Krayon is a new Swiss watch brand founded by Mr. Rémi Maillat. Currently, it offers two models: the high-end Anywhere, which I am reviewing today, and the even more high-end Everywhere, which features a similar complication with broader adjustment capabilities. (More on that later.) Krayon's specialty lies in showcasing elegant sunrise/sunset complications in its mechanical watches, a feature rarely, if ever, seen in modern mechanical watches. What impresses me most about the Anywhere watch is its attractive and logical display of the current time, as well as its clear visualization of how much time remains until the end of the day.
Maillat is one of many talented watchmakers who have left a popular brand that more or less abandoned its high-complication division in recent years. He came from Cartier, where he spent several years helping to create truly interesting high-complication watches that never found market success. My theory as to why Cartier failed in this area relates not to the product but rather to Cartier's inability to effectively convey the technical excellence of its high-complication watches through marketing - and at the time, they were not particularly strong in appealing to male watch consumers. Since then, Cartier's relationship with male watch buyers has improved, but only after the high-complication watch division was more or less closed.
I suspect that Maillat developed the idea of a mechanical sunrise/sunset indicator while at Cartier, but he never got the chance to realize it on an industrial scale. Establishing his own brand allowed him to take his good ideas and bring them to life. The Anywhere watch is an excellent concept not only because it is a mechanical novelty but also because it is inevitably relevant to many users. Knowledge of a perpetual calendar or equation of time is rarely useful for most everyday needs of wristwatch users. But few would argue that knowing the duration of day and night as the seasons change is useful information. Krayon's Anywhere watch also eliminates the mental processing often required to read the displays of such watches. Taking cues from some digital watches and displays that preceded them, the Anywhere watch creates a visually impressive dial that immediately helps visualize the current 24-hour day/night cycle.
The Anywhere watch dial may require some explanation for those unfamiliar with the operation of these indicators. It is also time to explain the difference between the Anywhere and Everywhere watches. In the Anywhere watch, the watchmaker must initially set the latitude for a specific location on Earth. The Everywhere watch allows the user to do this themselves. Why is this important?
The current duration of day and night changes throughout the year but also depends significantly on the locality's latitude. Once the position of a city chosen by the watch owner is set, indicating the current month and date (as well as time) is sufficient to accurately determine the duration of day and night. This is displayed using two elements. First, there is a sun-shaped hand that moves around the periphery of the dial once every 24 hours. In some ways, it is similar to a synchronized 24-hour hand that simply moves around the entire dial once a day. It also represents the sun's path across the sky, which is a beautiful concept. Below the "sun hand" are two overlapping ring discs that move to create more night or more day, depending on the time of year. Displaying this information mechanically with stationary parts is no easy task, considering the incredible display capabilities of a digital screen. The challenge was to create a useful tool with the decorative effect of an old-world charm, familiar and sought after by many wristwatch enthusiasts.
The light blue part of the "day/night" disc represents the daylight hours, while the dark blue part, speckled with stars, represents the nighttime. By observing the movement of the sun hand, one can not only visually determine the length of day or night during the day but also track in relative terms how much daylight is left or how soon dawn will occur, depending on the position of the sun hand in combination with the "day/night" discs. I have always enjoyed reading the dial of Yes digital watches, and here we have a whimsical mechanical version (albeit with more limited functions) that I think could easily appeal to a wide range of wristwatch enthusiasts.
Krayon currently offers several versions of the Anywhere watch in previous metal cases, as they remain high-end items. The Anywhere watch model C030-01 comes in a 39 mm 18-carat white gold case. The hour markers and hands are original, even if the hands slightly resemble those on F.P. Journe watches. The elegant, textured dial with internal time indication features a subsidiary dial for the current month and date. Adding a seconds indicator would be nice, but it would detract from the dial's simple appeal. I am also impressed by the watch's thickness - 9.5 mm (water-resistant to 30 meters), considering the mechanism and various dial layers.
According to Krayon, the thickness of the Anywhere watch mechanism (caliber C030) is only 5 mm. You can view the mechanism through the sapphire crystal caseback and admire its distinctive Côtes de Genève-style wave pattern. The mechanism consists of 432 parts, operating at a frequency of 3 Hz, with a large power reserve of 86 hours. It would be nice to have a power reserve indicator on the back of the mechanism, considering it's a manually wound movement. The more complex Everywhere watch is powered by an automatic micro-rotor.
According to Krayon, the Anywhere watch may appeal to both women and men. There is a version of the watch called Lady Anywhere, made from 18-carat pink gold with roses engraved on the side of the case and a pink-blue dial. In addition to this 18-carat white gold model, there is an 18-carat pink gold model for men. Krayon also specializes in custom orders, meaning the company can make a custom Anywhere watch for you.
Considering the exquisite execution of the Anywhere mechanism and watch design, I think Krayon is an important brand to watch. I don't know the current availability of Krayon Anywhere and Everywhere, but these are very niche watches sold through niche retailers. I don't think someone wearing a Krayon Anywhere will meet too many people with the same watch.
People just need to accept that Krayon luxury watches are not the same as Crayon wax sticks for kids. The price of the Krayon Anywhere watch is USD 100,000.