ABOUT

“Paper casing and Inkdial”

Ben Li is a visual artist from UK who focuses on a collection of watch illustrations using primarily markers and pens. He was born and raised in Milton Keynes, a town located in Buckinghamshire, England. After studying Graphic and Media Design at University of the Arts London, Ben worked at various design jobs, including a jewellery design studio where he had his first introduction to watches.

During the 2020 lockdown in UK, Ben discovered the joy of drawing watches. From what was just an idea in the start to practise his illustration skills, he realised something about drawing the different designs, as well as perfecting the different symmetries and details of the watch made it a very therapeutic process. “I was really into it. It was an amazing and very Zen project to do!”.

Driven by this passion, Ben ended up drawing so many he decided to create an identity online to archive the collection. The name he also goes by is “Inkdial” which was a creative play on words reflecting “Illustrated watch dials”. To this day he has worked on 300+ pieces and has collaborated with household names such as IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, G-SHOCK, BRABUS and many more on the list.

Extended interview with IWC Journal here