I am obsessed with my works, I work with people who are obsessed with theirs, everything is secondary.” It is this quote that greets you in the ‘About’ section of artist Romaric André’s website seconde/ seconde/, just under the line, ‘This idea of swapping hands on vintage watches saved me’. Both are enough to give an insight into André’s approach to his work, which, while some have called horological art, purists have gone as far as to call vandalism. What began as a personal project that entailed swapping the seconds hand of vintage watches for cool, quirky designs that André himself made, has evolved into collaborations with watch brands to lend his inimitable touch to limited editions.
Just this year, André tied up with Frederique Constant to create a version of the Slimline Moonphase Date Manufacture (read about the Classic Date Manufacture in our cover story, P. 54), a watch with randomly placed hour markers and handwritten typography—both aspects seek to mimic the imprecision that people are prone to. Another collaboration was with Timex, the second time André joined hands with the brand, for the ‘Loser’ watch, in which he jumbled and manipulated the brand name to read 'MY — EX’ as well as created a seconds hand that indicated the 'L for loser' sign. Last year, with Atelier Wen, his design breathed life into 36 dials that had gotten rejected, symbolised by three 24K gold stitches that represented a repair and reuse approach. For his 2023 collaboration with Furlan Marri, he replaced the small seconds hand with a heart-shaped one to show how mechaquartz watches have a beating heart, too.
Denne historien er fra July - September 2024-utgaven av WatchTime India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July - September 2024-utgaven av WatchTime India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
TAG HEUER'S NEW TOUR DE FORCE
The watchmaker has high hopes for the new Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph
COURSE FOR VICTORY
Victorinox is shaking up its watch offerings and a visit to its Watch Competence Centre in Delémont showed what exactly this entails
Larger than Life
Wildlife conservationist Dean Schneider has dedicated his life to protecting wild animals, and part of this is Hakuna Mipaka, his 400-hectare private sanctuary that is home to thousands of different species. On a recent visit to India as part of his collaboration with NORQAIN, Schneider spoke to WatchTime India about the Hakuna Mipaka watch collection and the values he shares with the brand.
Unending Passion
Kerala-based orthopaedic surgeon Vijay Jayan has more than 1,000 watches in his collection, nearly 500 of them G-Shocks. We stepped inside his watch wardrobe...
THE MAN, THE LEGEND
In conversation with Kikuo Ibe, the father of G-shock
IN IT TO WIN IT
What does innovation in sports watches mean? We found five timepieces that showcased exciting developments this year.
ABOVE AND BEYOUND
An overbuilt, mechanically complex, yet simplified timepiece developed for all diving functionalities, including the time before and after a dive, unlike other dive watches in the market. To add to that, the Singer Divetrack is the only mechanical diving chronograph ever built.
Hip To Be Square
How a shape took Bell & Ross's success to the next level
The Forever Dive
The Quantième Complet Phases de Lune is the most complicated model in the Bathyscaphe collection. It is finally also available with a black ceramic case, and-for the first timealso with a matching bracelet.
THE BULGARI ALUMINIUM BRINGS FUN BACK LGARI
The vanguard watch for casual and stylish luxury is better than ever