Equivalent to the ‘blue screen of death’, the spinning beachball is easily every designer’s worst nightmare. It makes its appearance on your MacBook or iMac when a program crashes, generating feelings of existential dread as you realize that you probably didn’t save your work before the software crashed. The spinning beachball represents hours of time wasted, and work lost… However, the folks at Anicorn want to turn that symbol into something a little more lighthearted.
The Spinning Beach Ball watch cleverly turns a scary icon into a fun, dynamic watch face. The timepiece comes with a relatively minimalist design, drawing your eye to the timepiece’s face, which features the 6-colored ball. Move your wrist around and the ball actually spins, mimicking the rotating action of the cursor symbol on MacOS devices!
Designer: The Trio of Time by Anicorn Watches
“This design inspiration brings a touch of familiarity and playfulness to the watch,” mention the folks at Anicorn Watches, a design-driven watchmaking studio responsible for some beautiful contemporary timepieces. When the watch is active, the bearing comes to life, imitating the spinning motion of a beach ball and the well-known “Loading” symbol. The circular disc rotates seamlessly and fluidly, producing a captivating visual effect that contributes a distinctive charm to the watch’s overall design. In a way, it’s also a visual reminder to just sit back and wait rather than rush through life… much like you’d be forced to sit and wait at the laptop while the loading sign would spin.
“The spinning beach ball represents moments of transition and the promise of what’s to come,” says the Anicorn team. “Drawing inspiration from this symbol, our team set out to create a timepiece that captures the essence of this iconic image.”
The watch is an understated beauty, featuring a 316L stainless steel body and genuine leather straps. A Japanese Miyota 2025 Quartz movement powers the timepiece, while an independently movable watch face comes with the beach ball pattern, swinging around every time you move your wrist. The entire apparatus sits underneath a mineral glass cover, which gives the watch 5ATM of water resistance too.
The Spinning Beach Ball starts at $229, although it’s only up for pre-order at the moment. The watch will begin shipping in November 2023.
