Scallop Watch 2015-2016

Designers: Donald Strum, Yuka Midorikawa, Vladimir Anokhin, and Jae Ho Seo, Michael Graves Architecture & Design, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Manufacturer: Projects, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA

The Scallop Watch becomes a mother of invention.

With its symmetrical rigor and shell-like geometry, the Scallop Watch showcases a modern application of the guilloche technique, a method of engraving used on high-end jewelry and Faberge eggs that dates back to the 17th century. It is relatively rare to see the Guilloche technique used on the entire face of a watch and to achieve this design a new method of creating the historic pattern had to be invented.  The results achieve the same distinctive and hypnotic guilloche pattern, but at a modest price point.  The Scallop watch took three years to come to market due to technical challenges that had to be overcome in order to achieve its original design intent - capture the flow  and form of the undulating growth rings as hour indicators for the dial of the watch.

The Scallop watch comes in three variations: 

• A stainless steel case with lavender guilloche dial on blue band,

• A rose gold case with guilloche dial on brown leather band, and

• A Graves signature celadon-colored guilloche dial in a stainless steel case on a brown band. 

To achieve the guilloche effect, first a fine film of the guilloche pattern is laid over the dial of the watch. An acid wash is then painted over the voided areas without the guilloche pattern, and then the areas treated by the wash are etched away into a 0.1 millimeter deep pattern. After this etching treatment, the dial features a raised “guilloche pattern” with plain recessed areas below it.