Recently we ran a competition to name our next collection - one of our lovely followers won with the name Coniston. Inspiration for the name comes from Coniston Water in the Lake District which is famed for the Campbell family's water speed record attempts. This is the beginning of our story - taking you on a journey of watch making from concept to production, giving you all the inside information, and finally with the aim of launching at Coniston Speed Week in October 2018. We hope you'll join us.
Donald Campbell in Bluebird just before his water speed record attempt in January 1967
Although work has begun on the Coniston we are very much at the beginning, about to embark on a new journey; one similar to those we've been on before, but this time it'll be slightly different. We've decided to open our process up to you in a series of films which will document our journey with the Coniston, through the research, development, design and production phases. These films will all come together to form a story of our work here at MWC and we hope an exciting and fascinating process to show you.
And if that's not enough - we're about to do something we've never done before; show you a very early development, conceptual shot of the Coniston. The journey begins.
Early Concept of the Coniston
The Coniston takes many design elements and inspiration from it's namesake - from the 200/s scale around the outside of the dial inspired by the waterspeed record attempts, to the hands which very much represent the spar type construction of boat bodies. Visual cues of a utility type field watch are influenced by the Old Man of Coniston, the highest fell in the Coniston Fells group.
We've also taken design cues from all our previous collection. The Coniston takes the form of a hybrid dress/field watch, perfect for the office, weekends, formal events and almost any scenario you find yourself in. It's going to sit at around 40mm diameter with a deep and dynamic dial like the Cherwell; technical yet simple like the Lomond and Derwent respectively, and have 100m water resistance, applied numerals and BGW9 superluminova like our flagship Haskell. The dial options will also take inspiration from great British design including the 1 of 1 Special Edition Lomond Chronoscope "Vulcan" colour scheme. The Coniston will be Made in Japan using a Miyota hand-wound movement, obviously, and we're really excited to get started!
That's it for now but we'll be back again soon with some updates and hopefully the first chapter of our video.
7 comments
Thank you for allowing us to see some of the design journey, it is a privilege and I am sure we will inundate you with suggestions….the crown is a little unsubtle but the blue is a delight. I grew up in Australia and remember the Bluebird land speed record on Lake Eyre and water speed on Lake Dumbleyung in 1964. Don’t lose the blue please.
What a wonderful way to release a new watch letting everyone see how you will eventually end up with the final design, can’t wait for the next installment looking good so far.
While the concept is interesting, i wished the design did not take inspiration from the Vulcan but rather BE the Vulcan design!?!….you nailed it (…and then only made 1?!?!?)
P.S. don’t over do it but why not take that curve principal from your photo to round off the edges of the indices. Why do indices have to be always squared? Imagine the dial was to perform well in a windtunnel. The center dial why not play around with materials, marble, or mop? So that the eyes can dive into the water and the hands like Mr. Campbell skip across the surface. Would be good if the watch was hi-beat to sweep across the surface.
I am looking forward to seeing how this process goes and what design challenges you have and how you choose the details to compliment the name.
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