Despite its relative youth, the new company Kross Studio has firmly established itself at the wild, playful, and deliberately contradictory intersection of pop culture and high watchmaking. With previous watch partnerships with pop culture icons like Batman and Star Wars, the brand now turns to its strangest partnership yet - Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes. Designed to celebrate the release of the film 'Space Jam: A New Legacy' on July 16, the limited edition Kross Studio Space Jam Tourbillon is a vibrant, cartoonish tribute to basketball and classic cartoon characters that may not appeal to everyone but holds serious watchmaking potential.
The new Kross Studio Space Jam Tourbillon shares a common platform with the Death Star Tourbillon model inspired by Star Wars, and the similarity begins with its 45mm Grade 5 titanium case. The Space Jam Tourbillon's lug-less, rounded matte form, resembling a smooth pebble, lacks a traditional crown that distracts from its flowing lines. Instead, the watch uses a folding D-ring crown set flush with the sapphire caseback.
Rather than pulling the crown into different positions for various functions, the Space Jam Tourbillon uses a button at the 3 o'clock position to switch between winding and time-setting functions. However, despite the sporty theme, this watch is not suitable for intense workouts, with a water resistance of only 30 meters.
The skeletonized dial of the Kross Studio Space Jam Tourbillon, like the case, shares a layout with the previous Death Star Tourbillon, but its appearance is radically different. The massive central tourbillon is undoubtedly the focal point, with a playful hemispherical basketball-shaped cage that rises above the surrounding mechanism, creating a sense of visual depth.
The watch hands are built on a unique planetary gear system, with both hands supported from below and visually floating above the outer ring gear. While the minute hand is a relatively simple skeletonized petal, the hour hand is designed in a more stylized manner, mimicking a free-throw lane on a basketball court. The raised outer chapter ring enhances the overall visual depth, while the bright orange PVD-coated basketball court emphasizes the theme.
However, beyond the central tourbillon, the true visual highlight is the inner ring with a rich blue PVD coating. Positioned directly below the minute scale ring, this contrasting ring features detailed engravings of all the Looney Tunes Tune Squad team members - Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Marvin the Martian, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Granny, Taz, Lola Bunny, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, and Elmer Fudd. Interestingly, this sums up to 13 characters.
Thus, this ring does not match the flanking applied hour indices and may cause confusion when reading the time. Nevertheless, the engraving itself is impressive in its intricacy.
The skeletonized hand-wound KS 7000 tourbillon movement installed in the Kross Studio Space Jam Tourbillon is also shared with the previous Kross Studio model. Despite its relatively simple matte and polished finish, the movement layout is made as striking as possible. In addition to the enormous central tourbillon, many of the movement's wheels are playfully styled in a basketball theme, and the wide mainspring barrel dominates the skeletonized bridges with blue PVD coating. Thanks to this impressive mainspring barrel, the power reserve is an impressive 120 hours at a frequency of 21,600 beats per second.
Kross Studio complements the Space Jam Tourbillon model with a pair of straps. The first, a tapered calf leather strap with a royal blue rubber lining, smoothly transitions into the dial color. The second strap is a bolder and more playful option, made of orange rubber with laser processing, featuring the iconic color and bumpy texture of a basketball.
As with previous Kross Studio models, the packaging of the Space Jam Tourbillon is half the presentation, and the Space Jam Tourbillon continues this trend with a B-BALL sculpture made of oak wood and aluminum. Upon lifting the wooden ball sculpture from its base, the watch owner discovers a compartment for storing the watch itself.
With its bold, playful design unafraid to embrace the cartoonishness of its source material and impressively complex movement construction, the limited edition Kross Studio Space Jam Tourbillon is genuinely fun watch for ultra-wealthy basketball fans or Looney Tunes enthusiasts.
Only 10 pieces of the Kross Studio Space Jam Tourbillon will be released, and they are already available from official dealers at a price of $100,000. For more information, visit the brand's website.
