Wabi Sabi

The web being such as it is, various objects and concepts are traded back and forth as though we were all in the same small city. A few years ago I was introduced to the term, “wabi.” This word was being used to describe the attractive appearance of old used military wristwatches. A while latter I found that the term is short for “Wabi Sabi” a Japanese aesthetic concept.

A well drafted explanation of WabiSabi may be found on the web as follows:

“It is also two separate words, with related but different meanings. "Wabi" is the kind of perfect beauty that is seemingly-paradoxically caused by just the right kind of imperfection, such as an asymmetry in a ceramic bowl which reflects the handmade craftsmanship, as opposed to another bowl which is perfect, but soul-less and machine-made.

"Sabi" is the kind of beauty that can come only with age, such as the patina on a very old bronze statue.

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WabiSabi

Without there being a name for it, I think this concept is actually appreciated to a high degree by collectors of antique clocks, watches and other timepieces. The closest terms in English would be patina and “character.” However, these terms are not exactly sufficient to describe objects which are worn, chipped, cracked, tarnished or faded in such a subtle way that even the best refinishing would never match the beauty of the object as-is.

An application of the concept is in the restoration of extremely old antiques. The best work is done by those who understand just how far to go in the restoration without erasing the attractive yet hard to describe character of the piece. On the other hand, we don’t want the item to be in such bad condition that there is “more wabi than watch!” Balance is necessary.

Now that we actually have a name for it, does anyone have a picture of a clock, watch, timepiece or watch tool which embodies the concept?

Best regards,

Greg