Horology

— Curator's Note

Monument I was conceived after a visit to the Brutalist architecture of Chandigarh. The case proportions reference Le Corbusier's Secretariat building — the same brutal confidence in raw material, the same rejection of decorative impulse. The movement, an independent Swiss calibre beating at 21,600vph, is visible through a domed sapphire caseback that acts as a lens into the architecture beneath.

— Specifications

— Movement

Swiss lever escapement, 21,600 vph, 60-hour power reserve. Côtes de Genève on rotor bridge. Blued steel pallet fork and escape wheel.

— Case Finishing

Full bead-blast exterior. Polished bevels on lug chamfers only. Exhibition caseback with micro-sandblasted titanium ring. Every surface transition is intentional — rough against polished, raw against refined.

— Curator's Note

Bunker II emerged from a single question: what does a watch look like when it is designed by someone who has never owned one? The answer is an object that starts conversations in Basel hotel bars. The dial text is set in a bespoke typeface drawn from Soviet-era engineering manuals. The crown guards are load-bearing, not decorative — they will take the impact if the watch is worn as it should be.

— Specifications

— Movement

In-house regulated Swiss ETA base, modified rotor with tungsten weight. 42-hour power reserve. Perlage on main plate. 25 jewels.

— Case Finishing

Alternating brushed planes and mirror-polished cuts. The case is a study in contrast — no two adjacent surfaces share the same finish. Crown is hand-knurled on a CNC lathe to a depth of 0.3mm.

— Curator's Note

Facade III is the most architectural piece in the collection. The dial was designed in collaboration with a Swiss graphic designer whose primary medium is concrete signage. The hour registers are not printed — they are engraved through a photochemical process that leaves the aluminium dial with a depth of texture visible only under raking light. In flat light, the dial appears almost blank. In direct light, it reveals everything.

— Specifications

— Movement

Unitas 6498-1 hand-wind movement, modified with skeletonised rotor bridge. 46-hour power reserve. Visible through open-worked dial aperture at 6 o'clock.

— Case Finishing

Titanium flanks: full bead-blast. Steel bezel: hairline brush in a single direction. Dial: photochemical engraving on anodised aluminium, sealed with anti-reflective lacquer.

— Curator's Note

Pillar IV is our most divisive piece, and the one most frequently asked about. The height-to-diameter ratio violates every conventional watchmaking proportion. It was designed that way deliberately. The wearer will feel it on the wrist — not uncomfortably, but noticeably. It demands acknowledgement. The caseback carries a single engraved line from Mies van der Rohe: "Less is more." We engraved it in German.

— Specifications

— Movement

Calibre UNITAS 6497-1, hand-wound. Regulator-style dial layout. 46-hour power reserve. Blued screws throughout. Côtes de Genève decoration on all bridges.

— Case Finishing

Monolithic bead-blast finish, interrupted only by the crown shoulders which are polished to a mirror. The crown itself is machined to 0.02mm tolerance — the tightest in the collection.

— Curator's Note

Stratum V is the most material-honest piece we have made. The copper bezel is not treated or coated. It will develop a patina unique to the wearer — their chemistry, their climate, their habits. In five years, no two Stratum V pieces will look identical. The steel case back will remain pristine. The copper front will become a record of a life lived wearing it. We find this interesting. Some collectors do not. We make it anyway.

— Specifications

— Movement

ETA 2824-2 automatic, regulated to chronometer standards. 38-hour power reserve. Copper-coloured rotor visible through caseback.

— Case Finishing

Steel: hairline brush, longitudinal direction. Copper bezel: raw, uncoated. Lugs: polished bevel, brushed flat. The contrast between aged copper and brushed steel is the design.

— Curator's Note

Monolith VI is the final piece in the first collection and the darkest object we know how to make. The DLC coating absorbs light at 98.7% efficiency — the case appears to have no surface texture, only volume. The white gold indices were added not for legibility but for contrast: a reminder that there is geometry here, that this is a watch and not a void. We considered making the indices from the same DLC steel. We are glad we did not.

— Specifications

— Movement

Swiss lever escapement, 28,800 vph. DLC-coated rotor. 72-hour power reserve. All movement components treated with black PVD.

— Case Finishing

Diamond-Like Carbon coating, 3 microns. Hardness: 3000 Vickers. The coating is harder than the steel beneath it. The case will outlast the movement by centuries. White gold indices: polished to mirror, set 0.8mm proud of dial.