Hands-On with the 4th Dimension Concrete Watch Minimal Edition from 22 Design Studio

The argument that mechanical timepieces are completely impractical in the modern world is the oldest, most overplayed cliché in watch journalism. But if that’s the case—and I won’t get into it too deeply here—then why not embrace the impracticality of it all? Watchmaking remains one of the purest, most focused design exercises for a product designer regardless of a watch’s (at least functionally) unnecessary nature. 22 Design dove headfirst into this realm of pure design with the 4th Dimension Concrete Watch Minimal Edition. There’s an ultramodern architectural feel at play here, further accentuated by the unusual concrete dial surface. But how does it stack up as an actual timepiece? Let’s dig in.