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Photography by Lebond.
The Lebond Norman Foster Natural Titanium Edition is the lighter of the two expressions of Norman Foster’s first watch: grade 5 titanium left in its natural grey, a sunray-brushed dial that moves with the light and a blue rotor turning behind sapphire. Designed by the 1999 Pritzker laureate with the Design & Innovation Unit of the Norman Foster Foundation, it carries the palette of his buildings, metal, glass and daylight, onto the wrist.
The Lebond Norman Foster Natural Titanium Edition is a Swiss automatic watch with a micro-sandblasted grade 5 titanium case, a sunray-brushed dial, polished hands and a light grey integrated rubber strap. It shares its architecture with the Black Edition, a lugless case, a 12-hour bezel for a second time zone and the ETA 2892-A2 movement, but it reads in an entirely different register: open, luminous and technical.
It follows Lebond’s collaborations with Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura, and it begins, as Foster’s buildings do, with the relationship between parts: how the case meets the strap, how the dial communicates and how the mechanism becomes visible.
“A watch is intensely personal. It is something that travels with you and becomes part of everyday life.” Norman Foster
Natural titanium is the colour of Foster’s architecture. From the aluminium skin of the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich to the glass dome of the Reichstag in Berlin, his buildings have long been defined by bright metals, transparent surfaces and the play of daylight across them. The Natural Titanium Edition translates that palette with restraint.
The defining gesture of the watch is the removal of conventional lugs. Instead of being attached to two projecting horns, the strap becomes a direct continuation of the case, wrapping around it to create one uninterrupted silhouette. In natural titanium and light grey rubber, the transition is especially soft: case and strap read as a single object, much as structure and skin read as one in a Foster building.
Because the two are conceived together, the watch sits closer and lower on the wrist. The case measures 38.5 millimetres in diameter, 40 millimetres where it meets the strap, and 10 millimetres in thickness, under a domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. Water resistance is 50 metres.
Turn the watch over and the Natural Titanium Edition reveals its single note of colour: a blue rotor with five precision-machined perforations, turning above the Swiss automatic ETA 2892-A2. Against the grey of the titanium, the blue reads like sky seen through a structure, a small, deliberate contrast that makes the mechanism part of the watch’s identity.
“It expresses something I have always believed: engineering can also be beautiful when the way something works is made visible.” Norman Foster
The calibre beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour, with 21 jewels and a power reserve of approximately 50 hours. On the front, a bidirectional rotating 12-hour bezel lets the wearer read a second time zone with the main hour hand, a direct legacy of Foster’s passion for aviation and his life between continents.
The essentials of the Natural Titanium Edition are below.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Designer | Norman Foster and the Norman Foster Foundation Design & Innovation Unit |
| Case | Grade 5 titanium, micro-sandblasted, anti-fingerprint coating, individually numbered |
| Dimensions | 38.5 mm (40 mm including strap), 10 mm thick |
| Water resistance | 50 m |
| Dial | Sunray-brushed |
| Hands | Polished, with Super-LumiNova |
| Bezel | Bidirectional rotating 12-hour bezel (second time zone) |
| Crystals | Domed sapphire front, flat sapphire caseback, both anti-reflective |
| Movement | Swiss automatic ETA 2892-A2, 28,800 vph, 21 jewels, approx. 50 h power reserve |
| Rotor | Perforated, blue |
| Strap | Interchangeable integrated FKM rubber, light grey, 18 mm |
| Clasp | Grade 5 titanium deployant clasp, micro-sandblasted |
| Price | 3,500 euros (excluding taxes), worldwide shipping included |
The Natural Titanium Edition is the more versatile of the two, a watch for daylight hours and changing settings: the studio, the building site, a flight across time zones or a dinner afterwards. Titanium keeps it light, the integrated strap keeps it comfortable through long days, and the grade 5 titanium deployant clasp makes it easy to take on and off. Each watch is individually numbered and arrives with a presentation box, a collector’s letter and a photographic print.
For a quieter, darker reading of the same design, see the Lebond Norman Foster Black Edition. To understand the architect behind both, read our Norman Foster biography, or explore the full collection of architect-designed watches and its architects. The Natural Titanium Edition is available on the Lebond website.
“I hope it feels timeless rather than fashionable.” Norman Foster
Both share the same case, movement and functions. The Natural Titanium Edition has a micro-sandblasted titanium case, a sunray-brushed dial, polished hands, a blue rotor and a light grey strap; the Black Edition has a matte black DLC case, a matte black dial and hands, a red rotor and a black strap.
The Natural Titanium Edition has a blue perforated rotor, visible through the sapphire caseback above the Swiss automatic ETA 2892-A2 movement.
Yes. The case and clasp are made of grade 5 titanium, a light and strong alloy, and the lugless integrated strap lets the 38.5 mm case sit close to the wrist at 10 mm thick.
It is priced at 3,500 euros excluding taxes, with worldwide shipping included, through the Lebond Watches website.