ochs und junor mese
iit; intelligence / innovation / tradition
What best represents Ludwig Oechslin’s thought processes? A watch, of course!
Ludwig was stung into action by a question posed by an anno cinquanta enthusiast: if months were all just 30 days long, the characteristic ochs und junior date apertures would be evenly distributed around the dial – one every two minutes. Might it be possible to make 31 apertures fit into the space taken up by 30?
A few days later he came up with a novel and purely graphic solution: the date apertures describe an almost imperceptible spiral around the dial, such that the 31st ends up in line with, but above, the 1st. The orange-coloured dot is in fact a dash at a precisely calculated angle. That’s all there is to it!
i = intelligence / the intelligent question that can lead to a novel solution.
i = innovation / the novel solution – in this case, the spiral.
t = tradition / knowledge based on history, and experience which is at the root of everything.
The mese – iit from Ludwig’s treasure chest of ideas.