Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has designed a platinum watch named Ipsomatic for Swiss jeweller and watchmaker Gübelin.
The watch, which is the architect’s first timepiece, has an organic, curved, 39-millimetre-thick case that is made from platinum.
According to Calatrava, he was informed by the history of the Lucerne-based company as well as the concept of time for his design.
Working with a company that has such a long tradition and has been led by the same family for many generations was both a pleasure and a challenge for me: to find a proposition which states the high quality of Gübelin over time,” said Calatrava.
“I was inspired by the idea of time,” he continued.
“Time exists because there is change, change means movement, the eternal essence of time is the dynamic component of its shape.”
The watch case has a curved form that evokes Calatrava’s architecture, which includes the transportation hub at New York’s World Trade Center, the Turning Torso tower in Malmö and the Milwaukee Art Museum.
The watch is named Ipsomatic after a series of Gübelin models made in the 1950s and 1960s.
Like these watches, the modern version is powered by a Felsa movement.
It has a matte silver face with a silver 12, makers and hands. The back of the watch features an engraved, original drawing of a pair of bulls by Calatrava.
The watch has been released in a limited edition of 170 to mark the 170th anniversary of the Gübelin company.
Calatrava is the latest architect to turn his hand to watch design, with Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Eduardo Souto de Moura recently creating a timepiece for LeBond and fellow Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando designing a serpent-informed watch for Bulgari.
We recently rounded up six watches designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architects.
