Zoomin Watch concept

This is about a watch that is only an idea at the moment. It's not haute horology and it has probably barely rate a blip on anyone's watch radar, but I saw it and I quite like it.

It's called the Zoomin.

The name requires a bit of work perhaps, although it does get to the point - the idea of magnifying nubs on the hands.

This watch concept by Gennady Martynov and Emre Cetinkoprulu uses a pair of small magnifiers which also form the hands of the watch to bring the current time into larger and clearer focus.

In terms of the dial design, the minutes are located on the outside circle and hours on the inside, with magnifying hands on each.

Although I am keen on the idea, and it’s also quite a sleek good looking design, the time-telling part may need a little tweaking. If you look at the concept images, it may be difficult for some people to tell the hour, and I have already found numerous comments to this effect in some discussions about the Zoomin. 

The time is 1:50 as illustrated in these images. For many of us, it is easy to read the time, but it does remind me a little about jump hour time displays and how some designs are in fact more difficult to read for many people than we realise. As this watch would probably be aimed both at a ‘fashion’ market and to those who would genuinely like/ need to have a watch that is more legible (without going digital display), the latter’s needs may possibly be better met if the inner hour circle was made just a fraction larger, so that the distance between the hours was greater and the potential for confusion lessened.

If it ever goes into production, the designers intend for it be available in a range of bold and bright colours.

Whether or not this concept becomes a reality remains to be seen, but it occurred to me that it might be the perfect sort of project to link up with Kickstarter, for whom the iPod LunaTik proved to be such a success in bringing to fruition.

[AP]