"How many times do you look at a clock, or look at time, and are happy?" Bertolero said. "When was the last time you were like, 'Oh, sick, it's 10:30. Awesome'".
That's one of the reasons the 30-year-old has been making watches that don't tell time. They're meant to be worn like a traditional watch, except you won't see a clock face when checking your wrist. Instead, you'll find a tiny 3D-printed pool with magnetic duckies and bubbles.
The idea came to him in a "state of semi-sleep"; a watch that's sleek like an Apple Watch, but fun and interactive like LEGO.
Little rubber duckies popped into his mind as something indisputably cute. He knew he wanted to make them tiny, because "the tinier something is, the cuter it is. The more people love it".
Bertolero says the sensory aspect of being able to touch and move the ducks are similar to toys like fidget spinners or slime.
Anyway, he used a friend's resin 3D printer to print a little pool for the ducks to sit in. He posted the process to TikTok and, to his surprise, the video went viral.
A collaborative design process via the video sharing platform excited him, and he ended up incorporating some of his follower's ideas.
As far as he is aware, there isn't a genre of watches like his – though there are some products on the market, including terrarium watches and a watch without a time-telling face.
He professes that he created these watches because they made his inner child happy. And he thinks his watches evoke the same reaction in a lot of people.
I agree with Bertolero when he says, "…it's nice to have this little wrist reminder that there are cute and happy things around you in the world"!
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