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 Zurich-based product designer Fabian Schwaerzler.

“It is about proportions and space.”

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

FS: Like Max Bill did at Junghans, the designer should serve the function of the watch as an instrument and of the people that will wear it. WT: How did you get into watches and watch design"

FS: I started with furniture design. Over the years I developed skills and a way of essential design thinking which I can now adapt to all kinds of objects. Seven years ago I discovered the watch as a piece of micro-architecture. The rules are the same as they are in bigger objects. It is about proportions and space. Daniel Dreifuss from Maurice de Mauriac in Zurich gave me the chance to start in this area.
WT: What is good watch design, in your view" Any examples"

FS: I love the original Swatch, the model ?GB 100.? It is innovative and democratic and the design is functional and honest. That is how design should be. In the design of...