KRAYON Anywhere Only Watch 2023 Instructions
- June 12, 2024
- KRAYON
Table of Contents
Anywhere Only Watch 2023
Instructions
Press Kit ONLY WATCH June 2023
Art as an ode to nature
Anywhere Only Watch 2023
The rhythms of the water, the reflections of the sky and sun on the surface of
the sea, in myriad shades of blue, shining through in the currents, waves and
tides…
For the 2023 Edition of Only Watch,
Krayon invites us to a contemplation of the natural elements.
The one-off Anywhere Only Watch 2023 proposes an ideal of serene artistry and
technical sophistication time as an intimate connection with our blue
planet.
With an absolute mastery of technique, materials and know-how, Krayon again
shows its commitment to preserving the high level of craftsmanship which, for
over four centuries, has defined high watchmaking and timepiece decoration. Is
it not by cultivating these ancestral techniques, by reinterpreting them with
a contemporary vision, that we can ensure they will endure far into the
future?
For Only Watch 2023, KRAYON reiterates its invitation to contemplate the
natural elements, to take an inner journey, by reinterpreting the form and
movement of a marvellous painting, Coastal Scene by the Belgian painter Théo
van Rysselberghe. Magnificent in its simplicity and, paradoxically, in its
detail, this painting, exhibited at the National Gallery in London as an
example of the neo-impressionist movement, brings shapes and motion
startlingly to life using the technique of pointillism.
Krayon had previously explored the technique of miniature painting where
each colour is deposited by hand in tiny cells hollowed out of the metal to
create a work of incredible refinement for the 2021 edition of Only Watch.
This time, Krayon again keeps the colour blue and explores the very intricate
and precise technique of pointillism, as inspired by Théo van Rysselberghe’s
painting.
The artist’s perceptiveness with minute brushstrokes, the paint deposited in
small, skilful touches, giving almost imperceptible reliefs to this `canvas
dial’, the rich palette of a multitude of shades of blue, the reflection of
the sky on the waves, the light caressing their surface, creating contrasts to
reveal a myriad sparkles… In a masterfully controlled circular movement, the
dial reveals an exceptional creation, honouring age-old techniques by calling
on the rare specialists who still hold their secrets today.
The technical prowess of the movement and the artistic sensibility of the
dial: this watch born of the vision of watch designer Rémi Maillat, founder of
Krayon, keeps alive time-honoured Swiss traditions, while delighting
connoisseurs and lovers of refinements that have become only too rare.
For Only Watch 2023, KRAYON inaugurates the use of titanium to create a
resolutely contemporary watch.
Art as an ode to nature. Krayon celebrates the natural elements through
Anywhere Only Watch 2023, a timepiece designed to beguile collectors and
lovers of rare refinements in search of a singular complication the
indication of sunrises and sunsets, at the precise location chosen by the
wearer, anywhere in the world.
If its ingenuity and engineering prowess already suffice to set apart this
hyper-complication, a bespoke ephemeris intimately linked to its wearer, the
modernity of a case made of grade 5 titanium and the refinement of its
pointillist dial truly make it a one-of-a-kind watch. An elegant timepiece
that once again demonstrates, not only through the highest degree of hand-
finishing, all the expertise of the independent Swiss watchmaker.
An exceptional dial, delicately hand-painted in miniature
A unique piece created for the Only Watch 2023 charity auction, Anywhere Only
Watch 2023 represents a 432-component ideal of serene artistry and technical
sophistication. Following through on the Anywhere Only Watch 2021 Edition, its
exceptional dial blends engineering prowess with contemporary artistic
inspiration.
This year, in hues of a multitude of blues, colour enhances purpose on the
Anywhere watch, like an invitation to contemplation in the time before the sun
rises or sets, as it shines with a thousand flashes of light on the surface of
the water. This magical moment when nature, in suspension, awaits or
relinquishes the light.
A hyper-complication around an ephemeris intimately linked to the wearer
What if you could tell the exact time of sunrise or sunset at a location
of your choosing? Wherever you are, wherever you may choose to be, in body or
spirit. Anywhere on the planet. Anywhere is a new complication in the world of
fine watchmaking. Anywhere gives the time of our intimate relationship with
the earth. Because, ultimately, there is no place more important than the one
that is ours, the one before our eyes or in our mind’s eye, in our memories or
in our heart.
With the tip of his pencil, Rémi Maillat, watchmaking engineer and founder of
the brand, transforms unimagined concepts into real complexities of
watchmaking art. His Anywhere creation indicates the length of the day and the
time at which the sun rises and sets, while displaying the ephemeris at a
point on the globe chosen personally by the wearer of the watch, placing them
at the centre of a universal yet intimate watchmaking experience. This
emotional dimension of time and space, at the intersection of subjective and
objective geography, is where Krayon lives. Its interpretation of time takes
the form of a watch that goes beyond convention and habit. Like mornings and
evenings, never the same, always experienced in a personal way.
The beauty of rarity
Collectors and connoisseurs have always considered watches with dates or
astronomical indications to be masterpieces of mechanical engineering not only
because of their level of complexity, but also because their calendar displays
are directly derived from astronomical observations made since the earliest
civilisations.
For those who grasp its full scope, a calendar watch is a link with the
cosmos, a connection all the more symbolic by the deep horological science
behind it.
The calendar is a mechanical solution to an astronomical problem. From ancient
Egypt to Greece to Rome, from astronomers to mathematicians, and high priests,
too, the history of the calendar has mainly revolved around the question of
fitting the lunar and solar calendars into a scheme of whole numbers.
Anywhere Only Watch 2023 indicates the hours and minutes by means of two hands
placed at the centre of a dial that floats in the middle of the watch. It is
surrounded by an annular display upon which circulates, in perpetual motion, a
small sun that indicates the time over 24 hours. The ring-shaped zone consists
of two sectors: a day sector (azure blue) and a night sector (dark blue),
whose respective arc lengths indicate the sunrise and sunset times which can
be read on the réhaut or flange.
To integrate the geographical factor, Krayon devised a mechanical positioning
system, using rakes and rockers instead of a fixed cam. The relative position
of the two sapphire discs is determined not only by the reference position,
but also by the calendar. To this end, Anywhere shows the date and month in a
subsidiary dial at 6 o’clock. It is a double calendar, with all months
counting 31 days. It therefore requires only five quick, simple annual
adjustments, made directly with the crown, in both directions.
While these sources of inspiration are rooted in the past, Rémi Maillat has
reinterpreted, even transcended them with a contemporary vision.
The heart of the watch
Krayon’s Anywhere Only Watch 2023 is brought to life by the Calibre C030, a
movement meticulously designed, developed and entirely assembled in Neuchatel,
Switzerland by Rémi Maillat, Krayon’s founding watchmaker. It is the successor
to the one developed for the model presented at the Only Watch charity auction
in 2021.
With its (apparent) simplicity, width and slimness (only 5 mm), the movement’s
manual winding mechanism and technical sophistication (432 components, 72
hours of operation) holds a particular fascination, surprising the beholder
with the ability to define a point in space and time, geographically and
temporally, to which only they are connected.
True to a principle dear to Rémi Maillat, the wearer is given the ability to
set the watch to the city or place of their choice with regard to the sunrise
and sunset times at that precise location.
Krayon takes flight: five years rich in developments and creativity
Rémi Maillat, a watchmaking designer-engineer, is the founder of Krayon. His
is a precious talent: the ability to turn mathematical calculations into
fantastic watchmaking creations, with the self-evidence that comes from
simplicity. Whether he is working on commissions for renowned clients or
giving shape and substance to his own imagination, this gifted engineer
masters the technical complexities of the art of watchmaking. For Rémi
Maillat, a successful concept begins as a sketch at the tip of his pencil;
hence Krayon, as in crayon, the French word for pencil.
After introducing his first Everywhere creation in June 2017, Rémi Maillat
presented a bespoke creation in 2018, Everywhere Horizon; that same year it
was awarded the Best Watchmaking Innovation Prize by the Jury of the Grand
Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
In 2020, Rémi Maillat, true to the concept of the art of the singular
measurement of time, unveiled Anywhere: a marvellous synthesis of mathematics,
watchmaking artistry and poetry in details with a genuinely philosophical
dimension.
2021 marked Krayon’s first ever participation in the Only Watch charity
auction: Anywhere Métiers d’Art, the one-off watch created specifically for
the event it featured a magnificent sunset by Claude Monet sold for four
times its estimate.
In 2022, the Krayon brand presented a new opus, Anywhere Métiers d’Art Azur,
produced in only 15 pieces. The watch, with a mesmerising dial in shades of
blue myriad miniature touches of paint in tiny cells carved into the metal
is an invitation to escape, to discover and to dream.
Also in 2022, four years after winning the “Best Watchmaking Innovation Prize”
in 2018, Krayon won the “Calendar and Astronomy Prize” at the Geneva
Watchmaking Grand Prix for its second watch creation, Anywhere.
In 2023, Krayon again submitted a timepiece specifically created for the Only
Watch charity auction. The dial of the one-off Anywhere Only Watch 2023
magnifies the technique of pointillism, a miniature painting handmade by a
passionate artist from La Chaux-de-Fonds, which reinterprets the painting
Coastal Scene by Théo van Rysselberghe exhibited at London’s National Gallery.
Press Relations
289 Consulting Aude Campanelli T +41 78 637 16 91
Aude.campanelli@289consulting.com
Technical Specifications
Model:
- Krayon Only Watch 2023
- One-off piece created for the Only Watch charity auction, 2023 edition
Case:
- Grade 5 titanium
- Diameter 39mm
- Thickness 9.5mm
Dial:
- Métiers d’Art, miniature painting technique, with minute brushstrokes, by hand, in a multitude of blue tones
- Hour and minute indications at the centre
- Day and night indication
- Sunrise and sunset indications on the periphery, depending on the location chosen by the wearer
- 24-hour display
- Single date at 6 o’clock Indication of months
Calibre:
- Diameter: 35.40 mm
- Height: 5.00mm
- Power reserve: 72 hours
- Frequency: 3 Hz
- Hand-wound, with stop-work mechanism
- 55 rubies
- 432 components
Strap:
- Blue grained calfskin leather strap
- Grade 5 titanium buckle and pin
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