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PICTO® Watch 40mm White / Polished Rose Gold

by Steen Christensen & Erling Andersen
$165

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Overview

Originally conceived in 1984 by Danish designers Steen Christensen and Erling Andersen, the PICTO® Watch is an attempt to capture a picture of time. A steel dot marking the hours is affixed to the rotating watch face, creating an effect that represents the earth moving and time passing, while the minute hand moves as normal. Picto is the first wristwatch to use this rotary disk system, which is powered by a Miyota Quartz movement.

PICTO® means picture, and the name is extremely well chosen for the watch. With its minimalist, clean graphics PICTO® manages to provide a picture of time like no other watch. Actually PICTO® is the world’s first wristwatch that displays the time as a pictogram – or an icon of the time in perpetual motion.

The PICTO® watches are up until this day a permanent part of the modern design exhibitions. When PICTO® was launched in 1984, it quickly became a sensation on the international design scene.

1984 MoMA, Museum of Modern Art permanent collection, New York
1986 Haus Industriform, Essen Design Gallery, Germany
1987 Statens Kunstfond, Denmark
1987 Sonderschau FORM International Frankfurt Messe, Germany
1989 Neue Sammlung München, Germany
2004 Designmuseum Danmark’s permanent exhibition

Picto Watch 40mm White/ Polished Rose Gold by Steen Christensen & Erling Andersen
- Iconic design
- Rose Gold Coated Steel, Silicone Band
- Hardened Mineral Glass Lens
- Ø 40 mm / 1.6"
- Case thickness: 8 mm / 0.3"
- Band: Width 20 mm / 0.8", Length 140-200 mm / 5.5"-7.9"
- Battery: 377, SR626SW (1,5 V)
- Water resistant: 5 ATM (Shower)
- 2 year limited warranty

Specifications

CRYSTAL
Hardened Mineral Glass Lens
MOVEMENT
Quartz MIYOTA 2025
BATTERY
377, SR626SW (1,5 V)
WATER RESISTANT
5 ATM (Shower)
CASE THICKNESS
8 mm / 0.3"
STRAP WIDTH
20 mm / 0.8"
STRAP LENGTH
140-200 mm / 5.5"-7.9"

Designer

Steen Christensen & Erling Andersen
Steen Christensen & Erling Andersen

In 1984 these two Danish designers had a stroke of genius when they created the spectacular Picto watch. A minimalist, almost aesthetic watch design in a graphic style and "rotating disc" which is more contemporary today than ever before. With Picto, Steen Georg Christensen and Erling Andersen wanted to design a "picture" of time. Where traditional watches show the time with the ticking hands, it is the watch face that rotates on Picto, giving the illusion of the earth moving and time passing. Conversely, the hour hand is fixed like a dot on the face, as Picto's only feature besides the minute hand—both in shiny, stylish steel. Picto's innovative design and technology have taken the watch all over the world and directly into MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where the watch is today a part of the museum's permanent exhibition.