The design, married with the groundbreaking approach to the sunrise/sunset function, suggests Maillat may have more tricks up his sleeve and we look forward to seeing what he creates next. He marries unique engineering with an aesthetic prowess, honed during his days at Cartier where he developed movements for the storied Maison’s fine watchmaking collection, which suggests that he is poised to position himself among the ranks of the independent watchmaking elite.
Krayon’s Anywhere watch is the more user-friendly, less expensive version of its award-winning Everywhere watch
Sunrise and sunset indicators are nothing new in watchmaking, but the problem with the function is that it can only tell dawn and nightfall from one location set to a client’s preference. Niche watchmaker Rémi Maillot of the Neuchatel, Switzerland-based company Krayon, solved the conundrum in 2017 when he debuted his Everywhere timepiece, which could be adjusted to read the indications from anywhere in the world.
At S$844,362, however, the Everywhere Horizon was certainly not for everyone. A year later, his follow-up custom-made Everywhere Horizon (CHF 775,000 or approximately S$1,129,356), with a bezel adorned in 94 baguette-cut diamonds and a 22-karat gold rotor, landed him a Grand Prix de la Haute Horlogerie award, the Oscars of watchmaking, for Best Watchmaking Innovation. This year Maillot has brought a more affordable version (relatively speaking) to the table in his new Anywhere watch priced at CHF 116,000 (approximately S$169,103) in white or rose gold and CHF 96,000 (approximately S$139,947) in steel.
Unlike the Everywhere, which allowed its wearer to input their location and time zone for the watch to show local sunrise and sunset times around the globe, the Anywhere displays the indications from one fixed location which must be changed by a watchmaker. This allows for a vastly more affordable watch, despite a still rather high price tag, and does away with the complex setting, even though it will require an expert to change the location.
The calendar, which controls the sunrise / sunset function, along with the time, can both be set from the crown. Peripheral discs around the dial, hand-painted and cut from sapphire, indicate sunrise (in light blue) and sunset (in dark blue). The latter is adorned with Super-Luminova stars, while a sun created from a painstaking diamond-cutting process tracks the progression of sunrise on the light blue disc, and sunset when it moves onto the dark blue disc. Encircling the two indications is an outer 24-hour ring, which indicates at what time the sun is setting or rising. As it is pictured here, the sun is rising at approximately 5.30am. and setting at approximately 6.30pm. The calendar function is displayed at 6 o’clock and requires only five annual adjustments, which can be operated via the crown in both directions.
A few other notable differences include a smaller case size at 39 mm by 9 mm (vs. the Everywhere at 42 mm by 11.70 mm), a power reserve upped to 86 hours from 72, a reduction in movement components from 595 to 432, and a clearer dial with better finishing. The Anywhere also omits the latitude indicator of Krayon’s original creation.
