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A Study of Color and Time: Projects x Albers Watch Collection

10.26.23 | By
A Study of Color and Time: Projects x Albers Watch Collection

The title of last year’s tome dedicated to the life and work of artist Josef Albers and textile artist and printmaker Anni Albers, You Can Go Anywhere, seems rather spiritually apropos of this new collaboration commemorating the creative imprint of the Albers across art, craft, and the study of color perception, with the  Projects Watches X Albers watch collection encapsulating Josef’s exploration of color and Anni’s textile artistry into a trio of timepieces appropriate to be worn anywhere and at any time.

Close up of both Josef Albers inspired Project Watches, featuring laser cut squares of color inside a 35mm stainless steel square shaped watch case with stainless steel band, staged across a soft carpet surface.

Two of the watches, Persistent and Wide Light, each draw upon Josef Albers’ Homage to the Square series, paintings that applied a systematic application of colors in his exploration into the subjective nature of our senses. That same geometric abstraction of color is reinterpreted using stacked laser-cut to form the face of the two timepieces, in sum adding a physical dimensionality only implied by the original paintings.

Close up of four layers of yellow, blue, and steel laser cut squares of color inside a 35mm stainless steel watch case with stainless steel band inspired by the artwork of Josef Albers on man's wrist; man is wearing denim long sleeve shirt with cuff unbutton and white pants.

40mm round gold plated stainless steel watch with stainless steel mesh band with circular color blocks inspired by Anni Albers' tapestry. Time is told by reading red for the hours, blue for the minutes, and yellow for the seconds. with each section revolving with the passing of time.

While the first two watches are bound by a box, 1925, the watch inspired by Anni Albers’ textile tapestry colors its circular watch face in a mesmerizing layer of circles assembled to turn with every passing minute.

How does one read such an abstraction of an analog watch? Red represents the hours, blue for the minutes, and yellow for the seconds.

All three Projects x Albers Foundation wristwatches set flat against a red-orange background.

All three Projects x Albers watches feature a durable glass case made of hardened mineral crystal, and operate by battery-powered Japanese Miyota Quartz movement. If you’re a swimmer, you can rest assured you can take a quick plunge wearing these watches, with each rated for water resistance down to 30 meters.

Cardboard packaging for Project Watches x Albers Foundation timepieces staged alongside Josef Alber's book Interaction of Color, a boxed set of Josef's Homage to the Square paintings, and Anni Albers' book, On Weaving.

Projects Watches describes the three as “one of our first releases with The Albers Foundation,” implying more designs may arrive down the line.

Projects is selling each with a limited discount ahead of the collection’s upcoming release, priced at $139 for the 40mm brushed stainless steel 1925, and $159 for both stainless steel banded, Persistent and Wide Light

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Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.