Defakto is an independent German watchmaker that manufactures high-quality, minimal design watches since 2009 in Pforzheim, Germany. The diversity of in-house manufacturing and craftsmanship is an integral characteristic of Defakto. Very few watch brands can offer such high in-house added value.
On the design level, all watches of the unisex Defakto collection are products of Bauhaus-inspired contemporary minimalist design and quality. The manifold collection includes three, two- and single-hand watches that will catch your eye.
Guaranteed and driven by Raphael Ickler, Executive, Designer and Founder of the Defakto Watch Manufactory, the unmatched product quality and unique aesthetic is also attributed to the Ickler family’s more than 95 years of watchmaking experience. Another important part of Defakto is its one-man company structure. All processes from design, development, watchmaking to communication are carried out by Raphael Ickler personally.
By the high level of personal attention and creative freedom - stringent, honest watches, emphasizing a minimal design aesthetic and sustainable, regional fabrication arise. Defakto offers function-driven, high-quality Ickler Manufactory watch cases, the pure beauty of a balanced interplay between hands and dial, and the reliability of precise and durable Swiss movements.
As you will experience while inspecting the collection, Defakto watches offer advanced design concepts in terms of function and time perception. Each Defakto wristwatch is made by Raphael Ickler personally and can be further individualized according to the customer’s desires.
The high quality guaranteed by Defakto can be traced back to more than 95 years of family experience in watchmaking. This goes back to 1924, when Karl Ickler founded Ickler GmbH in the jewelry and watch-city of Pforzheim at the foot of the famous black forest. Since, high quality watchcases and watches are produced here at the Ickler facilities.
The minimalistic timepieces of Defakto are the brainchild of Designer and Executive Raphael Ickler, representing the fourth generation of Ickler watchmaking tradition and manufacture know-how. During his Master at the University of Arts in Bremen the concept of Defakto was born. The aim was to create a unique design language and to combine this with a autark production- and work scenario to create honest and conclusive watches that are, due to their timeless functional design and high product quality, not related to fast-paced trends. In addition to the independent and timeless unisex watch design, high-quality and sustainable in-house production, another unique factor is the one-man structure of the Defakto Watch Manufactory.
The sustainable, almost self-sufficient creation and support process leads to stringent, clearly designed products and one-to-one communication directly between the watch enthusiast and the maker. This lived sovereignty is intended and is the principle behind the technical and artistic standards of the Defakto brand. In this way, a maximum of 400-500 watches can be produced per year. All Defakto watches are made to order within 2-4 weeks directly for the customer. Each watch can be individualized on request.
Reflecting this background, Defakto is a member of the "Deutscher Werkbund" - an institution which was founded in 1907 by Peter Behrens, the "Wiener Werkstätten" and others. This economic and cultural "association of artists, architects, entrepreneurs and experts" was and is an important source of inspiration in the fields of modern architecture and industrial design. The Bauhaus movement later emerged from it, which has not lost its relevance and importance to this day.
Defakto Watch Collection
Transit
The extravagant Defakto Transit was created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Defakto Watch Manufactory. The watch has won the internationally renowned German Design Award 2020 in the category Winner product design luxury goods. The watch is the most complex manufacture created by Defakto yet. It offers unique modern aesthetics combined with high quality components such as a new in-house made 3-piece watchcase with brushed surface, a konvex sapphire crystal and a swiss made automatic movement.
The minimalist design of the Defakto Kinetik watch aims to visually emphasize the interaction of its watch hands and the resulting geometrical constellations. The watch has been upgraded with nightglowing Superluminova coating on hands and indexes. The Bauhaus-inspired Defakto Kinetik connects all three watch hands to the Swiss-made ETA 2824-2 automatic movement via three identical disks. As they pass above, the skeletonized hands fully enclose minute and hour indexes of identical line strength.
The Defakto Eins Inkognito could not be more puristic. In addition to its aesthetics the ultra-minimal dial of the logo-free single-hand watch leads to a timepiece that allows both left- and right-handed use in the same model by simply turning the watch 180 degrees and adjusting the time to fit. The Eins Inkognito is the only minimalist one-hand watch that will turn heads. Its puristic dial and the singular skeleton hand make a unique statement – one that says you live at your own pace.
The remastered edition of the succesfull unisex Defakto Vektor series - the Vektor Orbit offers a in-house made, 40 mm Ickler-watchcase, a scratch-resistant anti-reflective sapphire crystal, clocks with the automatic Swiss movement ETA 2824-2 and is now 5 Atm waterproof. In addition, all three hands are covered with luminescent Superluminova. It offers a retro-futuristic design embodied by a matt black convex dial circumnavigated by manually shaped hands. The finely drawn indexation and the thin, rounded hands with disc-like hearts make up the modern, puristic character of the Defakto Vektor Orbit.
The minimalist design watch Defakto Akkord is a striking, slightly brutalist aesthetic statement offering excellent readability - now with a new handset that adds the second. The semi-coarse brushing of the 42 mm watchcase middle piece gives the watch a subtle texture, while the contrasting materials play off the stark dial for a modern and sophisticated look. The accurate Swiss-made automatic movement ETA 2824 drives the skeletonized hour hand, whose inner width perfectly matches the index-sized minute hand, providing a unified geometric stripe as the hands eclipse each other.
Defakto´s first watch was a one-hander - the successful Defakto Eins. With the new Defakto Meta I am coming back to this concept to celebrate Defakto´s 10 year anniversary. The new, in-house made single-hand watch Defakto Meta is a super minimal, night glowing approx-watch that helps to find your pace and de-accelerate the day. The Defakto Meta follows the design idea of the Defakto Transit which has just won the German Design Award 2020. As customers of the original Eins already highly appreciated, the intuitive, approximate time perception lives on and is the core idea of the new Meta series.
The single-hand watch Defakto Mono with fluorescent one-hand offers a minimal design that uses five-minute indexes to decode time. The casual scale stimulates the wearers intuition and leads to a more relaxed experience of time. Its very flat 6.6 mm stainless steel case has a diameter of 40 mm. The watch offers ample space to carry the puristic aesthetics but doesn't wear big – making it a perfect unisex watch. In combination with the matching needle-like hand, this is a watch for minimalists that like the idea of combining understatement with unique concepts of time.
The two-handed Defakto Dialog watch with fluorescent hands is characterized by its understated aesthetics, its flat case and its clear time-mapping. By doing away with the second hand, the resulting watch makes a very balanced and quiet impression. The finely-delineated indexing perfectly matches the light, rounded hands – both of which ensure excellent readability and ensure the elegant appearance of this Bauhaus-inspired watch.
The minimalistic three-hand watch Defakto Struktur with fluorescent hands is characterized by its ultra-flat 6.6 mm stainless steel case and its characteristically scaled dial. Together they make up a highly functional, understated watch. The finely-drawn indexation of second, minute and hour steps are drawn with identical lineweight to achieve a pure and balanced design. This effort is directly supported by the light, rounded hands, which add extra character to the watch. The separate second hand ensures accurate reading and adds a certain liveliness of detail to the puristic watch theme.
The second version of the Future Perfect with sunburst pattern is a special edition of this popular watch - limited to 30 pieces. 10% of the net price will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.
The remastered edition of the succesfull Defakto Vektor series - the flat, retro-futuristic Vektor Modul offers a in-house made, 39 mm Ickler-watchcase with a sandblasted surface, a domed acrylic crystal, an automatic Japan made movement Miyota 9015 and 3 Atm water resistance. Limited to 20 pieces.
