Kinetic Art by Humism
In mid 2018 I participated in the Kickstarter campaign of the Singaporean microbrand Humism and finally got my Dasein in October 2018. Many microbrands are not really unique, they are rip-offs of great designs and make ads with “cutting the middleman, bla bla bla”. But some are real originals, like Ming. Here is also a unique one, the Humism Dasein. This watch and his brothers are unique out there. I have not even seen anything similar.
I cannot upload a video or GIF here and pictures don’t show the full magic that happens, so feel free to watch the GIF on their website: https://humism.com/products/dasein
They are all powered by an automatic Seiko, the hands are replaced by discs. The discs are laying over each other and rotate, that builds this kinetic art. The hour disc has a black spot at the edge, the one for the minutes an empty spot and the seconds disc has none. So, it is not easy to tell the time; it is more an estimate like on a Tank must color version. But that are not primarily watches to tell the time, they are kinetic art, as Humism calls it. I can watch the watch hours long, it is like sitting in front of a washing machine, it’s kinda hypnotizing. The founder and designer David has invented something completely new; I love it!
I don’t know why they have chosen the German term Dasein (existence) for this watch, they have also chosen Geist (Ghost) for another model. From the campaign or the website, I cannot see a German connection.^^
The only thing I would complain is the beat rate of the movement, it is 3 Hz, a 4 Hz movement would let the art “flow” better. Perfect would be for sure a Spring Drive or El Primero. 😉
Collecting simple watches with 2 to 3 hands from Switzerland and Germany. Proud member of Berlin Watch Circle: instagram.com/berlin_watch_circle/
Very unique
I love it. And while not new, Ernest Borel did it with his Kaleidoscope watch in the 60s, it's cool to see a modern interpretation of it. I'm interested in picking it up now, just because of the color block. Thanks for sharing!
@Pascal Seeing watches like this really makes me smile. Such a good idea with a ’simple’ movement. How can anyone not enjoy watches when things like this crop up!
I picked one of these up as soon as I saw them advertised a couple of years ago, and am very glad I did, as it's a very interesting and fun piece.
I had purchased a "Spunwheel" kinetic wall sculpture from a seller on Etsy prior to that, and felt like this was like a little mini kinetic sculpture I could wear. My Spunwheel kinetic sculpture elicits extremely positive responses from everyone who sees it.
It's unfortunate that WatchCrunch doesn't support animated GIFs, since this watch can't really be properly represented with a still photo (nor can the kinetic wall sculpture).
FWIW, here is a link to the web page for the wall sculpture. For anyone interested in some unique wall decor, it's well worth checking out.
spunwheel.com
I love it. And while not new, Ernest Borel did it with his Kaleidoscope watch in the 60s, it's cool to see a modern interpretation of it. I'm interested in picking it up now, just because of the color block. Thanks for sharing!
thanks for mentioning the Ernest Borel watches, googled it. They are looking stunning and very similar to the ones from Humism :)
I picked one of these up as soon as I saw them advertised a couple of years ago, and am very glad I did, as it's a very interesting and fun piece.
I had purchased a "Spunwheel" kinetic wall sculpture from a seller on Etsy prior to that, and felt like this was like a little mini kinetic sculpture I could wear. My Spunwheel kinetic sculpture elicits extremely positive responses from everyone who sees it.
It's unfortunate that WatchCrunch doesn't support animated GIFs, since this watch can't really be properly represented with a still photo (nor can the kinetic wall sculpture).
FWIW, here is a link to the web page for the wall sculpture. For anyone interested in some unique wall decor, it's well worth checking out.
spunwheel.com
great to see, that I am not the only one here who felt in love with them :)
I just got mine..
Love the kinetic dial, but think it is a little to thick fot its size.. a thinner movement would have helped to make it even better
How oops the watch holding up? Just saw an add for these and found this post doing a search on the brand.