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Designer Arun Venkatesan today shared an interesting deep dive into some of the classic watch designs that inspired various watch faces for the Apple Watch, detailing how Apple took design cues from well-known watches from companies like Rolex, Breitling, Heuer, and others.

apple-california-watch-face.jpg

Venkatesan delves into the California watch face, the Chronograph and Chronograph Pro watch faces, the Count Up watch face, and the GMT watch face.

The California watch face, for example, was inspired by a dial design that originated in World War II. The mix of Roman and Arabic numerals was thought to make the watch face more readable in low visibility.
Originally called the "error proof" or "high visibility" dial, it adorned the fronts of "bubble back" Rolexes -- so-called because of the bubble-shaped back that gave the watches a thin appearance. Strikingly, the indices are set both in Roman and Arabic numerals where other watches would stick to one or the other. It's thought that mixing numerals aids both the wearer and his brothers-in-arms in reading the watch in low visibility conditions.
The GMT watch face, meanwhile, was based on classic watches able to track two time zones at one time, while Count Up is based on classic dive watches.
Unlike the previous faces, the name Count Up, refers to a type of bezel, not a dial or complication. Also known as the diving bezel, this rotating bezel, when coupled with the minute hand, helps measure elapsed time in minutes.

The count up bezel can be traced back to a monumental year in the history of the dive watch -- 1953.
Apple's Chronograph watch faces are built on a long history of chronograph watches that date back to the early 1800s and have become some of the most popular watch face types. Venkatesan says that his research led him to be impressed with Apple's dedication to design, as it's clear that Apple took the time to study the history of many of the classic watch faces that are available in a digital format on the Apple Watch.
As I researched and wrote this essay, my respect only increased. With the watch faces, Apple could have taken the easy way out by merely mimicking existing watch archetypes at a surface level. Instead, they intensely studied each one's history. When designing each face, they took into account that history and the constraints and opportunities afforded by modern technology.
For those interested in the history of the Apple Watch and those who want to know more about the classic watches that have inspired Apple's designers, Venkatesan's article is well worth reading through.

Article Link: Designer Shares Deep Dive Into History of Classic Apple Watch Faces
 
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I wish Apple would design new watch hands. Even just one more option would let you actually customize the look. The same rounded hands on every analog face for the past 7 years...
Seems that Apple wants to keep an iconic design of their watch hands while bringing a new take on old faces. Also they created an entirely new typeface specifically for the watch so its clear they want to keep some consistency.
 
Just something about a round watch that makes it more appealing than the Apple Watch. I hope apple decided to come out with two form factors in the future.
I really agree with you. I am wearing classic watches and truly love the shape and mechanical design. They are beautiful! I would love to get an iwatch one day, but I am unable to get over this design. Square watch, seriously would love to see a round one, imitation of a classical watch, just smart watch
 
Some of the watch faces are really nice but the problem with many is that they are simply too busy or too restrictive. I wish Apple would open up the watch platform to allow third parties come up with new designs.
 
Yeah thats great but an $800 watch won’t let me put a “Sunset” complication on most of the faces or tell me what my phone’s battery level is at so... I’m really glad they researched all those face designs though...
 
I really agree with you. I am wearing classic watches and truly love the shape and mechanical design. They are beautiful! I would love to get an iwatch one day, but I am unable to get over this design. Square watch, seriously would love to see a round one, imitation of a classical watch, just smart watch
Really? You read and comment on a mac rumors site and you can’t even take the time to call the watch by it’s actual name? By throwing the i in front, you intentionally called it the wrong thing. Ridiculous.
 
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I truly wish that there was an app store for watch faces. Apple is limiting the usefulness of the smart watch, IMO. Every year they add a few faces that are more artsy fartsy, rather than functional.

There hasn't been a truly new useful watch face in 3 years, that being Infograph from the Series 4. It's still what I use, because the others all have less information. And they still can't figure out how to allow all complications on all the watch faces.
 
I truly wish that there was an app store for watch faces. Apple is limiting the usefulness of the smart watch, IMO. Every year they add a few faces that are more artsy fartsy, rather than functional.

There hasn't been a truly new useful watch face in 3 years, that being Infograph from the Series 4. It's still what I use, because the others all have less information. And they still can't figure out how to allow all complications on all the watch faces.
You'd think apple would capitalize one that -- more money to be made with a watch face store
 
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