You know, I had the somewhat opposite impression reading the article. For me, what is interesting isn't the absolute genius of the design (which of course, it is). I find it more interesting that the watch has had enough staying power as a useful machine in society over hundreds of years to have gone through thousands of design iterations to arrive at the "genius" design. If you have enough smart engineers over several hundred years working at a problem, such an elegant design seems almost an inevitability to me.

I would call it "clever" if one or two engineers created this over perhaps a decade or so. With thousands of engineers over several hundred years, however, it just feels like the natural evolution of things.

I feel that a lot of things happening in today's society will be the "watch" in 100-200 years. A marvel of complexity at first glance, and then an acknowledgement of how much "standing on the shoulders of giants" contributes to things that are enjoyed on a daily basis.