Ever since 2009, German-based Defakto Watch Manufactory have been making watches that embody the German design principles of simplicity, sensibility, and purity. Now, to celebrate 10 years since they embarked on that journey, they’re releasing the Transit Standard, a fine combination of minimal modern aesthetics and high-quality components that celebrates 10 years of Defakto.
Defakto was founded by Raphael Ickler in 2009, who himself came from a long line of watchmakers from Pforzheim, Germany, dating as far as 1924. From design to development, production, communication, and watchmaking, Defakto’s operations are carried out personally by 35-year-old Designer and Managing Director Raphael Ickler ensuring that each watch receives his stamp of approval before it reaches the customer’s hands.
The Transit comes with a in-house made, 3-piece brushed stainless steel watchcase with sapphire crystal glasses on both the front and back. The domed, anti-reflective sapphire crystal on the front reveals the watch’s simplistic minimal design with a matte black dial, three rounded hands, and Superluminova markings to make the watch visible in low-light settings too. A flat sapphire crystal on the back forms an exhibition-window into the watch’s interiors, revealing its Swiss-made automatic ETA 2824-2 movement.
The watches come with a 316L stainless steel body, secured by German cowhide leather straps and an ergonomic clasp with engraved Defakto logo. The watches are all manufactured and assembled in Pforzheim, at the base of the Black Forest, an area world-renowned for watchmaking and arguably the birthplace of the cuckoo clock! Capturing the very best of Defakto’s 10-year legacy in a single piece, the Transit does a pretty remarkable job of showcasing its innate German simplicity, sensibility, and commitment to perfection.
Designer: Raphael Ickler
Photography: David Heitz
Defakto Transit Standard
The Defakto Transit was created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Defakto Watch Manufactory. It is the most complex manufacture created by Defakto yet. “In the elaborate design process, great importance was placed on night readability. The curved hands, as well as all the indices of the black matte dial, have been covered in Switzerland with Superluminova,” Ickler told Yanko Design.
The Defakto Transit offers unique modern aesthetics combined with high-quality components such as a new in-house made 3-piece watchcase with a brushed surface, a konvex sapphire crystal and a Swiss made automatic movement ETA 2824-2.
The newly developed 40mm stainless steel case (316L) has a height of just 9.8mm including the domed crystal.
The watch has just won the internationally renowned German Design Award 2020 in the category Winner product design luxury goods.
