https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1364836861/the-masonic-watch-a-uniquely-designed-concrete-tim?
UPDATE: less than 24 hours left on their campaign!
As most watches strive to innovate and position themselves as new and unique, they all usually follow the same template. Stainless Steel body, curved Sapphire glass, and a few rare elements/jewels. Aggregate Watches stepped in to break the mold by creating a watch that looks like no other. With a bezel and dial made from actual concrete, the Masonic watch is probably the most beautiful and unforgettable watch I’ve seen in a while, as it pays tribute to the Freemasons, one of early society’s first architects, as well as the Brutalist architecture movement of the 50s and 60s, that sought to celebrate concrete as not just a structural material but also as an innately aesthetic material. Brutalism came from the term béton brut, French for raw concrete.
Concrete is extremely challenging to work with. It isn’t recommended in cases where you would require intricate detailing and low tolerances, making it extremely challenging to incorporate into watches, given how everything is based on machined components and intricate assemblies. Concrete has a tendency to chip, form bubbles, and have an inconsistent surface finish. However Aggregate used these very properties to their advantage, developing new technologies to make precise concrete components, and showcase their imperfections as design details. In fact, their proprietary blend of concrete is said to be more durable than most.
Featuring a concrete dial and bezel (a first of its kind), the Masonic watches come in four styles with two concrete finishes. The Gravel, Navy, and Oat Brown feature a classic concrete finish, with air bubbles and an inconsistent greying that give the watches a certain maturity, while also ensuring no two watches are identical. A Charcoal variant features a blackened concrete dial and bezel, blending in beautifully with the black casing and strap, creating something seamless yet unique.
All watches come with a machined stainless steel casing on which rests a ring-shaped concrete bezel. Inside this ring lies the protective Sapphire crystal glass, which gives a grand display of the concrete dial underneath. The watches pair themselves with straps made from top grain leather, with gray, brown, navy blue, and black tans that complement the concrete wonderfully. The stainless steel is given a brushed finish too, so that more emphasis falls on the concrete rather than on a polished steel surface. All watches come with a Japanese Miyota 203A Quartz movement, and even with their concrete construction, weigh just 0.2 pounds (90.72 grams).
A beautiful marriage between rough and elegant, state-of-the-art and unconventional, and being both resilient and gorgeous, the Masonic watches will easily be one of the most alluring and unique timepieces you’ll ever wear!
Designers: Jonathan Thai & Mike Yim of Aggregate Watches
BUY NOW: $189.00 $249.00
BUY NOW: $189.00 $249.00
