The Bradley - Kickstarter

I love good design.  On occasion, I will come across great design.  This, in my opinion is a great design, as well as a great idea.  The Bradley:  A Timepiece Designed to Touch and See, by Eone Timepieces, was a Kickstarter project that is just awesome.

In addition to my love for titanium, I also love watches.  This watch was designed for the blind, to be read by touch, as well as sight.  Beautifully made in titanium, the watch over exceeded my expectations. 

Shipping box

The Bradley came in a typical brown shipping box.  Nothing too fancy, about what I expected.  Once you open the box, you are greeted with the product box wrapped in vellum, with braille.

Braille on the box cover

I had a tough time figuring out what it says in braille, it seems that some of it is in a foreign language or shorthand braille.  I was using the US and International Braille Charts to 'decode' it.  Basically, it says "The Bradley Timepiece, Designed to Touch and See".  The braille alphabet is fascinating.

Inner box

Sliding off the cover, we see a faux leather box.  Again, nicely designed and executed.  You can tell that someone went to school for package design.

Thank you card and booklet

With the lid open, there is a thank you car from Eone.  This is also a coupon for future purchases from Eone.  The inside of box is lined with a soft velvety, almost terry cloth-like, fabric.  Very nice presentation, feels like an expensive watch.  A booklet is included.  Printed on thick stock as each page is in braille as well as translated in traditional print.

Beautiful presentation and packaging of the Bradley Timepiece

There were two basic variations, stainless steel band or fabric/leather band.  For the fabric bands, there was a option of olive green, mustard yellow, or silver blue.  While I like stainless steel, I felt the design of the metal band was not as elegant as the fabric ones.  Also, stainless steel does not match the titanium body of the watch itself.  So, I went with the silver blue band.

Time shows 11:14

I was worried that the watch would be a bit on the thick side because of the design.  I was surprised to see that it was relatively thin.  The way you read the watch is, the bearing on the inner channel give you the minutes, while the bearing on the outer channel gives you the hour.  You use the raised markers to gauge where the bearings are in relation to the clock face. The time shown above is 11:14.

The ball bearings are held in place with a magnet in the inner watch mechanism.  That way, if you accidentally knock/move the bearings while feeling around, it does not change the time.  A simple flick of the wrist will realign the ball bearings to the time.  Adjusting the watch is done with traditional crown on the bezel.

Back of the Bradley Timepiece

The back of watch is stainless steel, by default.  One option was to have this in titanium.  Of course, that is what I selected.  If only they had a titanium band as an option.  One thing rarely seen in watches, is the double hinge.  On most watches, the band is attached right on the bezel.  Note the extra piece of, you guessed it, titanium that bridges the bezel and band.

It is considered rude to whip out your watch or mobile phone to check the time, especially in social gatherings.  With this watch, you can just discreetly reach over and touch the time.  And, it looks really cool.  Fashion and function, both executed perfectly. Bonus points for choosing titanium for the watch.