In the 2021 Contemporary Good Design Award (CGD), three works of AGELOCER watches won awards. The winning works are: The Astronomer series, The Big Bang series, The Tourbillon series.
 

 

On January 7, Mr. Liyue Lai, director of AGELOCER watch product design, was invited to attend the GCD Designers Night and was interviewed. He introduced the original design intention and concept of this Big Bang series, and talked about how to find a balance between excellent design and market demand.
 

 

Personality and unique trends are the intuitive feelings brought by the appearance of the AGELOCER big bang series. The octagonal case gets rid of the round or square watch shape of the past, and the multi-level dial design and the subversion of the traditional timekeeping method all show its avant-garde and design ingenuity.
 

 

The AGELOCER Big Bang series watch is born for original design and precision machinery. The design is inspired by the spirit of racing. The roaring engine, the galloping sports car, and the staggered track are all turned into design elements and presented on the dial. The black and gold dial integrates the dashboard of the sports car with the time scale to form a dynamic 3D mechanical dial with a multi-layer structure. The watch presents a layered space between the wrists, and the three-hand split hands move independently and cooperate with each other, which is a complex and interesting mechanical system. The hollow mechanical design can clearly see the internal structure, making the visual experience more shocking.
 

Mr. Liyue Lai

AGELOCER brand product designer

 

He has won many domestic and international design awards, such as the Contemporary Good Design Award, the German National Design Award, the Italian A Design Award, the Berlin Design Award, the London Design Award, and the Chicago Design Award. A number of single product designs have sold over 100 million.

The following is the interview transcript of CGD reporter and Mr. Liyue Lai:

Q: What is your understanding of 'good design'?

Focusing on user experience comes first, and it's based on understanding consumer needs. Therefore, in the process of design, it is necessary to pay attention to market research and user feedback, and constantly optimize and iterate on products. Good products are the basis for communication with the market. "Good design" is not only a product, but the system behind the entire design logic, such as cost, technology, materials, user needs, market development, etc. Good design is the result of the convergence of product, design, and market demand.

Q: Compared with traditional watches, what are the unique highlights of the AGELOCER Big Bang series?

In terms of the development process of the entire mechanical watch, the market is roughly divided into three countries producing, Switzerland, Japan, and China. When we refer to Swiss-made watches, the feeling is a luxury. When it comes to watches made in Japan, I feel that they are practical products with high performance. When it comes to Chinese watches, everyone has mixed feelings. The public has the impression that our industrial design and production are relatively backward. So we want to make a watch that does not follow the Swiss style, nor does it follow the Japanese style, but has our own unique path. You go to see our Big Bang series, we use a design with a sense of 3D space. The dial of the traditional contact watch is under the pointer, while the big bang watch is formed by interspersing the dial and the pointer with each other. It adopts a three-hand separation design, and the hour, minute, and second hands each have their own time systems. The design of this watch incorporates the concept of a racing car, and design elements such as the steering wheel, instrument panel, and wheels are integrated into the dial. We reconstructed the structure of the traditional dial and subverted the traditional way of time.

Q: What technical difficulties did you have to overcome in the process of designing the Big Bang mechanical watch? How long did it take to develop?

Because the design of the traditional watch is abandoned, the multi-level space mechanical dial is adopted. It is necessary to control the thickness, height and pointer length of each layer of the dial in a small space, reserve appropriate space, and repeatedly adjust it to achieve the 2.4mm ultra-thin space to accommodate 4 layers of dial hollow structure and pointer space interspersed. Hundreds of revisions were made throughout the design process, from design to prototype, repeated adjustment, measurement and modification to final production, using a 3-year development cycle.

Q: What is the core principle of AGELOCER watch design works?

Chinese, young, original and interesting.

Q: It's a new year, what are the new plans and prospects for 2022?

The design must eventually return to the user. After this watch was launched on the market, we actually received a lot of feedback from the market. I can honestly tell you that there are some areas that need to be optimized, and that is the weight of the watch. We will improve its structure on the basis, or use new materials to iterate to make it meet the ergonomic requirements, and we will pay more attention to the needs of users. On the other hand, in terms of new product development, there will be more subversive and design-worthy works in 2022, and they are preparing to go on sale.