Complexity
My son found an old, broken clock in one of the boxes in our old apartment. Naturally, he asked, “How does a clock work?” It was obvious that a simple explanation wouldn’t satisfy his curiosity, so we decided to take it apart.
The process was fun, but it also sparked a deeper question: “Who first imagined a clock—and how?“ I gave the best explanation I could, but the question lingered. I kept thinking about how easily we accept the world around us without really understanding it.
We rely on countless inventions, systems, and relationships, yet rarely stop to ask where they came from or how they function. We live surrounded by complexity - natural, mechanical, social - yet most of it remains invisible to us. It made me realize how easy it is to move through life without really seeing it, without questioning the mechanisms that shape our experience.
It's a fascinating question, and watch parts are a perfect catalyst for this topic. I imagine that it all started with a sun-dial... then intervals of time were derived, and once intervals were shown to be reliable and repeatable, an idea for a mechanism was born...
What I also like about this post, is how the photos capture the imperfections of the parts. We tend to think that time is perfect, but when you zoom in on the mechanism that keeps time, we realize how flawed of a tool it is..