On designing the HN00
After having posted the official photography of the HN00 prototypes, there were a large number of requests that came in asking where the design for the HN00 came from. I thought it would be interesting for people to see into the process of how I designed what would become the Havid Nagan case and the HN00 dial.
The first component I began drawing out was the overall case shape from a top-side view. A lot of the inspiration on the angles of the case and the geometric shapes stem from the experiences of my past career - modern real estate. Los Angeles real estate is known for large, white facades with strong square lines. I was always drawn toward these types of homes - if you take a look at the architecture of Paul McClean, one could say the overall composition of the homes are simply made up of rectangle and square shapes. One could also say, conversely, when these shapes are combined, the end result is a perfect symphony of modern architecture - large, encompassing white facades combined with panoramic floor-to-ceiling glass Nano doors that intimately frame the cityscape for the viewer. What began as a (much) larger form of the current case design, was refined, both aesthetically and technically, to become what it is now - the combination of a myriad of curved lines, hard edges, stepped facades, and a curvatures. The perfect first half of the Paradox. Grade-5 Titanium was chosen as I have always loved the lightness of titanium and its durability. If steel was chosen, it would be significantly heavier due to the density of the case design.
For HN00’s dial, obviously there were a slew of guilloche patterns to choose from. The possibilities are essentially endless. I chose the Grain d’Orge, or barleycorn, pattern as it encompassed the overall look and feeling I wanted the wearer to see and experience. The pattern’s troughs and waves presented the perfect landscape for lacquer and polish to be applied and for light to play with. The pattern allowed me to not only complete the Paradox as the traditional art of guilloche is celebrated with HN00, but the architectural case worked superfluously with it. The polished steel indices were the only option in my eyes as the number one design mandate I had was to give free reign for the resplendence of the dials and smaller hour markers are what allowed that.
The movement to be used was the hardest component to figure. Again, in terms of decoration, there is a lot of optionality one can consider to implement. I knew what my ultimate vision was from the beginning - to manufacture the movements for my watches in 18k white gold and heat blacken them. Due to constraints, that wasn’t, and still isn’t, an option but I began thinking about what I could do that would be the appropriate predecessor for what I will do in the future. I decided that I would treat the bridges and main-plate in NAC to give it a modern, anthracite visual. Côtes de Genève was applied with no anglage as I did not want to surpass a threshold for pricing the watches. I decorated the micro-rotor with the Paradox motto with a very subtle pattern on its interior. The barrel cap that is featured on the prototypes will not be the same as the production series. I will keep this aspect quiet for now and will surprise you all when the time comes for the reveal. It is a subtle change but it will allow the user to see the mainspring wind and unwind!
The strap was designed proprietarily with Jean-Rousseau as they are the best in the business and there is no alternative in my eyes. Two screws will affix the metal insert to the case and allow for a fluid and consistent form from case to strap. As a note, the strap is being redesigned as we speak. While the padding and bolstering JR performed on the straps was outstanding, they were too thick and extended too far from the lugs. They are now being produced to articulate immediately down and have been made thinner (pictures to eventually follow).
There is a lot of back-and-forth with the manufacturers on perfecting a design, especially when one is not a watchmaker. I am excited to share with you all of the happenings at Havid Nagan and even more excited to launch soon!
Talk soon,
AJB