Most wristwatches are assembled. Meticulously, often by hand, commanding a massive markup because of how much skill and patience it goes into engineering and building something as intricate as an accurate chronograph. Most wristwatches are assembled – but what if there was a wristwatch that was ‘grown’? That’s the aesthetic that Ayoub Ahmad is trying to channel with the Stractra – a watch with an organic design that looks like it was made by forces of nature, not by workers in a factory.
The thing that makes Stractra so compelling is its sinewy, webby, organic appeal that’s the result of parametric modeling. This involves setting parameters and having the CAD software figure out the ‘in-betweens’. The result is something that literally mimics nature, with a watch face that isn’t minimalist, or rugged, or sporty, or techy. It’s, well, alien-like.
Designer: Ayoub Ahmad
“STRACTRA reimagines timekeeping through a fusion of geometry, nature, and innovation. Grounded in simple geometric foundations, it evolves into an organic, branching form that feels grown, not made. With a minimal time indication, a 180° 12-hour arc and a 360° minute ring, the complexity is expressed through the geometry itself,” says Ahmad, the creative force behind the watch’s design.
There aren’t too many watches that opt for an alien aesthetic. MB&F is one of them, and for a more future-tech appeal, there’s always Urwerk. But Ahmad’s watch feels a class apart from them too, borrowing design styles from architects like Ross Lovegrove and Zaha Hadid. The watch feels skeletal without being traditionally skeletal – there’s something truly otherworldly about it. It looks different, and tells time differently too – think of it as the ultimate statement piece for watch enthusiasts.
The design features an all-metal case, made by 3D printing titanium – a process often used for making implants. Titanium powder is placed in a vat, and a high-power laser focuses on an area, melting the powder together to create a form. Dubbed SLS or Selective Laser Sintering, this process is what builds the case, layer by layer, bit by bit. You can even see the rough, powdery aesthetic on the surface, sort of like the part was sand-blasted.
Can a watch like this exist? Well, absolutely. It would require a fair bit of engineering and technical assembly, but nothing about this watch is ‘unachievable’ by current standards. In fact, if Ayoub is reading this, I’d suggest making a limited run of prototypes – I’m sure there are enough crazed watch collectors ready to pay a pretty penny for a limited-edition wristwatch that looks so gorgeously out-of-this-world that it almost classifies as alien tech!
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