Designing a simple watch is a great deal more difficult than designing a complicated one. Give it a try – sketch out a basic three-hander and see how you get on. With this level of simplicity every single choice you make matters. Just take the length and shape of the hands, where they intersect with the minute track – even whether or not you?ll have a minute track at all. Not as easy as it looks.
Now imagine you?re going to strip back your watch design even further. No numerals. No date window. But there?s a twist – you need to come up with a way to show the days of the week without showing the days of the week.
In the words of the meme: I?ll wait.

This is just what polymath and designer Ludwig Oechslin has done with the pure settimana raw. As the name suggests, it?s a watch that will tell you what day it is as well as the time. But it does it in a way that reflects the cyclical nature of the week we?re all so familiar with – no matter what you do, sooner or later it?s Monday morning again. Or, if you?re less of a cynic, Friday afternoon. Herr Oechslin has form in this area – all the watches he?s designed have this spartan, stripped-back approach. And it?s not just limited to design; it extends to the mechanics of watchmaking too. He believes that there?s no need for all that tomfoolery with levers and cams. Why on earth do that stuff when cogs and epicyclic gears will do a better, more reliable, more direct and simpler job" One ...