Like a Rolex for Michelangelo: The marble watch from Analog Watch Co.
You may remember Analog Watch Co from their design-centric series of wood watches, the Carpenter Collection, which sells at MoMA, the Barnes Foundation, and art museums around the world. The Philadelphia-based watchmaker has outdone itself with the new Mason Watch, the world’s first stone watch with a solid body and face made of real marble.
“As an artist and entrepreneur, it’s my goal to merge new ways of thinking with new methods and processes,” says Lorenzo Buffa, founder of Analog. Buffa started the company in 2013, when he found himself working in a coffee shop after graduating from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Using Kickstarter, he raised $75,000 in funding for his collection of wood watches, and used part of the money to rent a studio and showroom in South Philadelphia from which Analog sells watches worldwide.
Buffa spent months thinking of ways to follow up his innovative wood watch designs, and over a year developing his idea for the world’s first solid-marble watch. “When it comes to creating, I can’t help but to turn to natural materials first,” he says. “To stay close to nature is a part of our instinctual being.”
The hexagon shape used for some of the Mason Watch designs is inspired by forms found in nature—pineapples, snowflakes, and honeycomb. Each watch body is machine-crafted from carefully selected marble, so every watch has its own unique appearance. The Mason Watch looks like a little marble sculpture for your wrist, but it uses high-quality components to ensure it functions as a watch too. It is powered by a Swiss-made internal movement and comes with a premium top-grain leather strap hand-crafted by Amish leathersmiths in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
“Our goal is to reinterpret the watch as an accessory,” says Buffa. “We want to make timepieces that aren’t expensive status symbols, or thinly veiled advertisements for luxury brands. We want watches to be little pieces of art that remind the wearer of nature, and help one self express to the world a bit of your personality.”
The Mason Watch will retail for $399, but is available on pre-order through Kickstarter for just $165.