Abacus Hands Free Ball Watches – Designer Time Telling Stripped to Minimalist Extremes

Some time ago we posted on out sister site, TFTS (assessable via our Links page), about a model in Abacus’s highly minimal wrist watch range that, in being completely handless and using a single metal ball to indicate the time, took the very idea of minimalist wrist watches to extremes. But, whereas that watch had a face that displayed some indication as to which hour the ball was presently in, this these Abacus Hands Free Ball Watches even dispenses with this minor detail – the result being a startlingly beautiful watch that is not only decidedly contemporary but a timepiece that is sure to turn heads (its certainly turned ours).

Designed by Roy Schafer and manufactured by the Erich Lacher Watch Factory in Pforzhweim, Germany, these ‘hands free’ minimalist ball wrist watches come in a range of designs from the Abacus 400 with its back watch face, featured at the top of this post, to the Abacus 600 with its stainless steel face (immediately below) and we think you’ll agree, they’re startlingly beautiful.

As cool as these watches look, the icing on the cake, as far as we are concerned, is the fact that the ball, rather than consistently displaying the given hour, is actually free to roll around the watch face with ‘the flow of the wearer’s arm movements’ until you raise the watch to a horizontal position – at which point the ball will immediately snap into place to display the current time. Very cool.

Made from stainless steel with a leather strap and featuring a high grade quartz movement the Abacus Hands Free Ball Watches come in a range of designs with the featured models retailing for $161 / €180 each.

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