DESIGN NAME: Ka La Sport Watch
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Automatic sports watch with unique strap
INSPIRATION: "Ka La" means "The Sun" in the Hawaiian language and the Mark Carson Ka La line of watches were originally inspired by the sundial. The use of circular or elliptical shapes are at the heart of the design and influenced all of the elements (dial, hands, case, strap system and strap hardware) in this watch. Design harmony is married with unique construction to create watches like no others.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The Mark Carson "Ka La Sport" watch combines high legibility dial and hands with a unique high security strap system. These watches use Swiss automatic movements in a surgical stainless steel case with sapphire crystals top and bottom. The case shape is unique as is the strap design. All Mark Carson watches are designed and assembled in Hawaii.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: The case, dial, hands and strap are all unique original designs by Mark Carson of Honolulu, Hawaii. The dial and hands design began in the Summer of 2014 and the strap design was the result of an intensive design process in April 2015. Production of the custom dial, hands and straps took 6 months with the first production watches becoming available in October 2015.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: From dial and hands design to watch production this labor of love took 12 months to complete. All of the design work was done in Honolulu, Hawaii - as is watch assembly.
FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY: Fashion, Apparel and Garment Design
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: The case design has large stainless steel loops in place of conventional lugs for strap attachment. This provides an ideal attachment point for a secondary strap which we have named the "Infinity Strap" as it is a continuous loop of nylon or leather. If one, or even both, conventional spring bars were to break, the high security Infinity Strap will keep the watch attached to the rest of the strap system and on your wrist. This is an even more fail-safe and secure solution than a so-called NATO watch strap. Utilizing nylon webbing or leather, the straps are specially designed and constructed with additional "Zulu" hardware loops which constrain the Infinity Strap and complete the high security strap system.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Swiss ETA 2824-2 Automatic Movement (Elabore grade) / 316L Surgical Grade Stainless Steel Case / Domed Sapphire Top Crystal with Anti-reflective Coating / Sapphire Crystal Exhibition Back / Opaline white over sun ray silver dial finish / Super-Luminova applied to Hands and Hour Makers / Date Display / Case Size: 43 mm by 12.7 mm thick / Self Winding Movement / Nylon or Leather Straps available in a number of colors
TAGS: watch, strap, security, automatic, swiss, mechanical, hawaii
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: -
CHALLENGE: The challenge in designing the strap system was how to take advantage of the curved "lug" structure of the Ka La watch case to create a fail-safe strap system in the vein of a so-called NATO strap (actually a British MOD G10 specification, but commonly known as NATO straps). A NATO strap uses a second layer (usually of nylon webbing) that passed under the bottom of the watch case and attaches to the far side strap. If one spring bar on a NATO strap breaks, the watch becomes floppy, but remains attached to the strap. The strap passing under the bottom of the watch on a NATO strap hides the view of the watch's movement if the case has an exhibition back. In contrast, the Infinity Strap system keeps the watch attached to the strap even of both spring bars were to break as the secondary loop provides 100% redundancy. And the two 5 mm wide Infinity Strap sections still allow the owner to enjoy seeing the mechanical movement via the exhibition back. The greatest challenge was how to make a physically simple system that met the functional goals with the smallest parts count and least manufacturing complexity - while still giving the watch a complex and "tool" look on the wrist.
ADDED DATE: 2015-11-10 12:30:16
TEAM MEMBERS (1) : Mark Carson
IMAGE CREDITS: Photo credit (all images): Beau Hudspeth / Watchtographer / 2015
Video credit: Mark Carson
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