steel watch without hour markers vibrates to tell how many minutes passed

STUND steel watch is literally timeless

When people use the adjective timeless, it often means a classic. In Naerwear’s case, timeless quite literally means without hands and hours, as seen in the STUND watch. The Danish startup designs a timepiece that only vibrates and lights up to tell the time. No current time is displayed on the surface of the steel watch. There are just four holes where the lights are embedded, a stroke of a line to echo minimalism, a crown on the side that turns the watch on and off, and light vibration inside the steel to inform the wearer of the time.

The STUND steel watch works by gently vibrating at customizable intervals – such as 5, 15, 30, and 60 minutes – to alert the wearer of how much time has passed. They can set up the time intervals themselves so that they know whether five or 30 minutes have gone by. The mini holes on the surface of the steel watch light up to indicate the time period, whether the wearer is already at the half-an-hour timeset or it is 15 minutes to the next hour. Other than these features, Naerwear’s STUND watch is forged from a single block of stainless steel to achieve its bare look.

images by Naerwear

Naerwear forges its watch from a solid block of steel

Naerwear has also changed the traditional timing since the 12 o’clock part of the watch indicates five minutes and the 9 o’clock for 60 minutes. The 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions retain their 15 and 30-minute indicators, respectively. STUND’s chassis is machined from one solid block of stainless steel 316, cut with geometric tolerances for a suitable weight ratio to wear around the wrist. ‘We machine from one block to lead and amplify the vibrations through the chassis and into your wrist,’ says the Naerwear team.

Changeable vegan leather straps are also offered to the wearer, and they can easily change the bands using a small screwdriver. While the steel watch cannot be paused – just like the time itself – the wearer can also turn it off if the vibrations cause disturbances at night. They only need to press and hold the button interface, the crown, to switch STUND off. Naerwear says that its steel watch is designed to be water-resistant, but only up to the extent of light rain and sweating during workouts. Diving underwater while wearing it is not advisable at all.

Naerwear’s STUND watch is forged with a solid block of stainless steel

Replaceable battery that can last up to 5 months

The STUND steel watch’s battery can last for up to five months, and once its time is up, the wearer can just change it themselves since the standard 3V coin cell battery CR2032 can easily be bought at most supermarkets and convenience stores. Naerwear says that all watch components are polished by hand to provide a mirror-like reflection and that its stainless steel is corrosion-resistant and has a protective coating to prevent scratches.

Naerwear started the first prototype of its steel watch using a plastic back in 2021. The continuous testing led them to devise the timepiece using steel, and the team is looking at February 2024 to start shipping its minimalist steel watch. The premise for making the design lies in the idea of mindfulness. Naerwear imagines the wearer slowing down, being in the present, and practicing awareness instead of constantly asking what time it is.

the timepiece comes with changeable vegan leather straps