Victorinox and ECAL innovate the material of the I.N.O.X. watch

To explore the possibilities of stainless steel in the watch industry, we wanted to ask the next generation of up and coming designers about their take on this traditional material. So we were delighted to collaborate with one of the most famous and innovative design schools in the world: the renowned école cantonale d’art Lausanne, in short: ECAL. Students from all over the world borrowed from areas such as medical surgery, nanotechnology or biomimicry, and applied this knowledge to the world of watches.

A story of tradition and innovation

Over the years we have built quite some expertise in working with stainless steel. About 100 years ago we were the first knife company in the world to work with this material. This innovation marked such a turning point in the quality of our products, that in 1921, we integrated the name for non-rusting steel “inox” into our brand name.

Ever since then, stainless steel has been at the core of our work. It’s this expertise which led us to the world of watches. With all our experience, it just seemed natural to start manufacturing timepieces. And that’s how the legendary I.N.O.X. was born: an homage to a material that keeps stunning us with its ingenuity.

Join us to explore the fascinating possibilities of stainless steel.

Stainless steel – 1 material, 11 innovations

Cold Spraying – reinterpreted by Maxime Augay, France

With a supersonic nozzle, metal powder is pressed onto a surface such as metal, ceramic or even plastic. Innovative material combinations can thus be achieved – leading to better quality or new visual effects in watch design. Image: Digital rendering by student

Explosive cladding – reinterpreted by Christian Hollweck, Germany When combining two different metals such as stainless steel and titanium through an explosion, super metals are created. The visual result on the surface of such explosions is stunning for watch design. Image: Digital rendering by student (based on VI original picture)

Explosive imprinting – reinterpreted by Christian Hollweck, Germany Through the pressure built up in an explosion, a hologram can be applied onto a metal surface on a nano-scale. Used for micro engravings on a watch, the images are extremely small and rich in detail. Image: Picture taken by the student, production by Bernhard Rieger

Stitching – reinterpreted by Nicolas de Vismes, France Stitching in stainless steel is a craft which was honed by its use in medicine. Rasps are tailor made for surgeons to carve out a recess in the bone in which to place an implant. Applied onto watches, stitching provides a surface sensuality and a handcrafted touch. Image: Digital rendering by student

UV Printing – reinterpreted by Sara de Campos, Portugal UV printing uses light instead of evaporation to fixate paint. That makes printing extremely fast, environmentally friendly and precise. The precision aspect is interesting for watch design: it allows fine gradients, patterns and high definition imagery. Image: Digital rendering by student

Honeycomb Tubes – reinterpreted by Hiroyuki Morita, Japan Inspired by nature, honeycomb tubes are rigid and at the same time flexible and lightweight. Its use in the watch industry not only has functional advantages. The geometric set-up is also attention catching in its design. Image: Digital rendering by student

Roll Bonding – reinterpreted by Adrien Cugulière, France Layers of different metals are passed through a pair of flat rollers to bond the layers, for example aluminum and steel. Punching and milling the top layer reveals the layer underneath creating new functional and ornamental qualities. Image: Digital rendering by student

Light Caustics – reinterpreted by Sumegha Matri, India

When light beams get focused and then diverted by a reflective material, caustics are created. For example the light reflection in a swimming pool. Applying an engraving according to the principles of light caustics on a watch surface, adds an almost “magical property”. Image: picture taken by student, Rayform SA

Tubular Laser Cutting – reinterpreted by Yen-Hao Chu, Taiwan A stent is a metal structure that is inserted into a blood vessel and afterwards expanded to open a narrowed artery to improve blood flow. By transferring the purely functional stent structure to design, an innovative look and feel is created and can be used for example in a watch strap. Image: Digital rendering by student

Inox Embroidery – reinterpreted by Aleksandra Szewc, Poland Embroidery techniques combined with stainless steel thread technology celebrate the qualities of stainless steel threads: safe to wash, corrosion resistant and durable, yet soft and flexible. This opens up new possibilities for applications in watch manufacturing. Image: Digital rendering by student

Micro Stamping – reinterpreted by Sara Regal, Spain Micro manufacturing offers new ways of working with steel. For example, piercing and bending metal sheets with Micro Stamping can be used for watch bracelets to create new patterns as well as functional forms that are stable and flexible at the same time. Image: IMP (industrial machine products)

The project was headed up by Alexis Georgacopoulos, Director of ECAL, and Thilo Alex Brunner, Head of Master in Product Design at ECAL. Under their initiative, designer and ECAL professor Alexander Taylor led students from all over the world through a three month project on discovering new possibilities for the use of stainless steel.

Alexander Taylor，腕錶界中不銹鋼的未來會是如何？

你為什麼沒有在這個專案中設計腕錶，而是著重在材料上？
我認為學生與設計師都應學習技能，讓他們在方法和作品中能夠多元思考，而不是侷限在成品上，讓他們能夠先探索各種可能性，而不會受到物品自身的限制。物件的特性，以及就美學和生產方面創新的機會，是來自工匠之間的合作，以及設計師對於物件本身的瞭解，從而度身打造出能滿足特定需求的技術。在這個過程中，我們一定可以看到超乎原本預期的機會。不專注於腕錶的特定設計，我們於是可以透過程序真正瞭解，從而影響最後正式的成果。

不銹鋼為什麼會是如此有趣的材料？
這種材料非常美麗，而且有高度功能性的工業品質，非常有高科技感，又讓人感覺如此熟悉！這是一種能刺激感官的材料，而且與開拓性產品/結構和性能相關。然而，通過這個專案，我們可以讓大家知道能夠如何運用這種常見的材料，並找出全新的製造或加工方法。

未來我們還會持續使用不銹鋼嗎？

未來我們還會持續使用不銹鋼很長一段時間。就和所有材料一樣，這種材料會不斷發展，使用及應用方式也會不斷創新。這種材料會經過不斷的設計和改造，以適應多種新的需求，然而作為主要使用材料，不銹鋼現在比以往都更與消費者和品質價值息息相關。

現在的一切都已經數碼化。你的學生對於使用堅固且傳統的不銹鋼材料感興趣嗎？

我們是工業設計師，喜歡研究使用實體材料製造實體物件。在數碼時代和未來，我認為有趣的是如何讓冰冷的物件帶有重要的情感元素，從而刺激感官，並帶來內在的價值和品質。加入天然材料和工藝，可以為數碼世界帶來平衡。

在 Victorinox，許多匠師都著重在我們產品的細節與品質的提升。但我們也會使用最創新的機械來製造我們的產品。就工藝與數碼而言，一名設計師需要有哪些技能？

比如說腕錶，這種產品最重要的價值在於人性化，於是設計師便有機會，可以創造出能超越功能，而且具有溫度的產品。設計師必須負責尋找新的方式並共同合作，以作出創新產品，並打破已知的物理界限。工匠和設計師的角色已與過去不同，加上尖端技術運用，我們就能帶來全新而令人震撼的成果。

關於 Alex Taylor，獲獎英國籍設計師，ECAL 教授

Alexander 是名產品設計師，並為 Zanotta、Established & Sons、ClassiCon 和 Adidas 工作。他曾榮獲「未來設計師」大獎，他的「摺疊」燈也特別採用現代藝術博物館的永久館藏系列設計。Alexander 遵循跨專業的方式，與最優秀的匠師合作，並採用全世界最先進的技術。

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