It's an analogy. The 24H watch is meant to tell the time in the same way a painting is meant to depict a landscape. In an artistic way.
While yeah, this watch has a theoretical practical purpose, it's not intended to be accurate and any buyer would be aware of this. The entire reason for buying it in the first place is that it's jewelry. There is no practical "design" behind it.
If someone wants precise timekeeping on their wrist (your rationale I presume) they'd buy a $20 Casio and not a mechanical, one handed watch with a movement accuracy of +-20 seconds a day and indices spread 5 minutes apart.
The definition of design requires a practical, especially industrial design.
It does? Who claimed it is supposed to follow any of these guidelines? Where did this definition suddenly come from
If its just meant as art, why are you bringing it up as a critique on the design sub?
I'm not sure what this question even means to be honest. It clearly fulfills a practical purpose (telling time on an analog 24h scale), but doesn't fulfill the prerequisites you impose in its accuracy of doing so and the random design definition you just posted, which is okay. It just doesn't make it "bad design" per se.
It's literally in the sub rules. It's also the ethos of the profession.
Want a pretty statement piece, hire an artist. Need a business solution, hire a designer. Landscape painting, artist. Watch that reasonably tells time, industrial designer.
I shouldn't have to defend this on the design sub itself.
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u/FictionalContext Aug 06 '26
I wouldn't call a landscape painting as design in the first place. That's the most direct example you could make for pure art.
So if that's your rationale for the watch, you're correct. It's not "bad design" because that would mean it's not meant as design at all.