What a 52-year-old watch can teach us about UX and Digital Product Design

In recent years I’ve developed an interest in mechanical watches and how the aesthetic and product design decisions, made over a hundred years ago, have defined and informed wrist watch design today. In today’s digital world I find myself drawn to these physical and tactile things, hand-finished and steeped in heritage and history.

There’s a history of watches where I work at Arnold Clark Digital. In fact, high-value sales jobs and nice mechanical timepieces tend to go hand-in-hand. Spending a lot of money on a watch can seem strange to most people, especially when your phone or a £15 Casio watch can do a better job of keeping time. But there’s a lot more to the world of mechanical timepieces than simply telling the time.

Company folklore here is that, in the past, loyal or high-performing staff were rewarded with Rolex Submariners or other similar expensive watches. When I’ve visited branches and chatted to the Product Consultants and branch managers, I always spot some interesting timepieces. Since we started filming and sharing the director’s presentations on our employee platform (ACE), I’ve found myself pausing the video, zooming in on the director’s wrists and identifying some of the most sought-after watches in the world.

I thought it might be fun to examine the cutting-edge horological product design of the 1970s and see what lessons we can learn and apply to UX and digital product design today.

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