Calculated Asymmetry
I recently got the Nomos Metro Gangreserve back from warranty repair; I'm in a second honeymoon, so I thought I'd wax lyrical about it for a moment.
This watch taught me that symmetry is overrated, and that asymmetry, done well. can make a watch more interesting. The asymmetric text and power reserve indicator give a sense of fluidity and movement, like the various elements are floating in the dial. The text isn't even centered vertically, and it only recently occurred to me that once an hour, the minute hand perfectly underlines the text. At other times, it adds to the sense of fluidity. The power reserve indicator slowly rotates and changes throughout the day, and day to day, since it starts at a different place every time you wind the watch, which also give a dynamism the watch. On a usually static watch dial, that subtly changing disk stands out. Meanwhile, strict symmetry can look static and sterile, as is the case with the Metro without power reserve. It's strict vertical symmetry to my eye just looks rigid and cold in comparison. I don't have the eye of a designer, but looking at this watch gave me a chance to think about just how calculated and thought out this dial is. Everything was thought through to give it an effortless fluidity, and I learned a little bit of appreciation for good design.
Was born. Bought watches. Will die.
Sometimes, when I hacked the watch to set the time, the seconds hand wouldn't start again. I had to give the watch a good thwack to get it going. Also, sometimes the watch would lose a lot of time, I think the movement just stopped and started again. Something was getting the movement stuck. They fixed that problem, and it hasn't happened again since I got the watch back.
It still has a couple of minor problems which bug me. First, the date is off center. It's slight, but noticeable, and it bothers me. the watch also runs slow, sometimes close to ten seconds a day. It wouldn't bother me as much if it was fast, but slow bugs me. I don't know if these warrant another repair, or what they will say if I try to bring it back again. I mentioned these to the retailer who sent in the watch, but I don't know that bit got relayed to Nomos.
And that's what separates "true" Bauhaus-inspired designs from the laziness of knockoff Bauhaus: you need those little quirks and "fluid" asymmetries to keep a sober, industrial design interesting and lively. Very respectable offering by Nomos!
The perfect amount of quirk! Can't go wrong with a little jazz...
I have very similar feelings about my Tangente Gangreserve. In fact, I prefer balance over symmetry in general, balance seems more interesting to me.