This retro-futuristic watch has a long story of birth. That story started in 2012. The task was to develop the case with the cyberpunk inspiration around authentic nixie tubes. Authenticity is coming from the Soviet era when these tubes of various design were used as displays to perform digital information.
Our legend was to come up with a product that could exist if we imagine that the USSR did not collapse. The whole styling of the watch was the combo of soviet: space rockets, architecture, and basic materials.
The tubes that we were using for this project are called IN-16 - glow discharge indicators from 1986. And we were asked to develop the case as slim as possible to sit on the wrist from 6,5 inches.
The height of each tube is 18 mm, weight 13 g. The durability of at least 5000 hours.
That is why we decided to focus on the design of two metal covers and a thin connection between them. The push-button sits on this connection.
The side panels from both sides of the tubes were done for the purpose of ventilation in the first stage of the development. But after some tech tests with the chips and board water resistance, we focused on the closed construction of the case.
Besides these side panels helped to get better proportions of the long case and made the tubes more visible.
We played a lot with the finishing of the case, taking into account that everything will be done by hand. That is why the windows around the tubes were polished, so even in switched off mode the look of the watch is having retro futuristic look.
The strap of the case is a continuation of the case but in different material. We played a lot with the ergonomy of the strap to get the right one.
Here you can see the difference between first stage of R&D and the final product.
You can check the videos on the Gelfman watch site