Our client Michael Lehmann wrote us this inspiring text after receiving the NOVA one-hand watch from BOTTA and wearing it for several months. We thank Mr. Lehmann for allowing us to publish his text here. A collection of field reports can be found here.
There it was, the NOVA. Probably the most gutted, cleared out and reduced wristwatch based on the one-handed watch principle. But I did not know that yet. For me, one-hand watches were completely unknown until now. Accordingly, I sat helplessly in front of the watch. Without a doubt: exactly designed, high quality, never seen design, good handling, excellent workmanship. But a wristwatch with only one hand? A nice gimmick? The quirk of a designer? Another product that one likes to wear but doesn't really bring anything. That one does not need? Like banana-shaped food storage boxes? No. There was more. A lot more.
But at first I was suspicious. The thought that this watch didn't fit into my life, into my everyday life, into my work. I haven't worn the watch I received for communion for a long time, actually since my first cell phone at the age of 15. With the smartphone at the latest, I would probably have freed myself from the wristband. In my work, as in that of millions of others, appointments are tightly timed.
Appointments pop up all the time, Skype flashes, e-mails pile up, the cell phone rings and yes, even the old landline still struggles. So why a one-hand watch that can show me nothing but the approximate time? How asynchronous, how unfashionable, how, yes, pointless? But the approximate did not let me go. And I remembered my studies, all the time then, eternal discussions, long evenings, a lot of freedom and independence. And then later family, children, independence - and hardly any time left.
Slowly the thought came to my mind that this one-hand watch, this NOVA by Klaus Botta, is perhaps exactly the time measuring instrument that we need today . Because on the one hand, I depend on exact dates, exact times - for example, when I reach a connecting flight. On the other hand, there are free phases, empty running, longer periods like the days off at the Baltic Sea, cycling tours through the homeland, sultry July nights. Even then I have to know what time it is. In any case, that applies to me. But only approximately, very roughly. Something like that. In these phases of serenity, the one-hand watch NOVA became my beloved companion. The smartphone did not stay at home during my vacations this year, but often in flight mode on the kitchen table of my vacation apartment.
The NOVA also brought me many interesting conversations. In cafés or in casual conversations after theater performances or business appointments, the conversation often thematized my extraordinary watch, which can tell a story. A story that obviously fascinates, arouses interest. It probably also serves a great need in our time.
So is the one-hand watch something you don't need? Yes, you don't need it. And that's what makes it so attractive. I can use it, even well and very relaxed. But I do not need it. What I need, unfortunately, is Skype, e-mail, Google calendar and a project management tool. So the NOVA is luxury. Yes, a luxury watch! For people who want to take the luxury of being freer. Because actually I would need more time in flight mode ...
