Although watches can be found in an incredibly diverse range of shapes and sizes, traditional movements ultimately create fairly rigid parameters for their possible designs and orientations. Aside from complex in-house calibers with highly architectural structures, nearly all conventional watch movements (and certainly those available to third-party brands) consist of a stack of parts, onto which either hands or discs are attached to display their information. Consequently, once you look past their cases and the designs of their dials and hands, most watches follow the same fundamental blueprint. However, the Äonic Automat represents a departure from the classic format, and the German brand’s inaugural timepiece truly offers a rather unique and charming overall experience.

Äonic was founded by Jörg Wichmann, who comes from the world of design and previously founded both Berlonomat (a presentation and marketing platform for Berlin designers) and the Panorama Berlin International Fashion Fair. As a design-focused individual, Wichmann started with an aesthetic concept for Äonic’s first wristwatch, although the three-dimensional disc display he envisioned for the timepiece was hardly an off-the-shelf offering that could simply be ordered from one of the world’s third-party movement suppliers. To create the exact timepiece he wanted to make, Wichmann needed to find a manufacturing partner that wasn’t just able to produce components, but also engineer the type of disc display module required for his brand’s inaugural model.

Äonic ultimately found a partner in fellow German brand Damasko, and after 18 months of development, Damasko was able to engineer the necessary disc display that would serve as the foundation for Äonic’s first model. Additionally, the development of the Äonic Automat resulted in the filing of three patents, and these key points of innovation will serve as the foundation for Äonic’s future models. The three-dimensional disc display featured on the Automat represents a significant physical departure from the flat profiles of traditional watch movements, and this informs the rest of the model’s design. Rather than being some variation of a short cylinder with lugs, the Äonic Automat’s case offers a streamlined conic profile that uses the shape of its three-dimensional disc display to inform the rest of its aesthetic identity.

An additional perk of having Damasko as a manufacturing partner is that the Äonic Automat benefits from a number of the German manufacturer’s technologies that relate to both its case and movement. For example, the Automat’s case is crafted from stainless steel that has been hardened to 1,000HV, and it is finished with Damasko’s matte-black Damest DLC coating for additional resistance to marks and scratches. The case features a bezel-free design, with the dramatically domed bowl-shaped sapphire crystal (with internal anti-reflective treatment) fitted directly to the top of the cone-shaped middle case. Additionally, rather than featuring traditional lugs with springbars, the Automat’s case fluidly extends on the lower edges to create semi-shrouded lug structures with fixed bars running between them, similar to what you might find on an ultra-rugged tool watch.

Sitting recessed into the 3 o’clock side of the Äonic Automat’s case is a signed push/pull-style crown, and despite not offering a screw-down design, the Automat still provides users with 100 meters of water resistance, which should be more than enough to stand up to the rigors of everyday wear. Meanwhile, the reverse side of the Äonic Automat is fitted with a display caseback that offers a view of the in-house Damasko movement, and while the caseback features a smooth profile without the usual indentations to accommodate the prongs of a case tool, the Automat’s caseback actually features a threaded design to help create a superior seal against its gasket. While the case itself is very much a design-focused creation, it also offers an inherently utilitarian design ethos, and the cumulative results provide the Äonic Automat with a futuristic and purpose-built presence on the wrist.

In terms of dimensions, the Äonic Automat measures 41mm in diameter by 12.95mm thick, with 22mm slots in its fixed lugs, a compact lug-to-lug profile of 43.5mm, and a total weight of approximately 49 grams (not including its strap). With that in mind, these on-paper dimensions are rather deceptive, and the Automat feels significantly smaller, both in hand and on the wrist. While the outer diameter of the case measures 41mm, the sides immediately taper inward to create its cone-shaped profile, and approximately half of its 12.95mm height is occupied by the bowl-shaped crystal, which further reduces the total volume of the watch. Furthermore, the Automat’s smooth upper surfaces combined with its downward curving lugs and flat caseback help its case maintain a surprisingly low profile that hugs the top of the wrist, and the watch ultimately feels significantly smaller than a conventionally shaped timepiece with similar on-paper dimensions.

While its cone-shaped case is certainly one of its most defining elements, the true centerpiece of the Äonic Automat is its three-dimensional disc display system. The outermost section of the dial (if you can even call it a “dial” in this instance) is occupied by a fixed structure with a black finish that has 12 elongated cutouts to represent each of the hour markers. The current hour is indicated by an orange segment on a white disc, and the disc rotates below the fixed outer structure, with the orange segment appearing within the designated cutout for each hour. Meanwhile printed along the interior perimeter of this fixed outer structure is a small white minute track that has squares at the five-minute markers and an inverted triangle to denote the 12 o’clock position.

However, rather than having physical hands display the minutes and seconds, the center section of the Äonic Automat’s dial is occupied by a rotating disc that has an orange-shaped minute hand painted on its surface, along with an arc-shaped cutout that reveals another disc that tracks the running seconds. The central disc rotates once per hour, with its painted hand indicating the minutes against the outer track, and since the disc itself rotates, the location of the running seconds aperture is constantly changing throughout the day. Rather than being printed on any of the dial elements, the Äonic name, depth rating, and Automat branding appear in silver on the underside surface of the crystal, and the central disc is attached to the rest of the movement with two blued screws that sit visibly on its top surface and rotate around the dial once per hour with the rest of the display.

While the Äonic Automat’s disc display system is certainly unconventional, reading the time with it is a relatively intuitive process, and the two bright orange elements serve as clear indicators for the hours and minutes. Additionally, while the printed design only allows a small amount of luminous material to be applied to the various elements of the display (which consequently results in a fairly modest amount of light emission), Äonic uses two different colors of lume on the dial of the Automat. The five-minute markings within the minute track emit a standard green-colored glow, while the orange hour indicator and minute hand both glow orange in the dark to help provide easier access to the time in low-light settings

Powering the Äonic Automat is the Damasko manufacture Caliber A26-1 W automatic movement, which features the brand’s patented Aeonic Disc-Play system. The Cal. A26-1 W is based upon Damasko’s in-house Caliber A26, which itself is based upon the core architecture of the venerable ETA 2824. In addition to having the same outer dimensions, all of the components responsible for the transfer of power from the mainspring to the escapement are interchangeable between the Damasko A26 and the ETA 2824, and just as you would expect, the 25-jewel Cal. A26-1 W inside the Äonic Automat runs at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with a minimum power reserve of approximately 42 hours.

However, the Damasko Caliber A26 improves upon the foundation of the ETA 2824 in several key areas that are intended to promote superior durability and the longevity of commonly replaced components. Along with featuring a transverse balance bridge for greater stability (rather than a balance cock), the Damasko A26 also includes a new pawl winding system that uses ceramic ball bearings for increased winding efficiency, and it also uses hardened steel instead of brass for components within the manual-winding system that have historically been common failure points for the standard ETA 2824. The Äonic Automat’s Cal. A26-1 W further expands upon the standard Damasko Cal. A26 with the brand’s patented 14-part disc display module and its plates and bridges are given a black rhodium finish with blued screws holding them all together.

Despite having fixed bars between its lugs, the Äonic Automat isn’t limited to single-piece straps, and Äonic has partnered with fellow German brands Fluco and Craiss to create an assortment of different two-piece leather straps for the Automat. Fluco is responsible for producing the sides of the strap, which feature a rather clever velcro-style attachment system that loops around the fixed bars of the lugs. Meanwhile, Craiss manufacturers the black-finished buckles for the Automat’s straps, and the tang-style buckles feature integrated keepers with tiny engravings of Äonic’s logo adorning the tips of their tangs. Äonic includes both the “Smooth Black” and “Happy Orange” strap options with the Automat, although the brand also offers about half a dozen other straps in a variety of different colors and textures that it sells separately on its website.

Tapering from 22mm at the lugs down to 20mm at their buckles, the Äonic Automat’s straps are quite soft and supple right out of the box, and while I initially had slight concerns about the security of the velcro connection points, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I couldn’t simply pull the straps free from the case (even when applying a decent amount of force). Personally, I would still opt for a single-piece strap like a NATO for any strenuous activities where I would want to guarantee that my watch wouldn’t get separated from my wrist; however, the leather straps offer a sufficiently secure attachment solution, and I ultimately would have little concern about the watch getting caught on something and falling to the ground.

Overall, the Äonic Automat is a charming and unusual watch that is a ton of fun to wear and tangibly different than what you get from most other timepieces. Additionally, when handling the Automat, it is immediately apparent that Äonic didn’t cut any corners in its manufacturing or design, although this ultimately results in a price point that is quite a bit higher than what I had initially expected. This first generation of the Äonic Automat will be produced as a limited edition of just 100 pieces, and it will have an official retail price of €7,650 EUR (or approximately $8,350 USD, at the time of writing). Not only is this significantly more expensive than Damasko’s own watches (granted, only the Automat features this innovative disc-display module), but this even places it slightly above entry-level offerings from blue-chip luxury manufacturers like Rolex, Omega, and Cartier. That said, while the Äonic Automat isn’t the retro-futuristic watch for highly price-sensitive collectors, it is undeniable that it is a truly unique and well-executed timepiece. For more information on the Äonic Automat, please visit the brand’s website.