Dec 10, 2014 | By Simon
With the recent onslaught of media coverage surrounding the Apple Watch and other 'connected' watches made by tech giants, it would only seem natural that some who prefer to wear a timepiece on their wrist might resort to something slightly more minimal.
Among other watch designs that aim to take a more minimalist approach is the Durr Bracelet by Skrekkøgle, a conceptual design studio consisting of design duo Theo Tveterås and Lars Marcus Vedeler.
While most (if not all) watches operate on an hour-by-hour basis, the Durr aims to redefine how users interpret time by giving the wearer a quick vibrating 'buzz' every five minutes.
Their goal with the Durr is to explore how our perception of time can be reinterpreted as it passes...whether it's estimating how long it takes to ride on public transportation, wait in line at the post office, or even how long it takes to finish a leisurely beer.
The actual 'timepiece' component of the Durr is rather nondescript for a watch, which is perhaps why they chose to call the Durr a 'bracelet' instead. With no need to keep track of the hours, designers Theo and Lars omitted the watch face altogether in favor of a solid, sandblasted anodized aluminum body.
In order to find the ideal size and shape for the Durr, Theo and Lars 3D printed multiple iterations on their MakerBot 3D printer before determining the best and final industrial design direction. With hundreds of iterations, it would make sense that 3D printing and creating mould designs would be the ideal rapid prototyping solution to get the Durr off the ground and running.
"We have a few hundred iterations on the casing," they mention in a Skrekkøgle blog post. "But mainly, we used our Makerbot for rough estimates on height and diameter, and tried a few different moulds for stability and materiality, before ordering accurate test samples from Shapeways."
While they spent a good amount of time 3D printing various test sizes for the housing, they also spent a lot of their time focusing on the internal components as well.
Starting with an Arduino and a simple program to test their concept, the design duo strapped the rough (and rather bulky) prototype to their arm with a vibration motor set to go off every five minutes as a way of personally testing their own perception of time.
After some further iterations with the internal hardware components, the next task was to use their multiple 3D print iterations to help find the ideal housing size to fit their final working concept, which was built around the Norwegian Gecko 32-bit microcontroller. For the minimalist 'bracelet' strap, the duo chose a sturdy and high-quality Spanish leather.
Whether or not the 'shivering' Durr Bracelet is the watch for you, it's hard to deny that it's products like these that leverage 3D printing for getting design iterations out quickly are set to disrupt the future of getting products to market faster than ever before.
Available for £90, the Durr Bracelet is available in Smog, Salmon, Asphalt and Pistachio colorways over at Skrekkøgle.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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