PLATEN Machined Watch Face

A platen is the heavy steel plate that presses paper against the type in a printing press. PLATEN is that plate seen from above, turned into a watch.

A hundred and twenty knurled teeth run around the bezel, each one shaded by where the light falls, so the rim reads as metal you could grip and turn. The dial underneath is brushed in a hundred and forty-four rays from the centre out, with fine turned circles under the minute track. Sixty railway ticks. Twelve raised numerals, each one printed three times a pixel apart - dark below, light above, bone on top - so the figures stand off the plate.

Four recessed registers sit at twelve, three, six and nine: two replaceable complications, a small seconds hand in press red, and a battery gauge with a swept amber needle. Steel hands throw a real shadow across the dial and carry a block of lume at the tip.

Always-on display: every bit of that metal switches off. Twelve hour ticks, four thin numerals, two hollow outlined hands with their lume blocks, and the centre ring - about one and a half percent of the screen lit.

- Two complication slots: day-and-date and step count by default.
- Every highlight is a gradient or a line, not an image. The whole face is vector, so it costs no image memory at all and stays sharp at any size.
- Built with the Watch Face Format; needs Wear OS 4 or newer.

Part of a three-face set that shares one grid, one type scale and one registration mark: OFFSET (print), DATUM (drafting) and PLATEN (machined steel).

This design is original. It does not copy, reference or imitate the name, logo or styling of any watch manufacturer.