Krayon Anywhere for Perpétuel Gallery

Finds. Meet Krayon’s Anywhere, a watch which unironically came out of nowhere as the successor to the Everywhere model in 2021. If that’s all a bit confusingly abstract, consider the Anywhere the world’s second most refined sunrise and sunset complication, with particular attention to finishing. But it's far from second-best, just laser-focused with wearability and beauty in mind. This example is 1 of 15 made in collaboration with Perpétuel Gallery featuring Arabic numerals with English text. And you're about to understand why these rarely trade hands. 

Krayon launched in 2017 with the Everywhere, which was covered just about nowhere, but was one of the most complicated sunrise and sunset computers in mechanics. That watch allowed a user to input the time zone and the location to read the correct times. This Anywhere is a simpler complication in a thinner case, which displays the rise and set times for a fixed single location. The peripheral rings indicate day and night, and their size will shift over the year accurately. The sun, well, that represents the sun. But it's the mechanics and finishing that truly impress here.

The finishing seems unusual at a glance, and it is. The Cotes de Geneve here is an innovative wave pattern. But that wave is a plotted graph of sunrise times in Neuchâtel, where the Krayon are, over a year. The barrel bridge is modelled after the shore of Lake Neuchâtel in shape, with all the jagged angles reproduced magnificently. It’s all done to an incredibly high standard, including gear teeth anglage. While impressive, it’s the thought and cohesive philosophy that is really next-level here. What terroir is to wine this finishing is to watchmaking: it has a sense of place.  

Now, this entire watch is focused on a sense of place and meaning. Many watches with sunrise and sunset times have a fixed cam, and, if you move, you have to get a new one manufactured to track local times wherever you are. That odd series of levers with a cam at 6 on the caseback is an adjustable cam flanked by levers for shutter position. The cam doesn’t have to be remade, a watchmaker can set it for, well, anywhere. Perhaps now maybe that model name is a bit less confusing after all. The whole thing, actually, is incredibly clever. It’s a thoughtful watch. Krayon, we salute your dedication, focus, and execution, wherever you are.

This example sports little to no surface wear, it's lovely. It comes with the full kit, as you would expect, from a well-regarded London retailer. Just plan to send it in once to have the adjustments made. Don't try to do that bit yourself, please.