Qannati Luxury Watch Packaging Prototype
Qannati
Luxury
Watch
CLIENT
Qannati is a Bahrain-based luxury handcrafted watch manufacturer. The company approached our team for designing and building a packaging prototype of a premium watch box for their new product series.
The goal was to design a box that would match the uniqueness and the elegance of the watches.
CHALLENGE
Since most of the Qannati watches are produced in limited quantity, there was no point to invest in mass production of the watch boxes. Our job was to design a box that could be made using rapid prototyping or low-volume production methods, such as 3D printing or CNC machining.
From a technical standpoint, it was important to provide enough protection to the watch while keeping the design as simple as possible. It was also important to create a luxury watch box design that would be manufacturable at or below the cost specified by the customer.
SOLUTION
The first design we came up with was based inspired by the Qannati logo (letter Q). It had sharp edges and flat top and bottom surfaces. The second version was a modification of the first design where we went from a box-like shape to an egg-like shape but kept the lines and the edges sharp.
In a sense, the second design looked like a low-poly egg. We built three packaging prototypes out of different materials (aluminum, wood, and plastic). The internal components were made from leather and EVA foam. After reviewing and testing the prototypes, we realized that although the aluminum prototype was the most appealing and luxurious, it was also too expensive for short-run production.
Both CNC machined wood and plastic prototypes looked a little too rough. So, we decided to try 3D printing. After optimizing the design for 3D printing, we built a few more prototypes using different 3D printing technologies and materials.
We found that the one printed out of resin using large volume DLP technology was the best overall. It had a smooth surface and was easy to post-process, so that’s what we went with. The lock of the packaging prototype box was CNC-machined out of aluminum. The internal cushion was sewn out of leather, while the hinge was purchased off the shelf.
THE RESULT
Thanks to LA NPDT’s prototyping and short-run manufacturing capabilities, Qannati now has a watch box that can be produced in small quantities and on-demand. That allows the company to get the boxes when they need them and customizing them per the customer’s request.
Moreover, since the boxes were designed to be manufactured in small quantities, Qannati was able to save tens of thousands of dollars and several months on making the production molds. That allowed the company to get their new watch collection to customers faster and with minimum investment.
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