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With the advent of smartwatches, there is now the opportunity for owners of the Samsung Gear range of watches to design their own faces, either for personal use or to sell on the Samsung store.
Watches are put together using the software ‘Gear Watch Designer’ (Samsung, 2017) available for both Windows and Mac OS. This software is in beta testing so has a lot of bugs, but provides one of the best ways for designers with little or no programming skills to make a functioning watch face.
Designs can be made using the stock image provided with the GWD software, or by making your own graphics using popular design software such as Photoshop or Illustrator.
I have been designing watch faces for about a year now, and as the software develops, so the designs can become more involved. To keep my watches on a theme I first ‘established’ a brand name and designed a logo that I could use on all the different faces I made. The name I decided on was ‘Himalayan’ (fig 1). The main icon is the letter ‘H’ with the cross-section made to look like mountains.
With this brand established I could then make some different faces and give them appropriate titles. The first was called the ‘Gurkha’ (fig 2). I again made a logo for this title to go with the ‘Himalayan’ title already established. Using Illustrator, I made a line art drawing of the traditional Gurkha weapon, the khukuri knife.
Each element of the watch had to be made individually, from the background, the dial numbers, dial index, and the hands. Each hand also has a shadow that needs to act accordingly. I then decided to make the watch a dual analogue and digital face. I didn’t want the standard LCD font for this though and made my own slightly more elaborate version.
As with all design jobs, this is an ongoing project where I can tweak specific design elements to my liking. This version of the ‘Gurkha’ will be going on sale in the Samsung store early in 2018.
My next project will be called the ‘Sherpa’, and this face, while looking similar, will offer step counts and altitude readings, making it the perfect companion for the trekker heading off to Everest Base Camp! Instead of having an image of khukuri knives, these will be replaced by two ice-picks used in mountain climbing.
There are many inspirations in the world of real watches, and recently on Facebook groups set up for users of these watches (Facebook, 2017), there have been many heated discussions about what constitutes copyright infringement on a watch face. For instance, could a world-renowned company such as Rolex (Rolex, 2017), claim copyright on a bezel that is green and uses a particular font? (fig 3).
Some would argue that a) you can’t copyright a colour, and b) there are so many different watch brands that already use this style of bezel without seemingly infringing copyright (fig 4). As one blogger reflects, Rolex might have a hard time proving that a similar watch from another brand with a different name on the dial would be confused with a Rolex given the now almost generic nature of the Submariner design. (ablogtowatch.com, 2014).
What about the logo for the Omega watch company? They use the greek symbol for omega ‘Ώ’. If this were used without the word ‘Omega’ present, could it be sold as copyright infringement of a logo? CAN you copyright what is basically a letter?
As more and more smartwatch watch face designers ‘borrow’ from the real world of watches, this debate will inevitably roll on.
References:
ablogtowatch.com (2014) Why aren’t watch companies suing each other for copyright infringement all day long? [Online] Available at: https://www.ablogtowatch.com/ask-watch-experts/why-are-not-watch-companies-suing-copyright-infringement-day-long/ [Accessed: 5 December 2017]
Facebook (2017) Samsung Gear S3 Group [Online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SamsungGearS3/?fref=nf [Accessed: 5 December 2017]
Fig 3: Rolex. Submariner [Online] Available at: https://www.rolex.com/watches/submariner.html [Accessed: 5 December 2017]
Fig 4: Rolex v Invicta. Rolex Submariner & Invicta 8926c – Comparison Photos [Online] Available at: http://forums.watchuseek.com/f71/rolex-submariner-invitca-8926c-comparison-photos-463477.html [Accessed: 5 December 2017]
Samsung (2017) Samsung Gear Watch Designer [Online] Available at: http://developer.samsung.com/gear/design/watch-designer [Accessed: 5 December 2017]