Some of the most appreciated timepieces of the hour are collaborations between great minds, big artisans and horological masters. Some examples can be seen in the Harry Winston Opus collection. There also are some smaller scaled collaborations, like the one from the Grönefeld brothers and master Kari Voutilainen. The list is long and contains almost all the great names and minds of today’s horological life. We were pleasantly surprised to have heard about the collaboration between Fiona Krüger and L’Epée – the Vanitas wall clock.
Vanitas is a wall clock born from the collaboration between Fiona Krüger and L’Epée
Fiona Krüger is the lovely lady behind the Krüger timepieces – the skull shaped watches with deep spirituality and exquisite craftsmanship. Her watches have an interesting design with lugs built under the watch. Even a 48mm length watch fits well a small lady’s wrist. Her latest creations feature a magnificent guilloché dial created in the Kari Voutilainen dial Atelier.
L’Epée is known for the several collaborations with MB&F. One of the latest is the Destination Moon – a 41.4cm tall watch shaped as a space rocket. L’Epée is specialised in kinetic horological sculptures so that their association with Fiona Krüger is not a huge surprise.
The skull is the ultimate symbol of life, death and human experience. The Vanitas Dark version is tenebrous. Or just a grey themed watch going great with your black and white interior.
The Vanitas watches are presented in two variants: a colourful edition and a dark edition. The timepieces are manufactured from palladium-coated brass, have a height of 30.6cm and are 22cm wide.
Those of you familiar with the Krüger watches will recognise easily the Skull dial with central hours and minutes. The way she elected to show the power reserve is amusing and quirky. This indication is made using the mouth, which yawns larger and larger as the 35 days of power reserve go to the end.
35 days of power reserve indicated by the skull’s mouth: closed – full reserve, open – low power reserve.
The finishes are common for a Krüger timepiece. The coloured version has the face in a multi-coloured screen-printed pattern with a glossy ink. Each colour has a specific meaning related to the Dia de Los Muertos celebration. The dark variant has the main plate in black PVD coated brass and the face decorated with multi-layered screen-printed white ink.
Both editions are handmade in Switzerland and are limited to 50 pieces each. The price tag of the Vanitas watch is CHF 30,000.
