Cauny x Ando

Cauny x Tadao Ando

The Cauny Ando is watch collection designed by Japan's most famous and awarded architect, Tadao Ando.

The collection is inspired by the green apples Ando often put outside his buildings, which serve as visual metaphors for Samuel Ullman's poem Youth. As the poem says, youth "is not a stage of life, but a movement of the heart", something that can be preserved throughout life and "often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty." Very influential in post WWII Japan, this poem became a personal mantra for Ando, who tries to keep the hopeful optimist and creative mindset so well captured by Ullman alive in his heart. This is so much so that, when we first asked the Japanese Pritzker to design a watch that represents the passing of time, he immediately knew what he wanted to make. No hesitation, no doubt: the sketch was on the table.

There are two models: the green versions, more faithful to the original concept, and a grey version, which pays homage to Andos mastery of concrete, as well as his mixture of man-made materials and natural forms.

Author's note

Tadao Ando on his design for Cauny:

"This watch reflects the spirit of the green apple—unripe, a little sour, yet full of promise.
American Poet Samuel Ullman wrote that youth is not a period of life, but a state of mind: the courage to face difficulty without fear, the resilience to keep dreaming despite setbacks.
It honors those who keep moving forward, not because they’ve arrived, but because they still believe in the light ahead.
A reminder that youth is not a time, but a movement of the heart."

Tadao Ando

Brief biography

Born in 1941 in Osaka, Tadao Ando is Japan's most famous architect and a legendary figure on the international scene. A former boxer, Tadao Ando did not learn architecture in school, but rather on trips in search of architectural sites, which he paid for with his boxing income. But this unorthodox background did not stop him from leaving his mark in the last 50 years of architectural history.His precise use of light and the geometric nature of his forms exert a profound fascination on people everywhere, whereas his mastery of concrete and austere, scenographic lines have gathered countless admirers — many o who peregrinate to the small island of Naoshima, where he built all the art museums in complete harmony with nature.

Tadao Ando has received all the most important architecture awards, including the Pritzker Prize in 1995. In recent years, he has also become a cult author for major figures in pop culture, having designed homes for Beyoncé, Jay Z, Giorgio Armani, Kim Kardashian, Bono Vox, Kanye West and Tom Ford.

What others are saying

Joining forces with the legendary Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the historic Swiss brand has produced the Cauny Ando, a watch with an incredibly unique take on the fun, design-forward quartz watch, which is bang on trend right now. exemplo 1

el arquitecto japonés quiere llevar ese símbolo de juventud a las horas cotidianas, convirtiendo su primer diseño de reloj en un símbolo de esperanza.

The architect quotes Samuel Ullman’s poem Youth: it is not a stage of life, but a movement of the heart. He brought it to his collaboration with the watch brand, a testament to how he lives his life, resulting in a series of apple- and concrete-inspired watches.

Joining forces with the legendary Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the historic Swiss brand has produced the Cauny Ando, a watch with an incredibly unique take on the fun, design-forward quartz watch, which is bang on trend right now.

el arquitecto japonés quiere llevar ese símbolo de juventud a las horas cotidianas, convirtiendo su primer diseño de reloj en un símbolo de esperanza.

The architect quotes Samuel Ullman’s poem Youth: it is not a stage of life, but a movement of the heart. He brought it to his collaboration with the watch brand, a testament to how he lives his life, resulting in a series of apple- and concrete-inspired watches.