Silver A' Design Award Winner 2024
Within the contemporary landscape of horological design, the Makina Andras I Watch by Danilo Villanueva & Makina & Co emerges as a compelling meditation on geometric tension and material restraint, embodying principles that trace lineage through twentieth-century industrial design movements while asserting distinctly contemporary sensibilities. The timepiece demonstrates sophisticated understanding of form language, deploying a rectangular case that establishes architectural authority while housing circular dial elements that introduce dynamic visual conversation between orthogonal and curvilinear geometries. This fundamental tension, resolved through careful proportional calibration, suggests engagement with design philosophies that valued the integration of functional necessity with aesthetic refinement. The chromatic strategy evidences remarkable discipline, restricting the palette to achromatic tones punctuated solely by cerulean blue hand accents, this selective color deployment functioning simultaneously as functional enhancement for legibility and as expressive gesture introducing vitality within restraint. Technical accomplishment reveals itself in the precision of applied indices, the smooth integration of case and strap, and the refined surface treatments that differentiate matte and polished passages. The subsidiary seconds register at six o'clock introduces compositional asymmetry that activates the lower dial zone while maintaining overall visual balance through its centered horizontal positioning. Material choices demonstrate understanding of tactile experience, the rigid steel case meeting the supple rubber strap in a transition that honors both durability requirements and wearing comfort. One might observe how the design navigates between masculine assertiveness and refined sophistication, avoiding aggressive styling while maintaining confident presence. The work invites consideration of how contemporary objects can honor functional imperatives while achieving aesthetic distinction, prompting viewers to contemplate the relationship between precision engineering and expressive design in objects intended for daily use.
Makina Watches wanted to design a black sheep in the rectangular watch category that's already full of art deco inspired dress watches. That's why Andras I was born as a sports watch with a bolder and more modern approach. Coated in stealth black, its stainless steel case is composed of slopes and angular shapes that make up its multifaceted design. Its octagonal case is designed to taper around a larger movement for less volume and increased wearability. Its dial is multi-layered and 3 dimensional and its strap is muscular and shapely to look more imposing from every angle.