The Marvelous Krayon Anywhere Only Watch 2023 (Live Pics)

We’ve already looked at several unique pieces created for this year’s edition of the Only Watch event, the biennial charity auction of luxury timepieces uniting some of the finest watchmakers to raise funds to support research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Today, we are going up close and personal with the one-of-a-kind Krayon Anywhere for Only Watch 2023. And to make it stand out from the regular, admittedly already incredible Anywhere, Krayon presents its first-ever watch in titanium and has created a compelling miniature painting dial for it.

If you are a regular reader of MONOCHROME, you should be familiar with Krayon and the brand’s founder, Remi Maillat. This young independent watchmaking brand was created just a few years ago and made a remarkable debut with the Everywhere, the world’s first mechanical watch able to compute the sunrise and sunset times everywhere on the globe. This uber-complex development was awarded the innovation prize at the GPHG 2018.

In 2020, a relatively ‘simpler’ version of the watch called Anywhere was presented. If the location of the wearer (to define the sunrise and sunset) can no longer be set via the crown like for the Everywhere, it can still be adjusted by a watchmaker. This remains a convenient possibility, for instance, if you move to another country or place and would like your watch to be adapted accordingly. Krayon first participated in the Only Watch charity auction in 2021 with a unique edition of the Anywhere fitted with a Métiers d’Art dial inspired by a magnificent sunset by Claude Monet – the unique piece sold for an impressive CHF 320,000, four times its estimate.

For the 2023 edition, the brand is presenting another unique piece of the Anywhere fitted with an artistic dial – this time inspired by a painting called “Coastal Scene” by Belgian painter Théo van Rysselberghe. In characteristic neo-impressionist style, the miniature painting dial is made of a multitude of small brushstrokes. As explained in the press release, it is an invitation to contemplate natural elements: “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…”

Turning the watch over, the see-through case back offers an unimpeded view of the hand-wound C030 calibre. Running at 3hz with 72 hours of operation (limited by a stop work), it comprises no fewer than 432 parts to indicate the hours, minutes, seconds, 24-hour indication, sunrise and sunset, length of the night and day, date and month. The mechanism that makes it possible to adjust the sunrise/sunset indications is visible at 6 o’clock. The long central screw is used for the latitude. The two adjustment screws on the bridges on either side of the mechanism are used (respectively for the sunrise and the sunset) to set the longitude. The high-grade finishes include curvy waves, hand-polished inward and outward angles, polished recesses and more.

At 39mm by 9.5mm, the case is surprisingly compact given the complexity of the movement. For the first ever, Krayon fashioned it out of lightweight grade 5 titanium which offers extra comfort on the wrist. The Krayon Anywhere for Only Watch 2023 is presented on a blue-grained calfskin strap with a titanium pin buckle. The estimate is CHF 150,000 to CHF 250,000 but we expect this one to be hammered at a significantly higher hammer price given the results of the previous auction.

For more information, visit www.krayon.ch.

Created in 2005, Only Watch is a biennial fundraiser for research on muscular dystrophy – Association Monégasque Contre les Myopathies (AMM). Organized under the patronage of HSH Albert II de Monaco, the watches of the 10th edition will be auctioned by Christie’s on Saturday, 5 November 2023 in Geneva at Palexpo. More details at www.onlywatch.com.