For WatchTime?s Design Special 2018 – on sale now and available for download in the WatchTime Shop ? we sat down with several different design professionals ? including independent industrial designers, freelance watch designers, lead designers of large brands, and even a movement designer ? to talk about how they see the role of design in watchmaking, where they get their ideas from, and what they think good design is. Here are the answers we got from Alexandre Peraldi, Design Product Director of Baume & Mercier.

“Seduce a customer without knowing exactly what he wants.”

WT: In your opinion, what is the role of a designer in the world of watchmaking"

AP: The role of the designer in watchmaking is to transform the technical prowess of watchmakers into portable objects on the wrist; it takes poetry to make ornaments of the human person. WT: How did you get into [watch] design"

AP: A recipe from the Zen philosophy has always followed me. It says something like this: “If you want to paint a bamboo, find the most beautiful bamboo first. Sit in front of it and watch it. From all angles, on all sides, to become bamboo yourself. At that moment, forget everything… and paint! ” I try to apply this precept to all design work. Be prepared in advance for all the possibilities, technical and aesthetic, all the constraints and all the objectives, in order to better free myself when I begin to work.
WT: What is good design in your vi...