Small trick, big effect: The Botta CLAVIUS and its seemingly floating hands

Klaus Botta, a physicist and industrial designer, has made it his mission to create functional wristwatches outside the mainstream. In particular the UNO single-hand watch first launched in 1986 – an invention of Botta’s by the way – paved the way for his very own design studio and remains the flagship of the Taunus-based watch brand to this day.

Although numerous models with other hands or more conventional time display methods have been added to the range over the years, Botta always has and always will place great importance on standing out from the crowd. In his eyes, a Botta watch is not a real Botta watch if it is not recognizable as such at first glance and manages to stand out from its competitors with its characteristic design language.

The newly presented Botta Clavius shows once again how this can be achieved.

Striking hands illuminate the time

Strictly speaking, the Clavius is a conventional three-hand watch, but really only strictly speaking. If you take a closer look, you’ll quickly notice that the time display is anything but conventional. The reason for this is not so much a highly complex construction as creative inventiveness and the ability to think outside the box.

Part of the clous is a central disc, which is located above the dial and which is radially perforated. Beneath it runs the white second hand, which (thanks to the grid structure) flashes briefly every second before disappearing again, only to reappear in the next window.

This effect is particularly impressive in the dark, when the boundaries between the dial and the disc above it slowly blur. The applied luminous material thus almost creates the illusion of a floating flash of light.

Unlike the “digital” second hand, which continuously jumps from window to window, the minute and hour hands are visible at all times. Visually speaking, they are also easy to distinguish from the second hand, even in difficult lighting conditions: In addition to the green coloring, they make their rounds outside the disk, resulting in great legibility despite the uncluttered (read: minimalist) dial layout.

Symbiosis of German design and Swiss technology

The value creation of every Botta watch mostly takes place in Germany, as all components with the exception of the high-quality Swiss movements are designed, manufactured and assembled there.

In the case of the Clavius, we are talking about a 44mm stainless steel case, which (despite a double domed sapphire crystal) only comes to a height of 9.3mm. Thus, the watch should disappear without problems under any shirt cuff, no matter how tight – only if desired of course. Also note that not least because of the lugs, which are neatly integrated into the case, the Botta Clavius wears much smaller than the 44mm diameter might suggest. 

Thanks to a sapphire crystal on the back, you can have a glance at the built-in ETA 2824-2, which features a nicely individualized rotor. And although not much more needs to be said about said caliber, we definitely welcome the choice. Especially with an MSRP of 1,280€ and in times of numerous cheap ETA 2824 clones from the Far East, this choice is certainly not a matter of course, but rather a quality-oriented and good decision.

Botta Watches at Montredo  

As an authorized Botta dealer, we of course offer all watches in our store. Under the following link you can find our large selection of Botta watches. Enjoy!

For more information about Klaus Botta and his brand, please see here at botta-design.de.