Clock design comes a ‘full circle’ with the V-Watch. Taking the earliest image of the clock (the sundial) and using it’s principle in a watch, the V-Watch is a sundial on your wrist. The watch comes with a flat, empty face that simply has a red elevation in the center. However, powerful point-lights around the rim of the watch light up to show you the time in shadows. The height of the light source determines how long or short the shadow would be and the resulting V shape, drawn by shadows, is the time.
The V-Watch is a part of Red Dot’s Design Concept Awards program. Obviously it raises certain questions regarding the watch’s practicality (especially in the daytime or in heavily lit places), but the idea seems to be the kind that can trigger three things. Inspiration: for a new product that uses this shadow-play, Redesign: of the watch itself so it can translate into a real product, and Debate: something that’s healthy for any community in general and the design community in particular. I think the watch could work marvelously for deep sea divers, or in the northern or southern parts of the earth that face 6 months of darkness every year. Another brilliant hack would be to use colored lights so you can tell the time by looking at the color in the shadows. What else can you think of?
The V-Watch is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2017.
Designer: Anhui Boao Electronics Co. Ltd.
