Mudita’s $553 Minimalist Watch Has No Logo, No Apps, and 300% More Peace Of Mind

Your phone tracks your steps. Your smartwatch tracks your heart rate. Your earbuds track your location. At some point, we stopped using technology and started being used by it. Mudita Radiant is a field watch for people who’ve had enough. Built in Switzerland with the same minimalist philosophy that made Mudita’s “dumbphones” award-winners, it’s a mechanical timepiece that promises exceptional legibility, everyday durability, and absolutely zero notifications. Available now on Kickstarter in five nature-inspired colors and three sizes, it’s already raised over $58,000, proof that the anti-smartwatch revolution is just getting started.

If you don’t know Mudita, here’s the quick version: they’re the Polish company founded by Michał Kiciński (yes, the CD Projekt Red guy who helped create The Witcher) that’s been championing digital minimalism through products that harmonize with your life instead of competing for your attention. Their Mudita Kompakt phone features an E Ink® display and an Offline+ switch that cuts all wireless signals at the hardware level. Their previous watch, the Mudita Element, launched on Kickstarter and hit “Fully funded” in 23 minutes. They’ve won awards from the Calm Tech Institute for respecting attention and peace of mind. Now they’re applying that same philosophy to a proper field watch.

Designer: Mudita

Click Here to Buy Now: $553 $806 ($253 off). Hurry, only 1/80 left! Raised over $58,000.

What makes the Radiant watch actually interesting is how it fits into Mudita’s broader ecosystem. Their phones use E Ink® displays, hardware-level privacy switches, and custom operating systems designed to minimize distraction. Their alarm clocks use breathing features and calming interfaces. Everything they make pushes back against the attention economy. The Radiant continues that philosophy on your wrist. It’s mechanical, so there’s no battery to charge, no software to update, no notifications to silence. You set it, you wear it. The automatic movement keeps running because you’re moving, which is a level of symbiosis that smartwatches can only simulate with step counters and haptic feedback.

The Radiant runs on a Sellita SW 200 Elaboré movement, the enhanced grade that’s regulated in three positions instead of the standard two. It beats at 28,800 vph, giving you that smooth seconds sweep, with accuracy rated at ±7 to ±20 seconds per day and a 38 to 41 hour power reserve. The movement is protected by an Incabloc shock protection system, which is exactly what you want if this watch is actually going to see daily wear. Everything is manufactured and hand-assembled by Chrono AG, a company that’s been making Swiss Made private-label watches since 1981. Their headquarters sits in a historic building from 1915 that once housed one of Switzerland’s first watchmaking schools, which feels appropriately poetic for a watch that’s trying to return to fundamentals.

The Radiant comes in 32mm, 37mm, and 40mm case diameters, all with a profile between 10 and 10.5mm. Finding a 32mm automatic field watch is nearly impossible in 2025, when most brands seem convinced everyone wants a 42mm wrist anchor. Mudita clearly designed this to actually fit different wrists, which sounds obvious until you realize how few brands bother. The case is brushed 316L surgical-grade stainless steel with different finishing techniques: circular brushing on the case top and crown, linear brushing on the sides. The brushed finish serves a practical purpose beyond aesthetics, it masks the inevitable minor scratches and fingerprints that come with daily wear. There’s also a crown guard, which protects against accidental bumps without making the watch look like it’s trying too hard to be tactical.

Given that dumbphones still have screens but watches don’t, a lot went into channeling Mudita’s minimalist philosophy into the watch’s dial. There’s no logo. None. The only branding is a small lotus carved into the crown, which you’ll feel when you wind the watch but won’t see unless you’re looking for it. The dial uses a custom Mudita typeface with a full 12-hour layout, every number present and accounted for, which makes reading the time genuinely effortless. The hands and hour markers are coated with Swiss Super-LumiNova BGW9, one of the brightest luminescent materials available. Mudita tested this thing in various lighting conditions, from bright sunlight to total darkness, and paired the lume with a sapphire crystal that has triple anti-reflective coating. The sapphire rates 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, second only to diamond, so unless you’re deliberately trying to scratch it, the crystal should stay clear for years.

The dial’s colors tell you everything about Mudita’s design ethos. Natural White like fresh snow, Sand Beige like silent coastlines, Moss Green drawn from forest trails, Baltic Blue mirroring the ocean, and Charcoal Black echoing raw charcoal texture. These aren’t vibrant, look-at-me colors. They’re muted, grounded tones that pair with the six available strap colors, which include all five dial colors plus Pebble Gray. The straps use a quick-release mechanism, so swapping straps takes seconds without tools. This matters more than it sounds because it means the watch adapts to different contexts without requiring you to own multiple watches.

Water resistance sits at 10 ATM, which translates to 100 meters. That’s enough for rain, hand washing, swimming, even a shower if you’re not fiddling with the crown underwater. It’s not a dive watch, but it’s legitimately waterproof for everyday life, which is exactly what a field watch should be. The caseback features a unique engraved number for each watch, making every Radiant technically a limited edition piece. Mudita is transparent about this being a collectible item, but they’re not using artificial scarcity as a marketing gimmick. The numbering is there because they’re making these in controlled batches, not churning out thousands.

Searches for “dumbphones” have risen over 300% in the past year. Feature phone sales in the UK reached 450,000 units in 2024. This isn’t a niche movement anymore – people are genuinely exhausted by devices that demand constant attention, and Mudita is building products for that exhaustion. The Radiant isn’t trying to replace your smartphone or compete with your Apple Watch. It’s trying to be the thing you wear when being punctual is important, nothing else. Not your fitness, not your step count, not your Slack or Teams notifications, and not someone calling you on your phone and having a buzzing sensation on your wrist. In other words, it’s trying to be what watches used to be before technology somehow convinced us it could be everything else.

The Ultra Early Bird tier sits at €479 ($556 USD), saving €220 off the planned retail price of €699 ($810 USD). There’s also a Bundle option at €879 for two watches, which saves a decent chunk off retail if you’re buying pairs. All tiers include a 14-day trial period where you can return the watch for a full refund if it’s undamaged, and all prices include taxes and duties, no surprise tariffs suddenly catching you off guard. Mudita is committing to delivering every single watch by May 31, 2026, although they’re aiming for a moonshot of delivering it just before Christmas this year. They’ve however offered backers a full money refund just in case shipping doesn’t work out pre-Christmas. Either that, or hold on to your pledge and you’ll definitely get the watch before May 31st, 2026.

Click Here to Buy Now: $553 $806 ($253 off). Hurry, only 1/80 left! Raised over $58,000.

The post Mudita’s $553 Minimalist Watch Has No Logo, No Apps, and 300% More Peace Of Mind first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Compact E Ink Phone Promises to Simplify Your Digital Life

This year’s been exhausting, hasn’t it?! Especially the last few weeks have been emotionally and mentally draining, and it isn’t just the news, but more specifically, it’s the information overload we’ve been subjected to. Even for a device small enough to fit in our pockets, the smartphone is capable of creating a lot of ‘noise’ in the form of news, texts, calls, notifications, ads, and a lot of data clutter that can overwhelm our brains. This data clutter and relentless bombardment of information is what led to the creation of the Mudita Kompakt, a phone that prioritizes mindful living over doomscrolling.

Created by the minds behind CD Projekt (think The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077), Mudita Kompakt reflects co-founder Michał Kiciński’s personal journey toward a more balanced life. After years in the gaming industry, where endless connection was the norm, he sought a solution to keep people both connected and grounded. That drive led to Mudita’s mission to design devices that encourage simplicity, privacy, and a conscious digital experience.

Designer: Mudita

Click Here to Buy Now: $316 $465 (32% off). Hurry, only 2/900 left! Raised over $336,000.

The Mudita Kompakt keeps things refreshingly simple. Its 4.3-inch E Ink display is easy on the eyes and demands very little power. That’s right—this phone’s battery can last up to six days, which, in today’s daily-charging world, feels almost revolutionary. Inside, it packs a quad-core MediaTek processor, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage (expandable via memory card). Sure, these aren’t flagship specs, but that’s really not the point. It’s all about cutting the clutter and retaining only the things that ‘spark joy’ here. Mudita keeps it lean, pre-loading only the most basic apps like phone, SMS, a calculator, and a voice recorder—none of those attention-demanding apps or bloatware that love to ping you at all hours.

For a phone, the Mudita Kompakt offers dual-SIM capabilities, with 4G LTE compatibility. You can make and receive calls on either SIM and even make/receive VoLTE or Wi-Fi calls, offering connectivity without much of a compromise. Given its entire premise is to stay disconnected from the clutter of the internet, it clearly doesn’t come with 5G, but that’s more of a feature than a bug, truth be told. There’s even support for eSIMs, which is perfect for carriers that don’t traditionally offer SIM cards.

For a phone that strives to be different from the status quo, it still makes a conscious effort to retain features that are cutting-edge… only if they matter to Mudita’s overarching ethos. You may not have a flashy screen and 5G connectivity, but the Kompakt DOES come with a fingerprint sensor to unlock your phone, ensuring biometric-grade security feels reassuring. Surprisingly enough, the phone comes with NFC support too, allowing you to use existing NFC tags around the house, as well as ensuring future compatibility with NFC-ready apps that Mudita may introduce down the road.

What’s remarkable about the Kompakt is its genuine intent to keep users focused on the real world, not the screen. It features an Offline+ mode activated by a physical switch, cutting off cell networks, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, and even disabling the mics and camera for a true offline experience. Think of it as Airplane Mode on steroids, with no features that cause you to linger on your phone for too long. You can read existing messages (you won’t receive new ones), browse through your gallery, or listen to music without any distractions. All these actions have heavy intent behind them, so you’re less likely to end up in a doomscrolling spiral.

Tailored for E Ink®

On the design front, the Mudita Kompakt feels compact, sturdy, and unassuming. It boasts an IP54 rating, meaning it’s resistant to dust and splashes, so it can hold up to daily wear without needing a bulky case. While it does include a modest 8MP camera, this isn’t about capturing every detail of your day—just the moments you truly want to remember. Photos get displayed in greyscale on your E Ink display, adding a rather retro touch to your photography chops. And for the rare occasion you need to recharge, it’s conveniently equipped with wireless charging and a USB-C port, keeping up with modern conveniences.

The Kompakt’s software is built on a custom OS based on the Android Open Source Project. The twist? There’s no Google lurking in the background, collecting data. Mudita promises three years of software updates to keep things smooth, even though this isn’t the kind of phone that’ll be weighed down by big updates. That’s another angle to the Kompakt’s appeal: minimal fuss, minimal distraction, and maximum control over what you interact with.

Of course, going minimalist does have its trade-offs. There’s no Google Play Store here, so you won’t find a wide selection of apps. Mudita provides basic offline maps, a music player, and a few utilities like a meditation timer, voice recorder, an e-reader, and even a chess app that promises you won’t find yourself getting bored. You can, however, sideload other Android apps, although compatibility isn’t guaranteed. For those of us used to feature-packed smartphones, adjusting to a stripped-down OS could be tricky. But that’s the appeal—it’s a purposeful move away from digital noise, offering just enough functionality to meet core needs without temptations. A true digital detox, if you will.

Another perk of the Kompakt is privacy. Since it doesn’t sync with most cloud services, your data stays on your device. Sure, it may feel a bit old-fashioned to manage contacts and files through Mudita’s desktop app, but for privacy-minded users, this setup grants peace of mind. It’s a minor detour to ditch the endless cloud syncs and data-hungry services tracking your every move. The Kompakt is available starting at $316 for early adopters, with a 14-day money-back guarantee just in case the Kompakt feels like too much of a culture shock. Mudita offers Global and North American versions of the Kompakt, so it’s compatible with networks worldwide. Just don’t expect it to work everywhere yet—currently, it’s only shipping to select countries in Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Oh, and just in case you were wondering… it has a 3.5mm audio jack!

Click Here to Buy Now: $316 $465 (32% off). Hurry, only 2/900 left! Raised over $336,000.

The post This Compact E Ink Phone Promises to Simplify Your Digital Life first appeared on Yanko Design.