Concord C1 Chronograph Watch Design Critique

A good deal of thought goes into the design of most watches. The result must be a blend of attractive visual elements combined with the features necessary for the watch to adequately tell the time. There is no "correct" way to do this, but the skilled designer must take take both the concept of form and function seriously. A watch falling too far to either extreme can be devoid of appeal. Recently, the Concord brand has begun an image re-haul. The Movado owned watch brand was due for revitalization. Having had success with the Concord La Scala and Concord Saratoga lines, nothing serious has come out of Concord in about 10 years. In fact the La Scala and Saratoga watches are wonderful designs, attractive and pleasantly unique. Movado however felt the brand needed to be thrust in a new direction. Newly appointed Concord CEO Vincent Perriard has a background in marketing, not watch design. His enthusiasm is admirable, but he has yet to prove himself as a watch branding whiz. Movado has given him the reigns of Concord. The result of Perriard's appointment is the C1 "Concept" line of watches. Highly publicized, and with first-class marketing rhetoric, the Concord C1 simply fails to impress me. To be honest, I wanted to like this watch. My hope was that gazing at it long enough would allow for the design to grow on me. My focus has been on the Concord C1 Chronograph with the rubber strap and carbon fiber background, which is actually the least attractive of the bunch. The steel bracelet available is attractive, but nothing special, and the basic models without the chronograph complication are far easier to look at.