kinetic watch dial reimagines timekeeping through layered colored star-like hands

Layered hands turn the watch dial into a kinetic composition

STELLAR is a watch designed through a collaboration between The Trio of Time by Anicorn Watches and Raw Color, the Eindhoven-based design studio founded by Christoph Brach and Daniera ter Haar. The project approaches timekeeping through color, movement, and graphic composition, using layered hands to generate a continuously changing visual arrangement across the watch dial.

Rather than emphasizing mechanical complexity or conventional time displays, the design interprets the dial as a kinetic graphic surface. Three rotating time layers, each carrying six hands, form a star-shaped composition that gradually changes throughout the day. As the layers move independently, new relationships between color, overlap, and geometry emerge, allowing the dial to function as both a timepiece and a dynamic visual composition.

Time is indicated through a small dot positioned within the layered arrangement, replacing traditional numerals and reducing the graphic language to its essential elements. This restrained approach maintains legibility while allowing color and movement to define the character of the watch. The changing configuration of the hands transforms the passage of time into a sequence of shifting graphic compositions rather than a fixed display.

Graphic system shapes an alternative approach to timekeeping

The collaboration reflects the shared interest of Dutch design studio Raw Color and watchmaker The Trio of Time in alternative approaches to time representation. Known for its research into color, material, and visual systems, Raw Color applies its graphic methodology to the scale of a wearable object, while The Trio of Time continues its platform of designer collaborations that explore different interpretations of the watch as a design object.

Positioned between product design and graphic composition, STELLAR proposes an alternative reading of the wristwatch. Through layered color, geometric organization, and continuous movement, the design treats time as an evolving visual system in which function and graphic expression operate simultaneously.

project info:

name: The Trio of Time x Raw Color – STELLAR
designer: Raw Color | @raw_color_

collaborator: The Trio of Time | @the_trio_of_time

manufacturer: ANICORN WATCHES | @anicornwatches

Raw Color team: Daniera ter Haar, Christoph Brach, Tijs Van Nieuwenhuysen

The Trio of Time team: Chris Chan, Jack Tang, Joe Kwan, Leo Tan

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.