Steampunk Watch Design

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Design submitted by Anders from Sweden.

This concept springs form Anders’ interest in steampunk, hence this mechanical, planet-geared almost victorian timepiece, which can be used as a wrist or pocket watch with its removable leather strap.

The basic concept is an exclusive steampunk take on a wrist watch, with separate hour, minute, and second hands, connected by gears.  The gear ratio means that the inner face has to rotate against the hour hand, constantly changing the watch’s appearance.  The glass is divided into two parts and also rotates.

There is also a bluetooth function that adds to the usability of the design and contrasts with the very old-school, mechanical style.

17 thoughts on “Steampunk Watch Design”

  1. Oh I’m afraid this watch is beyond rating. The renderings are cool and really translate your idea. That’s why I can say: this watch doesn’t quite fit in the Tokyo Flash catalog. I can’t speak for Tokyo Flash of course.

    The golden jewelry style is the reason. Make more simple shapes, use less shapes for the outside. Make more simple indicators, not these arrows. The gog wheels… maybe more decent cogs, if technically possible. Maybe simpler colors: black, white, red. Or a quite interesting idea: Make a high resolution LED screen and show this watch’s mechanism on that. Highlight the hours and minute indicators and voilá, a cool watch. Think about it. You already have the objects you need.

    That’s of course only my taste. I need to say it is a great work form a creating point of view.

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    • Hehehehe, thanks, I guess…=)

      I knew it wouldn’t rate very well when I submitted it (if it even got posted), but by the time I realized that, I’d already got far enough on the modelling that I had to finish it…=)

      You make valid points (especially abuot it not fitting the existing TF range), and the idea of a HD-LED screen is indeed interesting, even though it’d probably not rate very well either, considering the high-scoring designs here…

      By the way, I’m wondering what you mean by ‘more decent cogs’, exactly… I’d really appreciate it if you could explain that point further…

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      • The cogs. Well they are perfect for a mechanical watch. They are useful this way. But smaller (half the depth) or rounded they would look more stylish. Maybe you can keep the mechanical topic but rethink it in a modern way. Imagine a curvy line… it looks more pleasant than a zig-zag-line. There are so many things overlapping themselves (7 cog wheels). You could simplify the image, the user sees. The planetarium topic is so cool. But it is translated too traditional. Look at the blue-white strap. Thats a cool thing! It is soft, rounded, elegant, smooth… And then look at the rest: cornerns, angles, edges.

        Well it’s good that you submitted and Tokyo Flash posted it. It is better than keeping it on your computer and nobody sees it. It’s a great job, technically. Can you animate it?

        Well the ratings… non-LED/LCD-watches generally have not a very good position in here. Traditional looking watches too.

        I hope to see more from you. Your time zone watch is cool (except the straps). Thats a fusion of old and new. And now I remember you also made the scaled watch. That style, when you can do something decent like that for the planetatium watch… wow… that would be modern steampunk.

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      • Hmmm, interesting points! I hadn’t thought in those terms, but you make a lot of sense. It’d take some doing, but an organically shaped mechanism is a very interesting idea… Cog profiles are tricky things to design (as soon as you don’t use the standard profile), so if I get around to it, it’ll probably take a while… But now I’m getting ideas (Curses, I already have too many=), so I should come up with something…

        True, I’ve got enough half-finished things lying around…=)
        Animate it? Oh yes, but I think I prefer my blood-pressure where it is…=)

        No, it seems the diodes are well in front… No wonder, TF is all about the tech, rather than the mech…=)

        Thanks for the encouragement, I like a lot of your stuff too (the solar powered concept is killer, and it really bugs me since it’s the sort of thing I might have come up with myself…=)
        I’ve got more things coming… I submitted one the other day, and I’m hoping to finish one more tonight, two more in progress, and then the neo-steampunk idea you’ve just given me…=) Thanks, by the way…=)

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  3. i like it. there’s a lot going on there, and with parts rotating within other parts i’m not sure it’s possible to actually make it, be nice if they tried though 🙂
    it’s unconventional enough for tokyoflash, but probably too mechanical for them, although it would be nice idea for them to have a range of mechanical watches too.
    i really like the metal part of the strap, but not the leather strap. i’d like to see the metal strap used as the whole of the wrist-strap instead.

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    • I’m fairly certain it’s possible (just look at some fo the stuff traditional watch makers like Patek Philippe have done), however it’d probably be hideously expensive…=)
      I was sort of hoping against hope to tap into the victorian-romantic-retro-ish-aesthetic…=)

      It’s always the strap! Must be some kind of curse…=) I thought about a completely metal strap, but decided against it for two reasons. Firstly, without the leather it’d most likely be fairly uncomfortable, and secondly, with half of it metal the leather can be removed and it becomes a pocket watch instead, with a fob attached to the chain.

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  4. Looks like a chronograph with davinci influence. Besides the two shifted dodecagons (wich are very irritating) the design is pretty neat. What is pairing suc meaning? Very good work. If it is too far away from what tokyo flash wants, you must try to sell it elsewhere. Maybe this watch has a role in a fantasy movie…

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    • Thanks for the comment!

      I wanted to draw attention to the Bluetooth screen, and envisioned text scrolling across it (which unfortunetely doesn’t read perfectly in a still image), and the full text is supposed to be ‘Pairing Successful’. If I made the text small enough to show both words, it would be too small to be readable…

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  5. I think Samukun made really good comments about this watch already! I would just say this is a bit busy inside the dial and it makes the hands pretty hard to see. But otherwise, that s a great job!

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  6. I absolutely love it. The design is amazing in so many indescrible ways! I love steampunk and really hope to see this watch get made :3

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  8. Same ‘ere…I’ve long had a love for Vernean things, and this watch really does look and sound the part! >:-)

    The only headache I can see for TF might be in its production: The Planetarium itself looks to be awfully complex – Mechanically speaking – And maintenance might well be tricky as well…If it’s as mechanically complex as it looks, many watch repair shops might not be willing to accept it for repair if one is presented to them. 😐

    That said; I’ll cast those concerns aside for the moment, don my drivers cap, and climb back behind the regulator of this fine locomotive…With something like this on my wrist, I’d never be late into Kings Cross ever again! >:-)

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