A Watch Design: A Tribute to the White Cliffs of Dover, & an Island – ‘The Albion’.

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Written by jayargonaut

On the back of a very successful charity fundraising event and watch design; the Waterloo watch, I was asked to take this base design and come up with a concept for a series watch, rather than the one-off watch that the Waterloo was. People seemed to like the design so much that they wanted a design that was like it, that they could also own and cherish!

The main design concept and name for the watch is to be called 'The Albion', a historic and very old alternative name for Great Britain. A tribute to the islands of Great Britain, if you will. And after several weeks of thinking, discussion, conceptual ideas, and sketches...here are some design renders of my initial concepts. These are designed, mesh modelled, and rendered using my old faithful platform Blender 4.1 (yes, it has had an upgrade😊).

The Albion Watch Concept 3D Rendered Models:

My main inspiration for the watch dial, which is the core of any watch design, has been the iconic 'White Cliffs of Dover'. A fitting inspiration for this watch and something which most people, who know anything of the islands of Great Britain, would know of. There is also thought to be a connection with the old name of Albion and the white Dover Cliffs. Here is a closer shot of the dial detail:

This design has the same etched profile as the Waterloo watch, as this was the core of the request, but above this would be the inspiration of the old name ‘Albion’. With the possible name connection to the White Cliffs of Dover, this became the main inspiration for the graphic design of the dial. I am tempted to divulge all of the subtle dial hints and tributes to the Dover Cliffs, but I think this is actually better left to the reader to see if they can decipher?

Please feel free to comment below on what you believe my subtle ‘tip of the hats’ are the iconic White Cliffs of Dover🤔???

I have designed, mesh modeled, and rendered all of the included imagery in Blender 4.1. A clean light-colored base platform, and a diffused plane lighting set-up gave me the nice, clear, punchy imagery you see in the post, with a little extra post-editing done in Photoshop’s ‘camera raw filter’.

But of course the post wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t throw in a bit of a nice ‘arty’ shot to bring some added depth to the imagery. Here I set up and created a nice ‘lighting through some blinds’ style shot:

To give you a bit more historical context on the old name of Albion and its origins. Albion is a term with roots in classical antiquity, most likely derived from the Latin ‘Albus’, which is the Latin word for white, referencing the notable white cliffs of Dover. It has been perpetuated through classical, mythological, and literary traditions as an ancient name for Great Britain

The name of ‘Albion’ appears in classical Greek and Roman literature. It is believed to have been used by the ancient Greeks, with references found in the works of Ptolemy, Pliny the Elder, and others. The Greeks referred to the island as “Albion”.

Various myths and legends also contribute to the name. For instance, in medieval British mythology, Albion was considered one of the earliest names for the island, linked to the giants who supposedly inhabited it before the arrival of the Celts. The Romans also used the term ‘Albion’ whenever they referred to Great Britain. All very interesting stuff eh🤔!

That is, of course, just a brief look into the origins of the name, but I hope you found it interesting and educational. If you want to learn more, I am sure a quick Google search will reveal plenty more information on the name and the possible origins.

That is it for this post! I hope you like the design and found it all quite interesting? I will be revisiting the dial design for the post: Follow My Evolving Watch Design Process – A Tale of Two Parts very soon. Unfortunately, like most people, the paid work always seems to take priority! But it should be interesting as I will be using and talking about Escher style tessellation for the dial design😊.

Have a great day and evening everyone!

Kind regards, Jay

Jayargonaut

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24 Comments

  2. Hi, Jay! Just wanted to tell you that the watch is stunningly beautiful, and now I really want to go to the White Cliffs of Dover! Not too sure exactly what I’m searching for, but the design and the colors are beautiful. 😊 I’m so glad your fundraiser was successful and I really hope you’ve been keeping well. 😊 🙏 love the artistic and moody shot as well!

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    1. Hi Laura! Thank you so much for your kind words🙏, I am so pleased you like it😊. Yes it is a wonderful place, what I remember of it! You see I haven’t been there since I was young; My Dad was born in Canterbury, in Kent, quite close to Dover, so we would visit my Nan in Canterbury & go to places like Dover, Hastings etc. Lots of history down there👍! Thank you – yes we raised some good useful money to help some people. I am keeping well Thank you Laura, I hope you are too😊!

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    1. Thank you MagickMermaid🙏. I am glad you like it! Also glad you mentioned the sky blue as it was one of the first and key things that came to me as laying down the design. Thanks again and kind regards…Jay😊

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  6. I never used Blender but once upon a time I downloaded and opened it. I did use a 3D rendering software for a project at school, but I can’t remember it’s name; text-only input from the commandline, and it wasn’t open source and your renders weren’t for commercial purposes unless you acquired a license. Bummer, huh?

    I like the watch, and it’s great that you can make a living in graphic design. Unfortunately for me, nobody really buys poetry.

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    1. Hi Lucretia 😊. That is quite common, I have heard it called Blender-itus, just a fun play on words of course, but means we tend to open this type of software, and it can be very intimidating and confusing at first…so a big learning barrier to get over initially! Yep most software is like that, if it is commercial use you tend to have to pay!

      Thank you for the kind comments about the watch😊. I sincerely appreciate it🙏. I think making a living out of anything creative is a big struggle, it can be years, even decades before you get anywhere. You have to do it for the love I guess…but keep on writing my friend✌️. Kind regards…Jay😊

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  8. Pingback: Concupiscences – Lucretia's Thunder

    1. Thank you Catherine😊, I am glad you like it. It can be very rewarding work; I do love to create and design. I sincerely appreciate your kind words🙏…Jay😊

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  12. I just saw this as I was completely blown away by the Pinchbeck Lindum and that took me down the fascinating path to this watch design. Stunning! As a Brit living in the USA I would buy one of these in a heart beat. Will it make production by anyone? Great design!

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    1. Hi. Thank you, I am glad you like it! I am also glad you liked the Pinchbeck Lindum; I designed the Pinchbeck Lindum watch for Harold Pinchbeck. This watch design is also a prototype request for Harold Pinchbeck watches, so yes this should go into production by them quite soon, and you will be able to buy one. Keep your eye out at http://www.haroldpinchbeck.co.uk . I will be meeting with them next week also, so I will mention this. You could also email them at info@haroldpinchbeck.co.uk and ask them when it will be available, or email me at jay@jayargonaut.com, and I will be happy to keep you updated. Hope this helps😊. Kind regards, Jay

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