A Unique “Special Order” Krayon Everywhere Horizon Sapphire

One of the great things when visiting independent watchmakers is that you really never know what to expect. With them, simply forget the pre-established visit programs, staying behind windows to observe the watchmakers. You most often enter their atelier and discover whatever is work-in-progress on the workbench. A case in point, during our last visit to Krayon, Remi Maillat, the founder of the brand, had just assembled a unique piece Everywhere commissioned by a collector… that we were able to shoot. And yes, it does look pretty stunning.

Krayon was created just a few years ago by Remi Maillat. Besides his developments behind the scene for other brands, Krayon and Remi Maillat made a remarkable debut with Everywhere, the first mechanical watch to be able to calculate the sunrise and sunset times everywhere on the globe. This impressive world-first earned Krayon a well-deserved accolade at the GPHG 2018 with the Innovation Prize.

If some (rare) mechanical watches can display the sunrise and sunset times, these are calibrated for a given place. The Krayon Everywhere stand out by offering the possibility to adjust the place without the intervention of a watchmaker or a modification of the movement. The functions and settings are accessed and regulated via the crown with the help of a push-piece at 8 o’clock to select the parameter to be adjusted (date, latitude, longitude or UTC). Its highly-complicated mechanism is able to compute the date (also taking into account the equation of time), the latitude, the longitude and the UTC. The automatic Krayon USS calibre comprises no fewer than 595 components, 4 differentials, 84 gear assemblies and 145 gear parts… without mentioning the highly-complex calculations needed to make all these parts perform the trick. 

The hours are read from the blue index on the 24-hour scale that also shows how many hours have passed since the last sunrise. Minutes are shown by a large central hand. The duration of the night and day, as well as the sunrise and sunset times, can be read at a glance on the 24-hour ring at the periphery of the dial. Turning the watch over, the exhibition case back reveals a unique micro-rotor movement. Beyond its complexity (in particular the differential and the mode selector), its finishing is top-notch with hand-polished chamfers and a special pattern radiating from the centre of the movement. For more information, about the watch read our hands-on article here.

The quite impressive unique piece we were able to take a look at has the particularity of having its bezel set with 70 baguette sapphires, weighing some 3.50 carats in total and its lugs set with 24 baguette sapphires for a total of around 1.35 carats. The white gold case is also entirely hand-engraved with a finely executed floral motif adorning its surface, including between the lugs. 

The watch comes on an alligator leather strap and is fitted with a gold pin buckle. Its price was not communicated to us, but the starting price for the Krayon Everywhere is CHF 600,000. For more information, please visit krayon.ch.