Despite the practical and hi-tech appeal of smartwatches, analog watches, a.k.a. mechanical watches, still haven’t fallen out of fashion. In fact, their value has become even more prominent as a sort of counter-culture to what some might see as an irreverent commoditization of a timeless tool. There is, after all, a particular charm in seeing the dozens of interlocking gears turning in sync, all for the purpose of telling you the time.
These mechanisms have long enamored many young minds, some of which have grown up to become expert watchmakers. Of course, the skill and eye for detail used in making these intricate timepieces can also be used in other ways. Case in point is this luxurious-looking accessory that looks like a classic wristwatch, except that it doesn’t keep time but instead keeps the beat.
Designer: Gaku Okada
The primary purpose of a watch is to track the passing of seconds, minutes, and hours, all of which are, in theory, always uniform and never go faster or slower for all eternity. There are other things that go tick and tock but don’t have a fixed measure, at least not forever. A metronome is a traditional tool used to measure and keep track of those rhythms, often used to help students learn and pros keep in sync with other musicians.
You’d think that, other than the act of counting, these two time-tracking objects would have nothing in common. Normally you’d be right, but the Tempo Rubato wants to prove otherwise. The product of a watchmaking graduate student’s love for both the craft as well as jazz, this wristpiece, named after variations in tempo, gives the metronome not only a more portable form but also a more elegant design.
You might think it’d be trivial to turn a mechanical watch into such a counting device, but have you ever seen a watch where you can make it go faster or slower? Being able to adjust the tempo, even while the metronome is already running, is one of the notable feats that the Tempo Rubato is capable of. The other is that it never loses count, no matter how hard you beat a drum while wearing it.
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The Tempo Rubato successfully masquerades as a wristwatch and almost behaves like one. A push of its lone button starts and stops the metronome while turning the bezel effectively changes the beats per minute or BPM. Sadly, it doesn’t tell the time, which is both expected yet also disappointing. But the young watchmaking apprentice does have his sights on designing a next-gen Tempo Rubato that will be able to count seconds, minutes, and hours as well. You know, like a normal wristwatch.
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