The new collection - developed in collaboration with renowned designer Yves Béhar - brings new dimension to the Museum Dial with a stunning new shape and texture, remaining true to the original icon of modern industrial design.

How does one improve upon an icon? That was the problem the designers at Movado faced long before the new Movado Edge wristwatch was announced last fall.

Regarded today as an icon of mid-twentieth century Modernism, the Movado’s Museum Dial remains one of the most recognized and acclaimed watch dial designs of all time. Inspired by one of the greatest contemporary art movements – Bauhaus - the Museum Dial was conceived back in 1947 by artist and designer Nathan George Horwitt. He defined the legendary dial by a single gold dot at the 12 o’clock position, symbolizing the sun at high noon, complemented with simple hands which symbolized the earth’s daily rotation on its axis.

For Horwitt, time was not a numbered sequence but rather it was represented by the position of the sun as the earth rotates. And his watch design perfectly represented that vantage point. And in simplifying the telling of time, he also managed to create a functional piece of contemporary art, which is recognizable across decades. As a result, it has left a long shadow on any subsequent watch that Movado would design.

And it’s not that easy to improve upon that classic, in part because Horwitt’s simplistic design didn’t give his successors much room to work with. Yet, Movado have pulled it off with the Movado Edge, which infuses the iconic design of its predecessor with stunning new, textured dial.

The updated look is thanks to Yves Béhar, a Swiss designer and the principal force behind the industrial design firm fuseproject. In Béhar’s reinterpreted watch, the dial channels the classic design, once again raising Movado’s signature dot at the 12 o’clock position.

But he also sculpted linear peaks that form around the edge of the dial, which again suggest the sun’s rays like in the original. They provide a powerful dimensional statement but they have an ulterior motive: the ridges also subtly mark the minutes – a beautiful and purposeful design element – which the Museum did not have.

The new collection includes men’s, women’s and chronograph models, available in sandblasted black, gray, metallic silver or midnight blue concave dials. They are paired with black leather or black rubber straps with polished stainless steel buckles. Some models also feature a subtle, unexpected touch of color on the dial, again adding to the more energetic contemporary feel without being overstated.

The Movado Edge for men is rather direct, with its minimalistic design crafted in solid polished stainless steel or black PVD-finish with a round 40 mm case. Each dial is detailed by a raised, polished matching tonal dot at 12 o’clock, a matte hour hand, and glossy minute hand.

The women’s model reflects a clean, elegant modernity, in a 34mm polished case in either stainless steel, or in polished yellow gold or rose gold PVD-finish.

The chronograph is a greater departure from the classic model, just by virtue of being a chronograph. Futuristic in look and ambitious in reproducing the iconic design, it also comes in a polished stainless steel or black PVD-finished steel 42mm case. But even this new dial configuration remains true to the collection, with its sculpted ray-textured edge and raised polished tonal dot. A green or red hour hand provides a bright contrast to the darkness of the dial.

Nearly six decades ago, Horwitt’s quest was to identify the purest way to look at time. The result was the Movado Museum Dial. This unique 21st century reinterpretation by Béhar remains true to the original, ensuring that the classic lives on, just in a fresher form.