BEHIND THE DESIGN
A blog-style look at the MHD Design Process
At MHD, we make automotive-designed watches with a unique engineered design aesthetic. All our watches are designed by automotive and watch designer Matthew Humphries, who draws on his car design background for influence.
May 2023
It's time to take a deep dive into the Daily Driver design story. The Daily Driver was designed to be an MHD Core product and is an evolution of our engineered aesthetic design language.
The first 2 images below show the initial design influences and aesthetic values we were trying to achieve to become a modern vintage chronograph.
Stage 2, Quick sketch ideation
At this stage, It's just about trying to get as many options and ideas down on the paper. It doesn't matter if they are rough, as long as the concept is described. The sketch shown below was the chosen design direction (there were plenty more) which highlights our exoskeleton chassis case design concept. We did this firstly on the AGT range, but this time the extrusion is from the top plane so its visible at all times.
Cad surface development stage 1
At this early stage of cad development, it's as much about packaging all the elements ( movement, strap position etc) in the correct space, as it is form development. It is time to explore form options in 3d. We like to think of it as clay modelling on the screen. You can pull surfaces back and forward quickly to try out new ideas.
Cad stage 2 development
Stage 2 is about detail. Making sure that all the layers of the case fit together correctly. It is also time to start trying out colour and material finish options. At this early stage the bezel was all black.
Stage 3 cad development
Now it's time to try out some colour way options. This can be very time-consuming. We find it's best to print options off and let them sit on the wall for a few days and digest.
Stage 4 Final Cad development
You can really see how the design has developed subtly through the process to get to the final chosen design.
Stage 5 Final spec pages for Prototype development
At this point, we develop a fully detailed spec document and cad data set to send to our manufacturing partner. Even the Pantone colours are specified and bespoke for us.
Final production
So from sketch to cad to final production design, it's clear to see the original design intention has been achieved and it's also clear there was a long development process to get there. In the end, we are very proud of the Daily Driver watch design and our MHD followers clearly feel the same way.
Click to view the Daily Driver
Click to view the Daily Driver DLC black
January 2023
SC Final production samples arrive and we open for Pre-orders It's a long process but it's very satisfying when all the hard work pays off and you can put the final watch design on your wrist that you have seen come to life from sketch to reality.
August 2021
SC Final Cad development
This is the time to 'Sleep on it". It sounds wrong but we find it also best to let a final design digest before doing a final review of all aspects of style, form and function. Then if all is correct we are ready to press the button to have the first set of samples produced.
May 2021
SC Dial design
The dial design really progresses when we start to develop it in 3d. We love a sandwich dial as it means you get maximum SuperLuminova over the sub-dial and there is no chance of indexes coming off causing damage to the dial. It also gives depth to the dial design.
The graphic layout is also finessed in 3d to make sure it is super legible and still has a cool 1970s feel. Working the dial design in 3d also gives us a chance to try new colour-ways in different lighting scenes.
April 2021
SC CAD development
The CAD design starts with the engineering basics. We place the movement, dial and strap in position and then in the side profile work up an outer chassis case that fits within these parameters. It's very important to get the lug-to-lug size correct so that the fits a variety of size wrists. With the SC we managed to achieve a 46mm lug-to-lug length by incorporating the strap into the case shape.
The outer chassis case lines are drawn in, side and top profiles to start with and then these curves/ lines form the start of the case surfaces. When a basic case shape is blocked in we can then pull and push the curves on the model to develop the correct shapes and volumes. A lot of time is spent making sure these curves are correct in all views. Just like designing a car body.
One of the key design elements was to incorporate Gandin's signature shape rear wheel arch from the Lamborghini. Getting this cut-out shape in the correct shape and in the correct position was a painstaking exercise but in the end gives a dramatic look to the final case shape and a cool nod to Gandini every time you see the watch.
March 2021
SC dial designs
The dial designs have to fit the 1970s brief whilst being legible and graphically working with the case shape. Colour-ways are also very important to give the watch a 1970s caricature. You can see some of the deign influence and options that we tried above.
February 2021
SC Design process
1970’s supercars were synonymous with Italian Car Designer Marcello Gandini. Bold form language and geometric graphics give the designs a unique 1970s feel. Gandini’s trademark rear wheel arch design was a unique styling flourish that became his personal stamp and would only appear on the most intriguing, unusual cars like the Strato’s HF ‘Zero and the production Lamborghini Countach. It is this signature styling feature and bold form language from 1970’s supercars that has influenced the shape of the MHD SC watch chassis case.
One of the main design challenges at this initial stage is to capture the essence of Gandini's 1970s "wedge"/ geometric form language for the case shape whilst still designing a watch that can sit comfortably on the wrist.
March 2021
Streamliner Final production samples arrive. It's a long process but it's very satisfying when all the hard work pays off and you can put the final watch design on your wrist that you have seen come to life from sketch to reality.
Check out the full Streamliner range here.
January 2021
Streamliner cad development. There are many parts that go into developing the final case design. Every part of our watches ( apart from the trusty Miyota movement )are bespoke and have to fit and work together with minimum tolerance. This means every millimetre counts. You can see above just how meany parts have to work in harmony to achieve a design such as the streamliner.
November 2020 ( Streamliner project update)
Case finishes. It very important to break up the case volume by case with different finishes. The light catches the different case finishes in different ways and can dramatically change the visible weight of the case. We like to mix the finishes from chrome to radial and brushed finishes.
October 14th 2020
Project 2021 dial design update.
The latest design development has focused on the dial design and colour ways options and you guessed it we want your feedback to decide which options to go with.
Please let us know what you think. All feedback will be put into the design pot so be brave and email us your thoughts at
matthew@mhdwatches.com
24th September 2020
Design inspiration. It's a great idea to take a deeper dive into the initial inspiration and in this case it's the streamliner design period. One of the major influences has been the New York state streamliner steam trains. The mercury train shown above must have looked like it was dropped from space when it was launched with its bold surface language. The challenge now it to take this surface language and graphical detail into our next design whilst keeping the watch functional.
14th September 2020
In July we started our next watch design project. Project 2021. The idea was to expose our design process with you and get your feedback on the design, so you can help design our next watch.
We started with 3 design themes taking automotive influence from the 1930's 50's and 70's which can see below.
After receiving a huge amount of feedback on the designs there was one clear winner. The 1930's. The design has now been developed into cad which are the images you see here today. After your feedback the decision was taken to incorporate a round dial whilst keeping the cushion case shape with streamliner fins.
Please let us know what you think. All feedback will be put into the design pot so be brave and email us your thoughts.
July 23rd 2020
Over the last three weeks we have launched a new design theme each week for our Project 2021. This is our third and final theme from the 1970's. A challenging period in automotive design that threw away the rule book to make wide and low angular concept cars, such as the Stratos, that even today look like they are from out of this world.
So its your last time to vote and make comments.
The 1930's, 1950's or 1970's, which will be our next watch produced? Remember this is just the start of the design process that we will be sharing with you all the way to production here on our "behind the design blog".
July 16th 2020
Last week we released our first design theme from the 1930's. Over the next two weeks we will be releasing two more 'theme sketches' influenced from different periods in time.
Week two is the 1950's Disco Volante. Taking influence from British and Italian racers that were seeking the highest speeds possible with their smooth bodywork and organic forms. At the end of the month one design theme will be picked and the design process exposed weekly here and through our social media.
Please let us know what you think. All feedback will be put into the design pot so be brave and email us your thoughts.
matthew@mhdwatches.com
July 9th, 2020
Over the next 3 weeks, we will be releasing a design each week showing a 'theme sketch' influenced from a different period in time.
Week 1 is the 1930's, taking influence from pre-war streamliner design. A period that was all about speed, aerodynamics and looking to the future.
At the end of the month one design theme will be picked and the design process will be exposed weekly through our behind the design blog and social media.
Please let us know what you think. All feedback will be put into the design pot so be brave and email us your thoughts.
matthew@mhdwatches.com
1st July 2020
Can you help us design our next watch?
The global pandemic has delayed and slowed down projects everywhere including our next watch release the Type 1, coming soon!
This hasn't stopped us but it has given us some time to start our a new watch project. In fact it’s given us an idea. We are going to be transparent with our next design process and share it with you over the coming weeks and months here on our 'Behind the design' blog and social media channels. At the moment the brief is wide open. We want your ideas, comments and feedback. What are your watch preferences?
To kick things off, check out this time lapse concept sketch off a modern automotive designed watch with the MHD Design DNA. We look forward to your feedback, via email and social media posts, contact me any time. matthew@mhdwatches.com
The MHD Type 1 watch coming soon! Check out exclusive content by clicking here.
How it's done in 20 seconds
In parallel, the same design process is used today for our MHD Watches (see below an early MHDSA2 sketch), where we start with hand drawn sketches, before we progress forward into to the cad modelling stage, where data is then used to build a watch.
Even though our MHD watches are smaller in scale to cars, we take just as much time and effort in our design process. It is the attention to detail that makes a product successful, no matter what the scale.
Each MHD Watch design goes through a specification stage, where we pick just the right colours and finishes to compliment the design. There are hundreds of options tried before the final colour ways are selected. This spec page is from the SA2 launch edition design.
We take design influence from all parts of the automotive world to create an engineered design aesthetic. The SA2 design sketch above starts to explore how the three part case works together, and looks at different influences and finishes from some of our favourite vehicles.
After the sketch stage comes the sketch model development stage. This was an early sketch cad model for the SA2, where there can be a long process of changes to make the watch functional, ergonomic and aesthetically pleasing.
As the sketch process develops, the sketch detail improves and because of this the form and volume development improves. These Sketches were a design concept for the SA2 case design.
This is a cad sketch model for the SA2. This design was rejected as it didn't keep to the original design intension of having a lightweight looking outer case shape.
