Gagà Laboratorio’s Labormatic Is What Happens When A Watch Actually Has A Point Of View

Some watches feel like they were designed to disappear into good taste. Clean dial, safe case, familiar shape, heritage language, maybe a beige strap if the brand is feeling dangerous.

The Gagà Laboratorio Labormatic is not that kind of watch.

This is the sort of piece that makes you stop for a second because your brain has to figure out what it is looking at. The crown sits at 12 o’clock. The hour appears through a digital-style aperture. The minutes are shown in a more traditional analog way. The seconds come through a rotating central disc. It is not trying to be a classic dress watch, a vintage-inspired tool watch, or another “timeless” object built for people terrified of having taste.

That is why it hit our radar.

Not because it is different for the sake of being different. That is easy. The Labormatic is interesting because it feels like a brand trying to build a whole visual world from day one.

The Brand Story

Gagà Laboratorio comes from Ruben Tomella, the man behind Gagà Milano, and this new project feels like a more grown-up, collector-facing evolution of that same instinct: make watches people can recognize immediately. The brand describes Gagà Laboratorio as being born from Tomella’s vision to create timepieces with a unique and instantly recognizable design. For this next chapter, he partnered with Mo Coppoletta, an internationally known artist and designer who serves as Art Director for the brand.

That pairing tells you a lot. Tomella brings the Gagà energy: bold, playful, visual, not afraid of personality. Coppoletta brings the design-world eye: proportion, concept, graphics, mood, and that slightly rebellious creative polish. The result is not a watch that feels engineered by spreadsheet. It feels sketched, shaped, argued over, and pushed into something with a strong identity.

The brand says its creative work begins between London and Lugano. London is described as Coppoletta’s creative hub, where the initial sketches, 2D renderings, and concepts are born, while Lugano is where the watch takes physical shape through research, development, prototyping, and Swiss production. The Labormatic feels exactly like that kind of cross-pollination: Italian attitude, London creative edge, Swiss execution.

The Design Language

The Labormatic has a strange kind of elegance. Not quiet elegance. Not old-money elegance. More like the elegance of a vintage Italian lamp, a sculptural chair, a concept car dashboard, or a piece of furniture that looks expensive enough to make you nervous around it.

The crown-at-12 layout gives the watch a pocket-watch-meets-instrument feel, which connects back to the visual codes people associate with Gagà’s design universe. But here, it is cleaner and more controlled. The Labormatic does not feel like a loud fashion object. It feels like someone took that expressive DNA and tightened the screws.

The Bauhaus version makes the design philosophy especially clear. Gagà Laboratorio describes it as channeling the stark elegance and geometric rigor of the 1920s German art movement, built around beauty, simplicity, and the removal of unnecessary distractions.

That sounds serious, but the watch itself does not become cold. That is the trick. A lot of Bauhaus-inspired watches end up feeling sterile. The Labormatic has more charm than that. It has structure, but also a little wink. It looks designed, but not lifeless.

The Watch Itself

The Labormatic is built around a 42mm stainless steel case measuring 13.3mm thick, with 50 meters of water resistance. It uses a double-curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating and a see-through sapphire caseback.

The time display is the main character. Instead of a standard three-hand layout, the watch uses a digital hour display, an analog minute display, and a central rotating seconds disc. The crown is positioned at 12 o’clock, which gives the whole watch its unusual symmetry and instantly recognizable profile.

Inside is the La Joux-Perret LJP-G100 automatic movement, a strong choice for an independent watch in this price range. It offers a 68-hour power reserve, which means you can take it off for the weekend and not immediately come back to a dead watch on Monday. The movement also features a personalized rotor visible through the caseback.

The strap keeps the Italian design story going. The Bauhaus model comes on Saffiano leather, a textured material more often associated with luxury leather goods than typical watch straps. Gagà Laboratorio says the straps are handcrafted in Italy. Price is 3,900 CHF before VAT, which puts the Labormatic in serious territory for a young brand.

The Real Bet

The Labormatic is not going to win everyone over with pure spec-sheet logic. At this price, buyers have options. A lot of options. Established Swiss brands, pre-owned luxury pieces, smaller independents, microbrands with aggressive value propositions. So if someone is shopping like a calculator, this may not be the safest possible move.

But that is not really the point of this watch. The Labormatic is making a different bet. It is betting that some collectors are tired of watches that feel like they were designed to offend absolutely nobody. It is betting that design still matters, that personality has value, that a watch can be playful without becoming cheap, eccentric without becoming unserious, and bold without becoming desperate.

It is for someone who wants the watch to feel like an object. Something with shape. Mood. Design tension. A little bit of theatre. The Labormatic does not just tell time. It performs a little.

Why It Hit Our Radar

On Radar is for brands and watches that feel like they deserve more attention before the mainstream catches up or ignores them completely. Gagà Laboratorio deserves that look because the Labormatic has a real point of view. Whether someone loves it or hates it, at least there is something to react to.

Too many brands confuse “timeless” with “forgettable.” They make watches that are technically fine, visually safe, and emotionally dead on arrival. The Labormatic goes the other direction. It gives you crown-at-12 weirdness, Italian design attitude, Swiss movement credibility, and a dial layout that makes the watch feel like a small mechanical design object rather than another catalog entry.

Final Take

Gagà Laboratorio is not a household name yet, but the Labormatic is a strong first statement because it understands something many brands forget: attention is not the same thing as identity. This watch has identity. It feels Italian without becoming costume. It feels mechanical without becoming dry. It feels playful without asking to be treated like a toy. And most importantly, it feels memorable.

Specs

• Brand: Gagà Laboratorio
• Model: Labormatic
• Versions: Bauhaus, Cinquanta
• Case Size: 42mm
• Thickness: 13.3mm
• Case Material: Stainless steel
• Water Resistance: 50 meters
• Crystal: Double-curved sapphire with anti-reflective coating
• Caseback: See-through sapphire
• Crown: Positioned at 12 o’clock
• Movement: La Joux-Perret LJP-G100 automatic
• Power Reserve: 68 hours
• Display: Digital hour, analog minutes, central rotating seconds disc
• Strap: Saffiano leather, handcrafted in Italy
• Price: 3,900 CHF before VAT