Whether you plan to buy a luxury or vintage watch, it is essential to be able to recognize good watch design. There is a lot one can learn from Dieter Rams, a legendary watch designer who is famous for his work with the Braun house. Below are some of his core design principles.

A Good Watch Design Should Always Be Innovative

Rams was one of the first designers to prioritize simplicity and portability. In many of his watches, the complexity is concealed, with the knobs or components being hidden behind doors which are hinged. The components needed in his watches are always laid out cleanly.

The Watch’s Design Should Always Be Useful

A quality watch has a design which enhances its usefulness. It is not enough for the tuning knobs or displays to be attractive; they must make the watch simple to use. This is an area where many watch designers fall short. They design timepieces which are visually impressive, but tedious to use.

The Watch’s Design Must Be Aesthetically Appealing

There are certain time tested principles of design which will never become obsolete. Dieter Rams understood this, producing watches which were streamlined and yet had an elemental shape which is extremely attractive.

A Watch’s Design Must Be Understood

To Rams, clarity is one of the most fundamental aspects in designing a quality time piece. Anyone who wears the watch, or who sees it in a shop, must be able to quickly understand how all the components work. If they don’t, the watch designer has failed to do his job. The best watches are those with components that are almost self-evident.

A Watch’s Design Should Never Be Obtrusive

A lot of designers, both of watches and other merchandise, make the mistake of thinking that a flashy design is best. However, the true masters of their craft understand that the best design is that which is unobtrusive, which means that it is attractive while not drawing too much attention.

A Watch’s Design Should Be Truthful And Long Lasting

Fads come and go, and great designers like Dieter Rams will always ignore them. Instead, they will create timepieces with a truthful design, which doesn’t promise anything it won’t deliver. The trouble with designers that follow fads is that eventually these fads become passé and so do their products, whereas the watches of designers such as Dieter Rams become more valuable over time.

Good Watch Design Is Thorough, Minimal, And Environmentally Friendly

A well designed watch is thorough in every detail, where everything is deliberate. However, it is also manufactured in a manner that is friendly to the environment, not using materials or processes that harm the local or air, land or water. The final rule of effective watch design is that the best designed watch is one which has minimal design. A common mistake made by designers is to “over design” their product in the belief that this will make it better, but more often than not it just makes the product appear tacky.