetic would be out of my comfort zone but I would like the challenge to learn new topics as well as maybe create an oxymoron artifact of a modern yet antique wrist watch.

In terms of news for the project, I have been researching how to build a wrist watch and what tools would be required. I have also started searching for watch parts that would suit my vision which first starts with the selection of the mechanism or the watch movement which would influence the choise of the other watch parts as well as they would be needed to be compatible with the selected watch movement. I am looking to search for readily available parts that suit my aesthetic or maybe dealers and creators that create custom designs as it would be almost impractical for me to learn and manufacture custom designed parts myself from scratch. However, I am willing to search for parts that I could later on hand-engrave or laser-engrave with designs and patterns to suit my vision as that would be more practical and would suit the scope of this project.

I believe that my wrist watch project will be a unique and valuable timepiece that embodies both the Art Nouveau and Clockpunk aesthetics. It will be a handcrafted item that showcases the intricacies of mechanical watch movements, while also exploring the principles of Art Nouveau architecture. Although it is out of my comfort zone, I am excited to take on this challenge and create a beautiful and functional wrist watch.

References:

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/artn/hd_artn.html

https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Clockpunk

https://www.britannica.com/art/Art-Nouveau

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/the-most-beautiful-art-nouveau-buildings-around-the-world

Featured Image: Playground AI Stable Diffusion 2.0