PRX Mu

Maybe a tool to tell the time, maybe a reminder of a loved one, a marker of success, or a north star to a way of life. Nobody needs a watch on their wrist – not to tell the time anyway. Yet they’re more popular than ever and custom watches with personal meaning are on the rise.

A Computer Science major from the US commissioned a stainless dial for a Powermatic 80 in 35mm. It was only after I built it that I started to ask questions. I’m a simple man and I don’t claim to understand, nor do I like to pry, but I was curious and I admit I’m left with more questions than answers.

The character at 12 is the Japanese word Mu, an important concept in Zen Buddhism. It means no thing, no class: not one, not zero, not yes, not no. In contrast the binary number below is absolute and it represents 73. In ASCII the letter I is stored as number 73. A simple monogram rounds out the design at the 9 o’clock position.

When I asked him about the design and its meaning he went into detail but one thing stuck. He said, “it’s a gentle reminder that every decision, every yes or no, gives birth to something and kills something else – it always leaves something outside the frame”.

Perhaps none of this makes sense to you and that’s OK. It holds meaning to someone and I’m humbled to know that they will occasionally look at their wrist and perhaps ignore the time but find a gentle reminder and direction instead.