The Diagram 17 Watch draws its inspiration from a drawing of the same name by artist Wassily Kandinsky in 1925. Kandinsky (1866-1944) was an influential Russian painter and art theorist who is credited with painting some of the very first purely abstract paintings, of which Diagram 17 is one. He referred to his devotion to inner beauty as fervor of spirit, and described his spiritual desire to create as an inner necessity. The watch also has influences stemming from Gestalt psychology. Gestalt tries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world. Kandinsky examines the effects of forces on straight lines and contrasting tones of curved and angled lines. This coincides with the research of Gestalt psychologists. Geometrical elements take on importance in both his teaching and painting.

Diagram 17 utilizes the circle, half-circle, the angle, straight lines and curves. Although the Diagram 17 Watch may seem intimating at first, telling time on the watch is actually quite easy. The watch consists of three hands, the hour, minute and second. The hour hand is represented by the group of three lines. The line in the center extending the farthest indicates the hour. The minute hand is represented by the singularly long hand (side without the two half circles) that extends to the edge of the dial. Finally, the second hand located in the center is represented by the small rectangular hand. Diagram 17 uses a Japanese Miyota movement and is 3 ATM.

The watch’s designer, Denis Guidone, was a student of architecture, design and visual communication who studied urban planning and architecture in Milan, Italy and Oporto, Portugal. His project process was born under the concept of subtraction, an ideology that follows the unification of opposites through a constant approach on the edge of architecture and visual communication, and at the same time mediated by an expressive intensity that addresses work on the basis of subtraction. Fascinated by the passing of time, Guidone carries out this intense didactic work for several universities and design schools, in Italy and abroad. His many awards and honorable mentions include: an Ida international design award in Los Angeles, IDOT Best Italian Design Product, and The Bruno Munari international award. In February 2018 Denis Guidone was appointed Ambassador of Italian Design and Culture from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Farnesina and "la Triennale di Milano".