A crisp rectangular box arrives. Grey, with nothing but a neatly embossed white logo in the bottom right corner; sleek and considered. You open it. All the elements of your new watch are carefully aligned, systemised, and ready for assemblage. "There is a certain connection forged with an item when you make it yourself" says Ross Baynham, who co-founded the Glasgow-based multi-disciplinary design studio with Peter Sunderland in 2014. He is very right: it's all in the delivery. 

Since launching with Instrmnt 01 in 2014, the duo has made a 2-speed City Bike in collaboration with Freddie Grubb and a Day Bed designed with Edinburgh-based craftsman and furniture maker Nam Gaston, as well as a second series watch and several limited edition partnership products. Early last year, they opened their first shop right where they began: in Glasgow, a city receiving notable attention in recent years for its thriving design and arts community. This month, they launch the eagerly anticipated new K-series, a triptych of monochrome watches with a new rubber strap. We caught up with the duo to find out more...

We like to design deductively: strip things back to their key features and nothing more. You'll find that form then follows in a really beautiful way. 

How is the design of the K-Series innovative?

The key focus for this collection has been the development of our Italian made NBR compound rubber strap. It was an intense and lengthy process to get to where we are now but we firmly believe the strap is one of the best on the market in terms of aesthetic, durability and feel. We really didn't cut any corners.

What new and useful features have you added?

While all of our watches are waterproof to 5ATM, leather - as specified in our 01-Series - does not really lend itself to getting wet on a regular occasion. The K-Series' rubber strap on the other hand is unaffected by water so can truly be worn for swimming or showering if you so desire. We love incorporating additional functionality into our products, so that is pleasing. Aside from our new strap, we're again using the finest Swiss and German components inside the watches to boost their longevity and reliability as best we can. The K-Series is also a fully vegan product too which is one of our most frequent requests. Maybe we are meat eating luddites but that took us by surprise, and I am glad we now have this covered. 

How have you developed the aesthetic and materiality of this series?

At the beginning of the development process, we're latched onto the concept of each design and material decision being made through science rather than simply creative thinking or Instrmnt's art direction. This really intrigued us as an idea and created a set of parameters that informed each decision-making process. The colour palette is made up of fixed dilutions of 100% black, stolen from the CMYK printing technique. The aesthetic and feel of rubber straps is determined via experimentation in the polymerisation process. It was nice to go into such technical detail while creating a new product. 

Your watches are delivered to their new owners unassembled, a trait that has become synonymous with the design, what was your intention with this feature?

This really did start as a purely functional, practice consideration. When we launched Instrmnt we had just graduated from design school and were both very ambitious and very poor: we didn't want to cut any corners in terms of design or specification of the product, so we turned instead to shipping and admin. Making the watch box the exact size of a DVD case meant we could buy extremely cheap standard-size postal packaging off the shelf that go through a letterbox as a 'large letter' (costing £1 to ship in the UK). As a knock on effect, the size of the box lended itself to our longer term goals too, as it forced us to position the components and tools in way that really reinforced the over arching vision that this was a precise, functional instrument that had to be assembled before use. We were a bit nervous but customers have loved it from the start. There is a certain connection forged with an item when you make it yourself. That's applies to everything doesn't? I feel proud when I make a nice dinner or a lego model (I'm 26...).

Unlike 01 and 02 the strap holes in the new series are only partially punctured into the rubber, allowing each individual to personally fit and tailor their own watch, tell us more about this detail.

We love this subtle feature, although it might initially confuse customers - get back to me in a few months. Again, it's something born out the rubber material we developed which can be experimented with and finished in ways that leather cannot. The semi punched holes make an already very contemporary product even cleaner and as you say, it means each watch is perfectly tailored to its wearer. Again, creating that intrinsic connection is so important to us. 

How important are the materials and suppliers you use to you? How do you ensure your products are durable?

Impeccable materiality is pretty much integral to everything we do. We obsess over potential material specifications and spend countless hours experimenting with things for feel, durability, style, colour, effect. Each of our campaign shoots so far as centred around material studies relating to different elements or parts. Likewise, building a relationship with quality, reliable suppliers is not really an opt out thing - you will fail if you don't. We are extremely thankful that we have an incredible network of manufacturers and suppliers around the word (which we push to their limits!).

Our core principles centre around simply making quality, functional items. A lot of people label us minimalists - which we probably are - but at the same time we really do detest minimalism for the sake of it, or 'trendy' minimalism which you see a lot right now. We like to design deductively: strip things back to their key features and nothing more. You'll find that form then follows in a really beautiful way.  

GIVEAWAY

For your exclusive chance to win a new K - 61 watch enter our prize draw here before 6pm (BST) 18th September. Good Luck!