You didn’t realize until just now that you want your next watch to be sustainable, made of recycled food waste and have the slight scent of coffee. The world’s first watch made from recycled coffee has just launched and is called The Coffee Watch by Lilienthal Berlin.
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In collaboration with Berlin-based independent label Kaffeeform, the designer has created this watch after a successful Kickstarter last fall. The watch will be available in Lilienthal Berlin’s online store. In fact, the new design has already won multiple awards which include the iF Design Award, the Green Product Award, the German Design Award and the Green Good Design Award.
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Kaffeeform brings expertise in materials while Lilienthal Berlin brings experience in watch design. Together, they produce this one-of-a-kind creation for a sustainable product line. The watch doesn’t just use a bit of coffee in the design — it’s so full of recycled coffee ground waste that it even has the wonderful aroma of coffee.
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Three years ago, Jacques Colman, one of the three founders of Lilienthal Berlin, first held a coffee mug from Kaffeeform and thought the material was interesting. “The Kaffeeform material felt robust and solid, so I thought, why not make a watch case out of it?”
Therefore, he approached Julian Lechner, the founder of Kaffeeform. After numerous prototypes, the resulting product is made from recycled coffee grounds collected from Berlin’s cafes and sent to workshops for processing. The designers want to emphasize that this innovative material composition is made exclusively of natural ingredients and is in no way inferior to the other watches from Lilienthal Berlin.
The Coffee Watch comes in four different designs made with straps of organic leather, vegan leather or mesh. The dial comes in black or silver, both printed or engraved with hour markers in a minimalist or classic design. It’s the round case that is made from Kaffeeform material, which has the look and feel of a coffee cup or coffee bean. The Coffee Watch has a case diameter of 42.5 millimeters and is equipped with a R756 movement from Swiss manufacturer Ronda.
The idea of this watch is to set a new standard for the watch industry on sustainability for the future. “There is a major trend towards more sustainability in many areas. In our industry, unfortunately, the clocks sometimes still run a bit slow. It is our express aim to change that,” says Colman.
But the demand is there. The Kickstarter for this product passed its funding target fourfold after just a few days last year, and the first series was able to be produced from that funding. The designers say that the next goal is to inspire more people to purchase sustainable watches.
There is more than enough product to use for this line because, in Germany alone, each person drinks an average of more than 164 liters of coffee a year. That’s 43 gallons.
But beyond making us ponder how caffeinated our German brethren are, we feel encouraged that companies like Lilienthal Berlin and Kaffeeform are changing the industry. They do this by showing how companies can produce sustainable products with inexpensive, recycled materials. The Coffee Watch is priced from 299 euros, or 286 U.S. dollars.
Images via Lilienthal Berlin
