Few people have the luxury of either having their own in-house design team or being able to do it themselves. In light of this issue, companies like Virtual Ideas pop up to fill the needs of those people who need professional design but cannot do it themselves.
Virtual Ideas is comprised of a design team with six member who use modern three-dimensional design software and techniques to make realistic digital models of watches ready for production specifications. In other words, they offer full outsourced product design; from prototyping and development, 3D rendering, engineering creation, design face-lifting, and product analysis for the watch industry. Then all you need is a parts provider and manufacturer! I am sure with their connection they can help.
Does this mean that your average watch lover with a few good ideas should contact them? Probably not unless you are willing to invest in what is likely to be a highly limited “vanity watch” production. Likely to be super expensive. However, if you are a designer who wants to release a watch or watch line, or a watch company looking to boost your design prowess, then Virtual Ideas is a place to call.
It is worth noting that Virtual Ideas is based in Switzerland and is not limited to watch design only. It appears as though they offer a full industrial design shop, but watch design seems to be a specialty that they have. It is hard to say the type of work they do, and they are probably up there in price. You are probably going to have to help them along to get your idea just right. The good news is that they probably have a good concept of the available watch movements out there so that your watch will be at least somewhat based on a design that is possible to create without having to design a new movement.
I’d love to work with Virtual Ideas someday to visualize many of the ideas I have. This is a step up from doodling watches and drawing them from time to time. This is a true custom watch. Some makers these days offer “custom” watches where you merely pick and choose parts. That really doesn’t excite me as much as something as unique as this. But there are some worthy personalized watch makers out there such as 121time.com.
Visit Virtual Ideas Design Studio here.