Ikepod has been renowned for their creative and groundbreaking art collaborations with their luxury watches, including Jeff KOONS and KAWS way back in 2011. Today, they announced a new collab with Tom Christopher. Introducing the Megapod MCT 1 Skaters in the Sky.
Press Release information. Reformatted. Commentary in italics.
The KAWS collaboration had seen some auction success when a sale broke records in a 2020 online auction by Phillips in HK last year, a decade over it’s introduction. The watch had a pre-sale estimate of HK$100,000 – 150,000 / €11,800-17,700 / $12,800-19,200, but went under the hammer for HK$300,000.
This reaffirmed and encouraged the Ikepod team that these collaborations are timeless. In this new collaboration, Ikepod had chosen to collaborate with artist Tom Christopher to release a new piece based on the Megapod.
Retail price is CHF 1500 / USD 1700 / EUR 1400.
The Ikepod Megapod Tom Christopher – MCT 1 Skaters in the Sky
The Ikepod collaboration is with Tom Christopher, and uses the Megapod collection as the base. Tom is a renowned expressionist artist whose paintings show the energy, vibrancy and compelling narratives of New York City; using vibrant colors and dynamic compositions to evoke the bustling movement of the city. As the New Yorker said, “Monet had his water lilies and Tom Christopher has Times Square.”
The Megapod collection offers a rather large selection of many variants (last count 10 variants excluding this new one) on the theme originally created in 1997, and was launched not long after the relaunch of Ikepod in 2016 with Emmanuel Guiet at the helm. Retail prices for the collection is pegged at CHF 1,250, so the Tom Christopher collab attracts a very modest premium of only CHF 250, making it a very desirable affordable art watch.
The idea behind the collaboration with Tom is to promote brilliant artwork that is still accessible (and within reach financially), even though it is already in public and private collections. The art on the dial is an original piece created by Tom to capture the spirit of the New York minute. The motif of passing skateboarders, birds, and skyscrapers to evoke the ever-bustling City.
The collaboration vibe is one which is immediately playful, as the colourful dial is very visually attractive. On closer examination, the components which make up the image becomes clear. The sky scrapers, and the skaters emerge.
The watch is the 46mm Megapod (feels like 43 on the wrist, no lugs). Miyota 9039 Movement. 5 ATM, 42 hours power reserve, sapphire glasses and see through open back, signed on the back.
The movement is visible from the case back, and is the automatic Miyota Movement with 42 hours of power reserve, and cased in 316 L Steel case, Waterproof 30 meters / 5ATM. In earlier examples we have tried, the Megapod wears small, which is a good thing because the case diameter is a whopping 46mm, though it feels like 43/44mm. Still large for the smaller wrist, but wraps around rather comfortably on average sized ones.
The watch will be available as a limited edition of a total of 200 pieces. 50 copies have been produced in first batch which is available now.
Ikepod x Tom Christopher
Tom uses the subject of the city as a launching pad to explore the many aspects of man’s struggle in an urban environment. Indeed, this theme is universal as his paintings have found a following in Europe, especially Paris, Germany and Tokyo. His work is more about street anthropology and urban geometry. From the first glance, the NY vibe is clear.
Just like names are given to streets, titles are given to describe moments. Moments of life suspended in time and signposted in color, black and white.
Christopher invites the viewer to see the city through his own eyes: strong lights, strong colors and each detail assembled to create a comprehensive whole.
