Discovered in the process

Best of 2011: Don’t re-invent, completely re-imagine.

I first discovered Urwerk a few years ago when I began developing an interest in wristwatches. I fell in love with them instantly. Urwerk create the most astonishing watches you have ever seen – seriously, they are just incredible. What I love about them is that they haven’t just taken a conventional watch design and then tweaked it; Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei have seized the opportunity to create something truly unique. 

When I first saw a Urwerk watch my initial reaction was, “how on earth do you read the time on it?” It bore no resemblance to any watch I have ever seen and it took me a moment to get my head around it. It’s like Frei (Urwerk designer) has never seen a watch before. It’s like someone described to him what a watch does - “it is an instrument worn on the wrist which marks the passing of time” - and then left the interpretation completely open. It is their bravery in design and innovation that means Urwerk can command tens of thousands of pounds for their watches. 

What if you applied this approach to your world? What would happen if you slaughtered every sacred cow – the things that everyone else says arefundamental – and just started again?

If all you ever do is tinker with what already exists, then you will never go beyond what has already been done. The only way to create something truly radical and ground breaking is to stop trying to improve on what you’ve got, and approach your work like no-one has ever done it before.

Don’t re-invent what already exists, completely re-imagine it. If you don’t, you will be forever limited by the parameters of someone else’s imagination, and not your own.

www.urwerk.com

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