by Spencer Bailey

When Copenhagen-based cell-phone company AEsir approached the Switzerland-born designer and Fuseproject founder Yves Behar to create its (and his first phone, they told Behar they wanted to manufacture "something locally," he says, "and something that would last 10 or 20 years." In response, he turned to the watch industry. "There's something to be said about how well watches survive our lifestyles," says Behar. "You bang them around, you drop them, you get in the shower with them, you jump in the sea with them.

Watches survive these things that phones never do." Having previously designed watches for BMW Mini and Issey Miyake, Behar took the techniqueshe'd learned and adapted them to a phone. Then AEsir partnered with craftspeople in Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands. Behar's audio experience-namely creating Bluetooth headsets and speakers for Jawbone-also aided him. The result is the AE+Y, a phone that, like a luxury timepiece, is fetching, long-lasting, and intricately manufactured. Featuring 38 custom-made mini screws (18 of which secure each key) and a sapphire crystal screen, the phone comes in surgical-grade stainless steel, 18-karat gold, and-coming soon-matte black.

(This article originally appeared in Surface Magazine.)