The Story Behind the Print
The concept of Time Lost grew out of my fascination with old watch faces. I’ve collected many vintage watch faces over the years, and I love how each one has its own personality. The different shapes, colors, and levels of wear.
When I arranged them tightly together, filling the whole frame, they started to feel like a single mosaic made from all these tiny histories. Some dials are round, others square or rectangular, and the numerals range from bold, oversized Arabic numbers to the most delicate little markers. The scratches, rust, and faded details say as much as the designs themselves; you can practically see the years passing across their surfaces.
A Universal Language
What really strikes me is how universal timekeeping is. No matter where we live or what culture we come from, we all need to know the time and date. It’s one of those quiet, shared human habits that keeps us connected. You can see that in the markings on these watch faces—they come from different countries, different eras, and different lives, yet they all speak the same language of hours and minutes.
For me, this piece is both a meditation on memory and a tribute to that universal impulse to hold onto moments. These watch faces once helped people structure their days, meet someone on time, mark an anniversary, or simply feel oriented in the world. Now they’ve become fragments of history, preserved in a tactile, visual form. Arranged together, they invite you to slow down and think about how we measure time, how we move through it, and how it quietly binds us to one another.
Technical Specifications
The image was created using a high-resolution digital back paired with a modern view camera, combining traditional photographic craftsmanship with contemporary precision. This approach highlights the tactile details and subtle textures of the worn and abused surfaces, capturing both the physical presence and emotional qualities ingrained through its altered appearance.