Round-UpSeven Spectacular Watches That Showcase Artistic Collaborations
For luxury watch brands, alliances with influential and famous artists is a way of not only renewing themselves but also presenting completely unique timepieces that can instantly lure watch collectors. Here are seven watches that present such artistic partnerships
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Collaborations between watchmakers and artists are nothing new and can be traced back to the 12th century, when highly decorative mechanical clocks were regarded as a symbol of one’s status and an eye for refined objets d’art. In modern times, even the likes of Swatch began inviting a host of different artists to design the dials of their timepieces, which helped catapult such partnerships to greater heights. Soon, brands from Bulgari and Patek Philippe to Zenith and Hublot followed suit and formed powerful synergies that pushed the limits of haute horlogerie and artistic expressions through watch design and crafts. Here’s a list of seven spectacular timepieces built in collaboration with some of the most high-profile contemporary artists who have used their miniature artistic work to inject vibrancy into watches from signature collections of various brands.
Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando Limited Edition
Unveiled at this year’s Watches and Wonders Geneva, this iteration of the Octo Finissimo is the third timepiece to come out of the partnership between Bulgari and the influential Japanese architect Tadao Ando. With more than 300 architectural designs under his name, Ando has garnered critical acclaim for his clean minimalist style that makes him a perfect fit for reinterpreting Octo Finissimo—a timepiece well-known for its avant-garde design. Having already introduced an all-titanium variant and a carbon tourbillon, the architect and the Swiss watchmakers have now come up with arguably the most pared-down variant of the watch. Presented in a 40mm matt-black ceramic case, it offers a lacquered-finished, and a rich blue dial with off-centred concentric circles emanating from the seconds hand at the seven o’clock position. The display is bereft of any over-the-top decorations or unnecessary extravagance and features a yellow gold crescent moon at five o’clock. This is a reference to the Japanese concept of Mikazuki that essentially uses the moon as a symbol for rebirth, hope and a prosperous future. Under the hood, we have the self-winding BVL138 calibre, and one can admire it through the sapphire caseback, which is engraved with Ando’s signature for an extra flourish.
Corum Heritage Hobo Coin
Immensely popular during the early 20th century, hobo coin or hobo nickel was an art form primarily practised in the United States by wandering hobos, who used to temper classic coins by engraving their designs onto the circular metal surfaces with the help of knives and other makeshift tools. Today, hobo coins are rare, but engravers such as Aleksey Saburov are trying to raise awareness about them. A Russian living in New York, Saburov creates 21st century hobo coins by utilising popular imagery, legends and beliefs to make unique works of micro art. And in 2018, Corum tapped his extraordinary talent to co-create a limited number of distinctive timepieces with each of their displays made from the one dollar coin, which Saburov himself hand-engraved. Seen here is the 43mm variant that features a skull with octopus tentacles emerging from it. The macabre design on the dial showcases Saburov’s exceptional craftsmanship and his attention to every single detail. The timepiece is fashioned out of high-quality silver and housed in a coined-edged case along with a slotted hobnail bezel. What further elevates the charm of this Corum Heritage Hobo Coin is its stylish denim strap that complements the unorthodox dial, deepening the contrast between these elements and the otherwise classic look of this timekeeper.
Hublot Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black
When the famed Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami visited Hublot’s manufacturing unit for the first time in 2020, he was ‘absolutely, truly blown away’. Known for his ultra-modern visual style that provides a subtle reflection between Japanese tradition and pop culture, Murakami was in awe of the Swiss watchmakers’ forward-looking technology, high-quality artisan techniques and values. This led him to collaborate with Hublot and later release the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black—a 45mm timepiece inspired by the artist’s iconic work of art, ‘Smiling Flowers’. Featuring a total of 563 black diamonds, the flower consumes the entire dial with its smiling centre placed outside the sapphire crystal glass and the petals mounted on a cleverly designed ball bearing system so that they spin with the movement of the wearer’s wrist. The timepiece is presented in a satin-finished and polished black ceramic case, which houses the brand’s Unico movement that can store a minimum power reserve of three days. Affixed to a black rubber strap, this watch is limited to just 200 units.
Louis Erard Excellence La Semaine ‘Louis Erard X Alain Silberstein’
The Louis Erard Excellence La Semaine is unlike any other watch. It’s quirky, playful and laidback, while standing in contrast to contemporary luxury watches that feature clean straight lines and polished surfaces. Conceived in association with the French interior-architect-turned-watch-designer Alain Silberstein, the timepiece comes with three unusual timekeeping hands—the red circle with a triangular pointer indicates the hours, the blue arrow-tipped hand conveys the minutes, and the seconds are displayed via the wobbly yellow hand. The matt-black dial also consists of Silberstein’s signature ‘Smiledays’ display, a day of the week indicator which uses emoji expressions instead of names to indicate which day of the week you’re on. Meanwhile, the automatic ETA 2836-2 movement can be seen through the transparent caseback with the personalised and open-worked Louis Erard rotor. The timepiece is housed in a sturdy and well-built titanium case and is fashioned with a black nylon strap.
Rado True Square Over The Abyss
This year, in a bid to expand their ongoing series of collaborations with a host of different designers across the world, Rado joined hands with New Delhi-based artistic duo, Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, who helped them craft one of the latest additions to the True Square collection. Thukral and Tagra have been a part of the art world for the past 18 years and their work mainly focuses on something that is deeply ingrained in humans but often forgotten in contemporary times: the relationship of us individuals to our communities. Moreover, the artists are always keen to understand their existence and question the status quo, which inspired the watch’s name—Over the Abyss. Presented in a 38mm matt blue high-tech ceramic case, the square shape has smooth and well-executed rounded corners. The blue lacquered dial features 37 ‘rays’—representing different time zones—that emanate from the centre and are painted in a gradation of colours ranging from blue to pink. The local time zone of the wearer has been superimposed on these 37 hands and for the time-telling purpose, we have the hour and minute hands, which feature mighty Super-LumiNova dots for perfect legibility in dark. Beating inside is Rado’s automatic calibre R763 that can store a power reserve of up to an impressive 80 hours and is hidden behind a solid caseback, displaying one of the paintings by Thukral and Tagra called Dominus Aeries that ‘explores visions from the future with references from the past’.
TAG Heuer Formula One Alec Monopoly
Famous for his tongue-in-cheek messages on luxury, celebrity culture and fame, graffiti artist Alec ‘Monopoly’ (born Alec Andon) is known particularly for depicting Rich Uncle Pennybags—the mascot of the beloved board game, Monopoly that inspired the artist’s moniker—as a symbol of capitalist greed. He has been working with TAG Heuer since 2016. Together, they have unveiled several special-edition timepieces and seen here is one of the iterations, launched in 2019. Housed in a 43mm ergonomically designed stainless steel case, the timepiece comes with a black PVD-coated unidirectional bezel that is engraved with a 60-minute scale. However, the centre of attraction here is the watch’s white dial, which features Monopoly’s iconic rendering of Rich Uncle Pennybags, called Monapi, who is covering his face with a red bandana and throwing green cash around the dial. Not only this, we also get to see the artist’s instantly recognisable signature in red, blue and yellow along. The date at three and the central, three-hand timekeeping runs on the in-house calibre Heuer 01, which can be seen through the transparent caseback that is also adorned with the funky-looking ‘ALEC’ logo.
Zenith Defy 21 Felipe Pantone
This special edition of the Zenith Defy 21 is provocative, striking and polarising—just like the work of the famous Argentine-Spanish artist, Felipe Pantone, who is best recognised for his innovative use of bold flashy colours and geometric shapes. The watch has been conceived in partnership with Pantone but this isn’t the first time that the Swiss brand and the artist have collaborated. In 2020, Zenith offered the façade of their main building as a canvas to the contemporary artist and he transformed it into a sight to behold. A year later, they asked him to reimagine their most advanced chronograph to date, and, as expected, he created something completely mind-bending. The Zenith Defy 21 Felipe Pantone is a strikingly colourful creation that is all about playing with frequencies—visually and mechanically. The El Primero 21 movement inside beats at a frequency of 36,000vph and has the capability of displaying 1/100th of a second, owing to the separate escapement for the chronograph feature, which beats at a whopping 3,60,000vph. The timepiece features multi-coloured bridges, indexes and sub-dials that reflect a gradient of metallic rainbow tones. To achieve this rainbow effect, specialists at Zenith have used an innovative three-dimensional PVD coating along with silicon particles, which give a spectrum of perfectly transitioning colours. The same colour tones can also be seen on the central hour and minute hands that come with a distorted look, resembling lightning bolts. As if all this wasn’t enough, the top bridges and portions of the dial of the watch are adorned with a moiré optical effect produced by thin alternating white and black bands—the same effect has been a recurring theme in much of Pantone’s artwork, including sculptures and paintings. Limited to a mere 100 units, the Zenith Defy 21 Felipe Pantone at once is a feat of exceptional watchmaking prowess and a piece of wearable kinetic art.
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BVLGARI Octo
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Louis Erard Excellence
75357TT02.BTT88
