Funky art redefines boundary at Maurice Lacroix
The first collaboration must have been a great success to lead to a second one with Maurice Lacroix. It is no surprise, when we saw what Watto did last year for the bold and daring Maurice Lacroix; it was a fabulous piece of artwork in every sense, both as a timepiece and as a decoration featuring some of the most exhilarating illustration art of the current era.
The artist behind Watto is none other than Craig Watkins, an incredibly talented British illustrator based in Florida. The name of his brand was inspired by a fellow artist, and one can imagine how an expression evolved into a brand name. It’s fun, funky, and full of pleasant, childlike surprises. His artworks can be seen on products from Crocs, Disney, Star Wars, Converse, Billabong, and many others. They all showcase his unique style, composed of small, funny, cartoony figures drawn tightly together with hardly any space between them. Not a single figure is repeated, and together they create a scene or tell a story on their own.
You have never seen anything like it in the pop art scene before; it is Watkins’ signature style. The latest collaboration with Maurice Lacroix offers even more stunning dial illustrations: cartoon figures with all kinds of expressions and the elements that influence them. To approach this watch, you need to put on your creative and fun hat and start from there. It’s nearly impossible to list them all, as you don't know where to begin or where to end—since they all share the same space. The tone is monochromatic, in two shades of grey—light and dark—that cover the entire dial.
There are no markers; if you have a fun and funky watch, who cares about the exact time? But of course, you can still tell the time—it only takes a few moments to get the hang of it. The seconds hand is distinctively coloured in pink, while the hours and minutes hands are in black coated with SuperLuminova. The minute hand whimsically features a ghost figure entwined around it—a tongue-in-cheek display of time. And the spooky, whimsical story doesn’t end there: at three o’clock, instead of a date, there is a window showing 31 different illustrations, with a new one greeting you every day. Isn’t that fun? A watch perfect for when you don’t wish to take the day too seriously—especially over weekends or when you’re on holiday and clubbing.
The watch is powered by a quartz movement and is encased in a 40mm brushed and polished stainless steel case, double-coated with gunmetal charcoal grey PVD. It comes with a rubber strap.
