When you examine one of the watches made by Kevin Bertolero, you see little magnetic ducks instead of time.
Halisia Hubbard / NPR
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Halisia Hubbard / NPR
When you examine one of the watches made by Kevin Bertolero, you see little magnetic ducks instead of time.
Halisia Hubbard / NPR
Kevin Bertolero has a contemptuous attitude towards time.
“How many times do you look at the clock, or look at the time, and be happy?” Bertolero said. “The last time you said, ‘Oh, sick, it was 10:30. That’s great.'”
That is one of the reasons that the 30-year-old has made watches that do not tell time. They are used as a traditional watch, except that you won’t see the watch face when you check your wrist. Instead, you’ll find a small 3D printed pool with magnetic ducks and bubbles.
After leaving a stressful job at a plant-based yogurt startup, Bertolero wanted to stick with his “baby self”.
He used all sorts of strategies to get over his childhood trauma at the time.
“I think we’re all severely traumatized – you can’t help but live in modern society to some extent,” says Bertolero. When people’s wounds flare up, he says, they use shopping, socializing or community involvement to ease their discomfort. Bertolero found another option: cute things.
The idea of clocks that didn’t tell the time came to him in a “half-sleep” state; a watch that’s as sleek as the Apple Watch, but as fun and interactive as Legos.
The little rubber ducks appeared in his mind as something undeniably cute. He knows he wants to make them small, because “the smaller 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 is similar to toys like gyros or slime.
Bortelero said he has always been attracted to the arts, but has no formal training. He found a way to express himself creatively at his local maker space, where he learned how to 3D print.
He used a friend’s turpentine 3D printer to print a small swimming pool for ducks to sit in. He posted the process on TikTok and to his surprise, the video went viral.
A collaborative design process through TikTok got Bertolero excited, and he ended up incorporating some of his followers’ ideas.
Bertolero says he has sold more than 300 chronographs and is on track to sell 1,200 by the end of the year. They are available on Etsy and his website, watchesthatdonttelltime.com.
As far as Bertolero is aware, there is no other type of watch quite like his – although there are several on the market, including terrarium clock and a watch no face tells time.
“I make these watches because they make my inner child happy,” says Bertolero. He thinks his watches evoke the same reaction in a lot of people.
Crystal Burwell, a licensed professional counselor who works with adults and young people, says reconnecting with the inner child brings people back to a place where they can take care of themselves and deal with a problem. Therapeutic problems are not the same for everyone.
She encourages her patients to embrace their “strange, customized bliss” with sensory toys like mini stuffed animals. It can help people reconnect with that part of themselves they’ve shared.
Toy designer Whitney Pollett says there is a need for simple, comfortable toys. Objects that one interacts with quickly and act as emotional reminders.
“I think basically, people are at the end of their intelligence,” Bertolero said.
“And you know, it’s great to have this little reminder on your wrist that there are cute and happy things around you in the world,” he says.
