What is your relation to time?
For me, there’s something in the formulation of timepieces. The perfect intersection of engineering and design, that seems to evoke history and the future in microcosm: a reliance on the past, a dependency on the future. Indeed, the travel clock itself can be seen to represent the duality of human experience: the need to reflect, and the desire to journey on.
What do you like about watches and clocks?
I’m utterly fascinated by their craft, the complexity of which often remains utterly hidden. Indeed, perhaps my preoccupation with watches, a fascination which began in childhood and continues to this day, derives from an underlying sense of urgency: an awareness of the passing of time, and the desire to leave a meaningful mark.
What is the difference in designing a clock or a watch or a smartwatch?
The technical attributes of the Memovox, the particularities of the movement and its mechanical alarm, have intrigued me for decades. As an admirer of its rational synthesis of beauty and functionality, I had always aspired to own one. Unlike something digital, the timepiece commands a physical presence, while engaging with the ephemeral. A travel clock is more than just a mechanical object that marks time; it also speaks to the nostalgic ritual of travel and the meaningful, personal objects that we depend on. I think it fulfils a yearning to physically acknowledge the presence of time, to carry it and hold it. These talismanic timepieces offer a counter-narrative to the disposability of digitized timekeeping. Celebrating the value and joy of a tactile, personal and intimate connection to time, the travel clock not only informs, but signposts the journey: a means to complete and restore a sense of place.
You have been known to not like straight, sharp lines. What made you include a sharp triangle on the travel clock?
Well, I’m certainly predisposed to softened edges, but these are not strict governing principles at all. My aesthetic choices are completely project dependent and serve a particular purpose. For me it’s about functionality, legibility, materiality, purity of form and coherence. A simplicity which belies an innate complexity. To realize the specificity of an envisioned product I therefore engage with differing methodologies in tandem, never limiting myself to a singular aesthetic ideology.
The watch industry is very much reliant on its icons. What is your feeling about contemporary watch design?
I tend to focus on aesthetic fundamentals, rather than contemporary trends, as such. That’s not to say there isn’t some great work being done, it's just not where I direct my attention when conceiving new projects, the inspiration of which is drawn from a multitude of sources.
What does the design of the Atmos 568 symbolize to you?
I find it deeply gratifying to work with techniques or technologies that could go into decline; protecting and nurturing skills that are at risk of disappearing. The collaboration with Baccarat, creating solid crystal cabinets for the Atmos 561 and 568, together with Serapian to craft the leather case for the Atmos Tellurium, exemplify that perfectly. I still seek to stretch the possibilities of material form and process, always seeking to create something compelling and beautiful. Craft lies at the center of this: these designs are progressive yet bound to their origins.
Atmos artistica tellurium: what was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
The Atmos Tellurium was a highly complex project. Its weight and center of gravity, the fine technical balance essential to its operation, could not be interrupted. One particular challenge was the moon plate, a concave aluminum element upon which data from the surface of the moon is mapped with extraordinary precision, a laser process taking several days. And, of course, the significant constellations in the night sky, set with hundreds of spherical sapphires…that was a monumental achievement.
