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Designed by Italian product designer and architect, Denis Guidone, the NAVA line of watches present a fun, minimal take on time telling. The pieces achieve something unique by avoiding the mainstay conventions of watch design, while remaining (relatively) practical and wearable. Best of all, each of the NAVA watches sell for well under $200, making them an affordable option for someone looking to add something abstract and design oriented to their watch collection.
There are currently four NAVA watches available, each with their own unique styling. All feature modest components, including black stainless steel case construction, a black leather strap, 3 ATM water resistance and mineral glass. All also come in both 42 mm and 36 mm sizes and are powered by an unspecified quartz movement.
Possibly the most straight forward of the group is the Ora, which features a traditional three hand layout with clean, black and white design. Straight black hour, minute and second hands, along with the non-numerical black minute and hour markings, contrast well with the clean white background. What sets this watch apart however is the asymmetric case design, which features angular cuts at the bottom and bottom right of the case. This creates the illusion that the minute and second hands may bump into the side of the case, but alas, they don’t.
The second most conventional watch in the Guidone designed NAVA line is the Ora Lattea. The watch features no markings on its white face at all, aside from a single black dot in its center. Most interestingly however is that the hour and minute hands are represented by two floating dots, one larger than the other to distinguish between the two. This may make for a slightly tougher reading of the time at a glance, but should make for an interesting conversation starter.
With the Tempo Libero, Guidone takes a fairly large step away from the conventions of time telling by detaching the hour marker from the center axis of the watch. Amazingly, the Tempo Libero remains quite legible despite its abstract design. This is aided by very minimal features, including an all black dial with no hour or minute markings and white minute hand. Meanwhile, the off axis hour hand is bright orange, drawing your eye almost directly to it, diminishing somewhat the challenge of reorienting your eye to its off axis positioning.
The final and most abstract of the NAVA line is the Ora Unica. The dial is black, and all that shows on the face is a white spiral shaped line resembling a piece of string. Elegant and minimal, this simple shape is the hour and minute hands of the watch. The tip of the spiral that lies in the middle of the dial is the hour hand, while the outer tip is the minute hand. This layout may not make for the easiest quick read of the time, but it does create a truly unique and beautiful timepiece that is sure to draw some attention.
So there you have the Denis Guidone designed NAVA line of watches. Some more than abstract than others, they are all well implemented. For those of you looking for a uniquely designed contemporary watch, you can head over to watchco.com and get yours today.
