u/hz_watches

Hey r/space!

A good friend of mine told me to share my latest design here. I’m Matt - a watch designer by day, and space nerd by night.

Space exploration and watchmaking has always gone hand in hand, from Scott Carpenters Breitling Cosmonaut as one of the earliest watches in space, to the iconic Omega Speedmaster worn on the moon during Apollo 11.

Having always wanted a Speedmaster, but without the funds to justify one, I set about creating my own space themed watch.

Whilst watching a documentary about the overview effect, I was inspired to create a watch that focuses on Earth. I chose the Blue Marble photograph from Apollo 17 as a starting point, imagining myself looking out the window at our Earth. After some testing, I was able to find the right materials to create a transparent disc that shows the Earth as the seconds hand, orbiting around the subdial.

As a slight nod to my favourite movie, the dial and markers were inspired by the millennium falcon cockpit.

I’d love to get your thoughts if you have time, how did I do with this design? Do you have any feedback?

I’d love your honest opinion, as I’m at a bit of a crossroads. The watch market hasn’t taken to this design as well as my previous designs, and I’m deciding between doubling down on this, or to shelve it after this production run and move in a different direction.

Thank you!

Matt

Hey r/MicrobrandWatches!

Matt from Hz - and I’m super excited to share what we’ve been working on.

The inspiration from this collection came from the famous Blue Marble photograph taken during Apollo 17. I wanted to create a watch that reminded the wearer to step back and see at the bigger picture every once in a while. We launched the collection last year, and we had a number of redditors suggest natural stone dials to fit in with the Earth theme.

Naturally I immediately started experimenting with different stones, and almost a year later we’ve found the perfect pairings, with Agate, Serpentine, and Labradorite dials.

Last month I travelled to visit our factories, and spent some time on the ground individually inspecting and selecting each dial that made it to assembly for their colour, veins, and depth.

Each dial starts as a raw block of natural stone, and is sliced into a 1mm thick wafer which is cut, shaped, and polished. These have been the hardest dials we've ever made, as the stones can be brittle and unpredictable which leads to cracks, inclusions, and a high discard rate.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback - how did we do?

Thank you again for the support, and as always I’d love to answer any questions in the comments below.

-Matt