The German brand known for its modern industrial designs, has revived its first analogue wristwatches, the AW 10 and the subsequent AW 50 in totally faithful reissues

By Caitlin McDonald

When Dieter Rams began designing for Braun in 1955, he applied his Bauhaus-influenced ?less is better? approach to radios, record players, clocks, even travel clocks.
The first Braun wristwatch, however, did not make an appearance until 1977. Designed by Rams and Dietrich Lubs, the DW 20 featured a round black case with a rectangular digital display.

The company?s first analogue wristwatch, the black AW 10, was launched in 1989. It has Helvetica white numerals and an eye-catching yellow second hand, based on the 1975 AB 20 travel clock. Long, thin hour markers are counted by baton hands. The functional dial adheres to many of Rams? rules of good design: it?s aesthetic and unobtrusive, with every detail considered.

Most thoroughly of all, it embodies Rams? final principle of good design, a tenet that Braun applied across its whole range: ?Good Design Is as Little Design as Possible: Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.?
Deeply functional wristwatch design has become a solid trend, thanks to brands like Nomos and Uniform Wares. Rams? original designs laid the foundations of what we now think of as ?minimalist design? – for Rams, that was the entire point.
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