Design
The general direction of the Ammortizzato design was decided from the beginning and declared in the watch developing name: Cupolino, front fairing in Italian. At the initial design stage, when the watch was supposed to be a fibreglass shell over a steel frame, the first sketches resembled a ‘70s Ducati fairing.
Later the watch structure changed radically, but the overall line stuck, melting with another idea from the sketchbook: having the crystal flush with the case, creating a single surface all over the watch top.
When turning those sketches into a real product, a series of paper prototypes were developed to check for the best arrangements of the components following the ergonomics requisites. Those prototypes were tested on many people wrists to find the best possible anatomic shape. One of those prototypes revealed very promising and dictated the case back shape up to the actual production.
With size and proportions defined, it was time to design the actual case. In contrast to the complexity of the inside and the underside, the front of the watch is perfectly spherical, from lug to lug.
Fitting all the parts together was a challenging task. Not only the movement but the spring-loaded lug needed to be accessible, so a traditional case back wouldn’t work.
This issue was solved developing a novel two-parts case, joined with four Torx M2 screws, huge for watch standards. To vent the underside a bit, a large “Made in Italy” was engraved on the case back. A hidden or between-lugs crown position was considered but ultimately scrapped in favour of the more comfortable, classic 3 o’clock position, and classic is the crown guards profile too, while the top follows the watch spherical shape. The crown is minute but comfortable, its design follows old Veglia odometer’s reset button, and black in colour, contrasting with the colourful aluminium case.
Veglia-Borletti’s famous motoring instruments design is also the inspiration for the dials, starting the marvellous Contagiri per Competizione, a dial that already spawned countless watches, here with some little tweaks that makes it unique. For the other dials, three sports cars’ dashboards were chosen, one per decade from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s: Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, Giulia GT Junior and Lancia Delta HF Integrale.