Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek has designed his first watch – despite saying the market is already flooded with thousands of models.

Eek, who is better known for his furniture made from pieces of scrap wood, designed the Tube Watch for Dutch brand LEFF Amsterdam.

“There are hundreds and thousands of watches so why make another one?” he told Dezeen at the collection launch during Milan design week.

Eek was originally approached by LEFF Amsterdam founders Arno and Dennis Ruijzenaars and Erwin Termaat to design an analogue clock, which led to his Tube Series that now includes the watch and a speaker.

The company’s strap line is “Nobody really needs a clock” – a sentiment shared by Eek, who suggested that nobody really needs another watch either, especially with the prevalence of smartphones and now smartwatches.

But when he hit upon an idea for such a simple timepiece, Eek was surprised it hadn’t been done before so accepted the commission.

“It’s very difficult to make something like a watch and to add something that is worth adding,” said the designer.

“I said before I started with the commission: ‘I’ll only do it when I have a good idea, when I feel comfortable with a concept that is good enough to get it all the way’.”

The hour and minute indicators of both the watch and clock are integrated into a cylindrical casing rather than printed on the face.

“The funny thing is the idea is so simple you would think it had already been done,” said Eek. “I tried to add as little as possible and stay very close to the production process, and solve everything in this process.”

The tube-shaped clock can also be slotted into a hole drilled in a surround of any shape – an idea that also influenced the design of the Tube Watch.

While Eek is a fan of smartwatches, his designs for the Tube Series rely on analogue components. The watch face is surrounded by a serrated ring with cog-like indentations and protrusions that indicate the hours.

Eek said he was able to bring something new to watch and clock design by building this integral part of the face into the design, rather than thinking of the numbers as an after treatment. This also resonated with his style of exposing elements of construction in his products.

Originally Eek wanted the face to be as chunky as possible – a growing watch trend Swedish designer David Ericsson has previously criticised – in keeping with the clock and speaker, but practicality got in the way.

The Tube watch will be available at Dezeen Watch Store soon.

Read the transcript below:

Why did you want to design a watch?

Because Arno [Ruijzenaars] asked me – in fact it’s not the watch that we started with, it’s the clock. When we made it I wanted to make it as a technical component so that people could make their own clock around it. That’s why I thought about a tube that you could put in a hole you can drill.

We skipped the idea at a certain moment but Arno [Ruijzenaars] liked the idea and he secretly developed it without me knowing it – so he actually made the clock without me knowing because he liked the idea.

In the end we’re able to put the clock into anything we like but one of things I added to the idea was the way you look at the hours. Normally it’s printed or at least on part of the face but not in the construction of it.

By making an extruded profile where you can see the time and this profile is in fact part of the construction – it’s very much like how I work.

When we finished it the quality of this idea was so clear that we immediately decided to make a whole Tube series. Hopefully in the future we’ll make a bigger one, a high-end version in terms of quality of sound – though the quality of this one is amazing.

We had this idea of the tube and then we thought about making watches. The first idea I had was to make a watch with a much higher face – but then you can’t take your clothes off because there’s a big watch there.

Why did you want it to have this feature?

It’s the idea of the tube that I liked. We made two series – one with a leather band, which is very much a tube with a leather band connected to the cast. It’s completely different from normal to have this cylindrical thing. And then we added the more Rolex-styled metal band with more or less the same detail where it attaches underneath the cylinder. In both cases we tried to keep the cylinder, which is part of the extrusion profile idea.

In the end it’s the glass, the extrusion profile, the face. It’s like building something up and then screwing it together, so it’s a very pragmatic way of making a watch. The funny thing is that the idea is so simple that you would think it’s already been done.

Which part hasn’t been done before?

The profile – normally you have the time on the face, so now it’s a part of the watch itself, which is very much how I work. I try to find solutions where the technique and the material are the most important. I try to add as little as possible and stay very close to the production process and solve everything in this process. And in fact this is a good example of it. And probably it’s never been done like that because that’s specifically the way I work and most designers don’t work like that.

The first thing Arno [Ruijzenaars] did when he came home was to look at the internet for several days to see if this thing already existed. Then after four or five days he sent me an email saying: “Piet, it’s a good idea and it doesn’t exist.”

I said before I started with the commission, I’ll only do it when I have a good idea, when I feel comfortable with a concept that is good enough to get it all the way. It’s very difficult to make something like a watch and to add something that is worth adding. There are hundreds and thousands of watches so why make another one? But for me this is very much the way I think and work and also a new thing, which is fun.

Why did you set out to make an analogue product over digital?

We also made a digital version, but for this extrusion profile you need hands. I made an analogue clock and also a digital clock for the built-in version [Tube Clock] and the digital is very, very nice because everything is wired. You buy a box, which you can throw away, but the box itself is also the clock and if you throw it away you have to make your own clock. That was the original idea and if this one is successful then we’ll hopefully also make that one.

How do you feel about smartwatches, how do you think they’re changing the watch-making industry?

I like them. The smartwatch makes everything available – like a telephone – which is much better. But an Apple does everything much better except telephoning. Almost every telephone is better at just phoning than an Apple, but Apple is better at everything else so it’s still a very desirable product.

If you add a lot [to a watch], the original meaning of it becomes less and also gives a sort of double emotion – one going for the most information and the other one for the pure information.

I think it’s two sentiments that are getting stronger because of the smartwatches. In general I think you have this in society – you can go on holiday with everything, which is very luxurious but you can also go to a place with nothing, which is also very luxurious. It’s a contrast in the world that you try to be inspired by.

Search from:https://www.dezeenwatchstore.com/blog/2015/06/piet-hein-eek-tube-watch-clock-leff-amsterdam-interview-milan-design-week-2015/