Industrial designer Laurens de Rijke's driver's watch drew strong reader interest last week. And speaking of ID'ers and wristwatches, here's another elegantly-designed timepiece: Carpenter's M18 Field Watch, designed by Michael DiTullo, coming out later this month.

Whereas the face of your average field watch can get a little busy, with the M18 "the goal was to create something so minimal and quiet that it asks for your attention," DiTullo explains.

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The face is inspired by classic Modernist clocks from the 1960s, reducing the dial down to 12 high-visibility hour indices. Outside the hour ring are subtle tonal second markers. Gloss black hour and minute hands are capped with C3 Lume accents. A Pantone 021c orange second hand is the only loud moment on the face.

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The 40mm case is machined from 316L stainless steel polished to a high gloss and with a double domed sapphire crystal. The curves of the case are particularly elegant with lugs that pay homage to classic wire lugs. The exhibition case back exposes the Miyota 821A 21 jewel automatic movement with a floating MD logo.

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The micro-perforated matte black leather band was inspired by vintage leather steering wheels found in classic sports cars.

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With the M18, both Brooklyn-based Carpenter Watches and DiTullo had the same goal, as the latter explains: "To make something of value, that appeals to the highest common denominator," the designer says. "In a world of 'minimum viable products' I think we made something special together."

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Arriving at the design of course required developing and rejecting countless versions. "We wanted to show you how many design concepts and subtle iterations go into making something this minimal," says DiTullo. "This video shows a fraction of the designs explored on our way to this final design:"

A lot of attention was also paid to the package design, as you can see in this unboxing video:

"Carpenter is a brand founded on design," says company founder Neil Carpenter. "I started Carpenter with the desire to make timepieces that I wanted, with an attention to detail I just couldn't find. Michael is a designer we have often looked to for inspiration and we are excited to work with him on our limited edition M18."

Yep, you heard the man right; sadly the M18 will be limited edition. Just twelve units are being made, and they'll debut next week on February 11th.

On sale: Feb 11th
Production: Limited numbered edition of only 12
Size: 40mm case
Movement: Miyota 821A 21 jewel automatic movement
Price: $625
More info: https://carpenterwatches.com , http://www.michaelditullo.com/content/products/carpenter-m18.html