Watching Type
A newsletter about watch design and typography
Hello, and welcome to Watching Type. I’m Samuel Baker, a designer based in London. I’m also a watch enthusiast and (very small-time) collector. You may be reading this because you’ve seen my work for Thomas van Straaten’s watch brand, VPC, but whatever the reason, I appreciate you being here.
Naturally, I’m very interested in watch design and, like others, I’ve often thought about why watches are designed the way they are, and why many brands seem to do such a poor typographic job with their modern products compared to vintage watches from the “glory days” (whatever / whenever they were). But also, I love to see new brands and new watches emerging all the time, and some of them are doing really interesting and novel things with their designs. So, I thought I’d start this newsletter to share some of my thoughts on all aspects of watch design and typography.
It might be my critique of a watch that’s doing the rounds on Instagram, or dissecting a new product or rebrand that’s just launched. It might be to do with a watch I happen to have seen out in the wild, at a meetup, or an exceptional vintage piece. Or, it might be a look at some of my own work and processes. It could even be about something else entirely!
It won’t (usually) be a particularly long read, but I might get into a deep dive now and again. I can get nerdy about this stuff, but I’ll try to keep a lid on that side of things.
Some likely topics for my first few issues include: the recently revealed 70th anniversary Polerouters; the Cubitus, and Patek’s love affair with Arial; a typographic breakdown of the beautiful Heuer Cortina I saw on Instagram the other week; what makes a Breguet numeral?; and some backstory on the VPC Type 37HW which is due to start delivering to customers in early December. I’m aiming for a weekly cadence but hey – let’s see how things go.
I hope you’ll find some of what I talk about interesting and stick around. I’m always learning (who isn’t?) so I’m certainly looking forward to seeing where it takes me. Make sure to subscribe to have new posts delivered straight to your inbox, and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for updates with fewer words and more pictures.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Samuel