An original watch concept · by Lamek Felix
The first light of day.
A tool watch shaped by the culture of the road. The lives it connects, the work it carries and the journeys that begin with the first light of day.
Habillage · Design development · 2026
Begin with the road ↓A personal starting point
I drove trucks. My father drove trucks. Before ALBOR was a design, the road was already part of my life.
That is where my relationship with the road begins. Time experienced through distance, changing light and the rhythm of a journey. Roughness outside. A particular quiet within.
But the story is larger than the person behind the wheel. It belongs to those who grow what the road carries, those who make a living along its edges, and those who travel it to discover somewhere new. ALBOR begins with my experience and opens onto that shared culture.
The road
The harvest leaves the field. A driver carries it through the night. A town wakes to what has arrived. On the same road, someone is leaving home; someone else is finding their way back.
There are lives made along its edges: a meal, a repair, a place to stop. Some people travel the road. Others live from what it makes possible. The road runs through all of them.
The journey is not the space between two places. It is the place itself.
This shared culture becomes a design language: the clarity of an instrument, the rhythm of a moving line, the return of daylight. The road is not decoration on the dial.
Large industrial numerals establish the hierarchy. Dark hands stand against a matte-white dial. The date takes the place of the fourth numeral.
Highway yellow is reserved for the seconds hand. A single moving accent, like the painted line that carries a journey forward.
A bright, quiet dial within a darker instrument. The first light of day becomes both the name and the organising idea.
A circular bezel meets lugs that flow into the case. Softened roots, broad brushed planes and narrow chamfers preserve the instrument’s character without sharp, isolated projections.
A restrained metallic finish. Broad planes, softened transitions and restrained satin chamfers carry the form rather than decorative polish.
A continuous textile strap through fixed bars. Softness and texture against the case’s harder geometry.
Colour is concentrated in the seconds hand, leaving the rest of the object quiet and functional.
Designed around the wrist
A watch is not experienced in isolation. The relationship between case, lugs and strap matters as much as the face. This view explores the intended scale and how the instrument sits within everyday use.
Reference design targets, not validated production measurements. Final dimensions, fit and comfort require physical prototyping.
An exterior architecture: each layer has a role in the whole.
The design direction establishes the visible relationships. Movement integration, gaskets, tolerances and assembly remain to be developed and validated with technical partners.
A private detail
A track is a cage.
The road is freedom.
The most personal line is on the side only the wearer sees. It returns the object to an open road: work and discovery, leaving and returning, a path shared by lives that may never meet. Not a closed circuit or a tribute to competition.
Proposed caseback engraving
A sheet of exploratory sketches, alongside the developed 3D direction. Dial, case, profile and hand studies explore the same instrument from different angles.
Pencil sketch sheet · AI visualisation of the revised integrated-lug design. Front, profile, crown, caseback and hand studies.
Rendered directly from the revised 3D model. A continuous case silhouette, integrated lugs and a clearer relationship between the bezel and graphic hierarchy.
Sketch studies generated with GPT Image 2 from the current 3D model’s front, perspective, profile and caseback renders. The developed direction is a direct render of the revised integrated-lug 3D model; technical integration remains to be validated.
Three alternative directions for carrying, protecting and revealing ALBOR. Different interpretations of the same object, with no final option selected.
01 / A companion for the road
Unpack it.
Take it with you.
A compact presentation box holds a reusable textile case. Padded flaps protect the watch, a flat pocket carries its documentation, and the weave continues the language of the NATO strap. The packaging has a life after the first opening.
Graphite paperboard · Black woven textile
Brushed-metal detail · Yellow pull loop
02 / The moment of discovery
Night outside.
The first light within.
A near-black sleeve gives way to a warm-white drawer. A thin yellow edge appears first; the white dial follows. The opening translates the name ALBOR into a physical sequence, using light, contrast and a precise paper construction.
Dark paper sleeve · Warm-white interior
Fitted cradle · Amber opening detail
03 / A housing for an instrument
Protection.
Precision. Restraint.
A low metal container echoes the watch’s brushed surfaces and angular lugs. The dark interior separates the watch from its documentation. Protective and deliberate, without turning into a tactical case or an oversized jewellery box.
Brushed-metal shell · Faceted corners
Dark fitted lining · Documentation channel
All three are alternative design concepts visualised with GPT Image 2, not photographs of manufactured packaging. Each now shows the current integrated-lug ALBOR design, updated from the revised model references. Materials, closures, dimensions and protective performance remain subject to development and sampling.
Open to selected development partnerships
ALBOR is an original watch concept by Lamek Felix. I am open to conversations with watch brands and technical partners aligned with its design direction.
Discuss a partnership