FIONA KRUGER , VANITAS (COLOURFUL EDITION) WATCH

CONCIERGE PRICE: $57,291

Fiona Kruger Vanitas Colourful Edition Clock from Fiona Kruger Timepieces
After the string of success that Fiona Kruger Timepieces Switzerland achieved with Fiona Kruger Skull Watch, the first in what proved to be a series of high art design mechanical movement watch models with undeniable client appeal, that has not only included the skull design case models such as the Fiona Kruger Black Skull, the colourful Watch Fiona Kruger Celebration Skull, and the Fiona Kruger Timepieces “Petit Skull (Celebration) Eternity”, and the more additions of the Fiona Kruger Chaos and Mechanical Entropy Collection, it was perhaps no surprise that she would extend her range of timepieces to include a collection of clocks, to tell the time to slightly different audience.

Produced in association with L’Epee 1839, the premiere manufacturer dedicated to high end clocks located in the Swiss Jura mountains, the Fiona Kruger Timepiece Vanitas Collection sought to translate the Skull Design watch case of the Fiona Kruger Skull Watch into a clock design, marrying this with the name and high art design influence of Vanitas painting, a form of 16th and 17th Century Art focused on the emptiness, futility and vanity of life, which coincidentally enough often featured a skull within the overall art design of a canvas. Bearing in mind the fact that the skull design (and indeed the ‘skeleton’), both as powerful symbols of life and death, were both established motifs in horological history, Haute Horlogerie, and the wider world of high art, it was perhaps inevitable, considering Fiona Kruger’s own artistic influences, that she would seek to integrate these elements once again into black or more colourful mechanical clock collections. While plenty of other high-end watch manufacturers, including Hajime Asaoka for example, have flirted with the skull motif, it is truly Fiona Kruger who has made this design of the case and movement her own.

With a major part of Fiona Kruger’s art design and inspiration for her original line of skull-shaped case mechanical movement Fiona Kruger Timepieces Switzerland Skull watches coming from the lasting impression formed after witnessing the “Day of the Dead” (Dia de Los Muertos) celebrations in Mexico City as a child, the colour palette forming the basis of those same “Day of the Dead” (Dia de Los Muertos) celebrations once again provided the basis for the transition to her wall clock manufacture in association with L’Epee 1839, located in Delemont in the Swiss Jura mountains.

L’Epee, originally founded near Besancon in France, is renowned for producing very special wall clocks and timepieces such as the ‘Giant Regulator’ of 1994 and a host of more recent collaborations with MB&F Watch and others. Thus the limited edition mechanical movement Fiona Kruger Vanitas Collection Wall Clock was made available in two versions, one featuring a monochrome, or ‘Dark’ aesthetic, of black PVD coated brass with the skull features highlighted in a white silkscreen design, while the other, the Fiona Kruger Timepieces Vanitas Colourful Edition featured a combination of bright colors, with blue for trust, yellow for death itself, red for life, white for purity, pink for celebration, purple for grief, orange for the sun and black for mortality. In the best traditions of the “Day of the Dead” (Dia de Los Muertos), green was omitted. Working with Epee, Fiona Kruger has indeed achieved something remarkable with the Fiona Kruger Vanitas Collection of limited edition Wall Clocks.

The Fiona Kruger Vanitas Colourful Edition limited edition mechanical movement wall clock is both a synthesis of high art design excellence, a riot of colour, superlative fine finishing to its movement, and humor, a reminder that life is not to be taken too seriously as those hour and minute hands spin quickly by, in the form a playful addition to the mechanism which animates the jaw bone to reflect he power reserve available to that clock: As the Fiona Kruger Vanitas Colourful Edition limited edition mechanical movement wall clock consumes its power reserve, the mouth and jaw begins to ‘yawn’, slowly falling lower over the course of the 35 days of power reserve available, perhaps until the look of shock on the skull’s ‘face is sufficient to demand that it be rewound. As the Vanitas Colorful edition is rewound, the mouth and jaw return and the skull is returned to ‘full health’ – an extremely humorous twist, the implementation of which is ample demonstration of the level of collaboration between L’Epee and Fiona Kruger as designer, and a movement further forward from L’Epee and Arnaud Nicolas’ 175th anniversary of the clock specialist founded in Besancon, the piece from 2014, the Starfleet Machine, their MB&F collaboration, the Sherman Table Clock, and others such as the Arachnophobia.

In addition to the playful ‘yawn’ of the clock’s power reserve indication, L’Epee 1839 has made an incredible job of translating Fiona Kruger’s high art vision into the reality of a large wall clock of some 305mm diameter, an overall weight of 5kg and an incredible 2.2kg solely for the manual winding movement itself. The in house designed and manufactured manual wind movement with incabloc shock protection sits within a housing, black anodized, with mineral glass dial side glass. The main movement plate in the movement of the Fiona Kruger Vanitas Colourful Edition limited edition mechanical is in black PVD coated and then screen printed gloss ink multi colorway combination of bright colors, with blue for trust, yellow for death itself, red for life, white for purity, pink for celebration, purple for grief, orange for the sun and black for mortality. In the best traditions of the “Day of the Dead” (Dia de Los Muertos), green is omitted, the matt black housing black elements reinforcing the darker tones and mortality in contrast to the lighter colors. The main parts of the movement mechanism itself are palladium-coated brass, and the effect of this, in conjunction with the wild range of colors and matt black housing, black componentry and white gloss screen print highlights is very satisfying.

To the dial side of the skull-shaped watch face, the main escapement is located centrally between and slightly above the skull eye sockets, the two arbours for the mainspring barrels providing the eyes themselves, with the mechanism for the animated jaw power reserve indicator sitting just below the skull’s ‘nose’ area. When combined with the animated jaw power reserve indicator and the movement of the beautifully curved hands, the positioning of the stainless steel mechanism components in this manner means that a degree of animation is also imparted to the watch dial side face as a whole, which, together with the stunning color palette of the Fiona Kruger Vanitas Colourful Edition limited edition mechanical wall clock, truly makes this stunning timepiece, available in only tiny limited edition runs, a spectacular purchase for any fan not only of the Fiona Kruger Skull Watch Series of limited edition pieces, but any students of the history of Haute Horlogerie, fine art and the superlative fine finishing of L’Epee 1839 Swiss wall clocks.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Vanitas is limited to 50 pieces per configuration and is now available in ‘dark’ and colourful editions.

DISPLAY  : Hours and minutes Power reserve indicator
MOVEMENT  : L’Epée in-house designed and manufactured movement
Balance frequency Barrels Power reserve Jewels 18,000 vph / 2.5Hz 5 in series  35
days 

DEETS
MAIN STRUCTURE
Height  306mm
Width 220 mm
Thickness 86mm
Clock Weight Approx. 5 kg.with 2.2 kg just for the movement
Colored Version
Mat Housing in Black Anodized Aluminum
with mineral glass
Mat Housing in Black Anodized Aluminum with mineral glass
Manual-winding
Double-ended key to set time and wind movement on the skull face
Mechanism in palladium-coated brass Movement Main plates in black PVD coated brass Multi-layered screen printed white decoration (gloss ink).
Mechanism in palladium-coated brass Movement Main plate in brass black PVD coating Multi-coloured screen-printed pattern (gloss ink). Each colour used in the design of the clock was specially selected as it represents a specific meaning pertaining to the Dia de Los Muertos celebration: Blue = Trust, White = Purity, Orange = Sun, Yellow = Death, Pink = Celebration, Red = Life and Purple = Grief and Black = Mortality (hence the black PVD coating)
An incabloc shock protection system

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Concierge Price: $57,291
Includes complimentary worldwide shipping

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