Artya Russian Roulette Watch

Artya's version of "Carpe Diem" - Seize the day is a Russian Roulette Watch with a spinning dial. One cannot argue with the Artya's inevitable albeit positive proclamation beneath the image of the watch:
" "Remember to live.  Because you see the time. But you don't know yours."
Wow! What a statement and so true.  I am just about to leave my desk, jump on a train, find a boat and set sail for unknown lands. 
This watch is part of Yvan Arpa's Son of a Gun Collection, which is a collection where bullets and barrels are part of the decor.  Although watches bearing various depiction of bullets ,especially one depicting the daring and the somewhat dumb game of Russian Roulette, do portray violence and death.    Yvan Arpa's actual idea behind the watch is LIFE.
As far as aesthetics, I think this is one of the most elegant Artya watches to date.  If one would replace the gun barrel dial with a simple black dial, the result would be quite a conventional timepiece.  However I would not describe Artya as anything conventional.  If I may say so myself and supporting the statement with quite a few examples, Artya is the least conventional watch company out there.

As promised - examples of Yvan's Artya's daringly unique watches are:

The Heaviest Watch in the World
Two Silver Bullets, rubbed in garlic above werewolf blood.
A entombed spider discovered in Yvan's garden.
Having fun yet.....Shall I continue?
A Watch themed watch baring gears upon the bezel.
Mechanical watches baring burnt bezels.
Toad skin straps and dinosaur dung.

Watches paying homage to guitar greats and gunslingers. Entomologists and paleontologists; to free thinkers and watch lovers. With each new year, Artya founded in 2009 by Yvan Arpa - formally of Romain Jerome, the company is proving to be quite a formidable presence in the world of horology.  A huge amount of horological interests are paid to new models with quirky articles and blogs describing Yvan Arpa's latest endeavors. In a world where individuality seems so hard to come by; Artya forges ahead.

Even by looking beyond the dial of Artya's Russian Roulette Watch, you may think the lateral inserts you see are traditional rose gold, but everything is not what it seems when it comes to an Artya Watch.   What looks like rose gold on the lateral inserts are in fact ArtOr - an alloy of gold, zinc and copper.  The copper is used from real bullets further accentuating the Son of A Gun theme.

The Revolving Dial
Of course, the revolving dial is quite an interesting aspect to the watch.  The watch is manual, which means the mainspring must be wound by hand via the crown.  The dial on the other hand moves by the motion of the watch wearer, but does not wind the mainspring.  So although this watch may seem to be automatic likened to Perellet's (father of automatic watches) winding turbine on the dial idea, it is not.  Yet again another mysterious aspect to the watch. So what is the purpose of the revolving 6 cylinder baring a single 357 Magnum round end hand applied to the dial?  The purpose is of course entertainment, intrigue and mechanical mysteries.  Beneath the dial rotor, which revolves with the aid of ball bearings and weighted by the single bullet,  is another plate punctuated by 6 holes.  These theme is expanded to the mainspring barrel which also sports 6 holes.  As to the more technical specifications of the watch...  the case size is 44mm size, slightly smaller than Artya's usual 47mm.  The movement is a Swiss ETA Unitas which has been skeletonized and optimized with custom components, visible in all its Artya glory via a transparent case back. Blued screws, jewels and artistically rendered bridges create quite a grand spectacle of the movement.

As you can see the hands are bold and relatively simple allowing for a  clear read out. 

Most often Artya's watches are individual - no two alike, but in the case of the Russian Roulette steel models, Artya is producing 99 models available for around $8,300. The gold models ,which are individually unique cost around 31,800 Dollars.

Countdown to Baselworld 2014

A week from now Baselworld doors fling open unto an eager crowd of watch and jewelry enthusiasts, buyers, boutique owners, journalists and seekers. From March 27th to April 3rd, show goers will venture from hall to hall and event to event gathering information about new styles, prices and brands. Old friends will meet, new ones made, contacts forged, orders arranged and signed upon the dotted line. Seven informative Baselword Daily News issues ,available online and at the show itself,  keeps visitors abreast of "must-see", news and current trends. A Baselword App on your i-phone, i-pad, blackberry and android provides useful interactive information.

I have outlined a brief Pre-Baselworld Virtual Walk to Navigate the halls. Keep in mind, this is just a hint of what awaits you at the show.


Hall 1.0 is a given to go with highly popular prolific top notch brands such as Rolex, Breitling, Omega, Patek Phillipe, Tissot, Hublot, Tag Heuer - you get the gist.

Breitling for Bentley 6.75 Midnight carbon

Hall 1.1 houses a bejeweled assortment of high end brands - famous for gem encrusted watches and jewelry  such as House of Graff, Boucheron, Jacob &; Co. and of course de Grisigono.  Great Sporty brands such as Edox, U-Boat and Clerc are displayed among high end accessory brands such as Hermès, Dior and Chanel. Seiko holds a prominent place being in a category of its own.
Quite a few lessor known brands are within these walls, but favorites are found all around.  Europa Star spans one wall - an excellent watch news source.
 Hall 1.3 showcases affordable brands such as Invicta, Follie Follie, Guess and Casio.

Jacob & Co. Epic SF 24

International Brands
Hall 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 is abundant with jewelry - each booth displaying originality in design and expertise.
Eterna, Ball Watch USA holds command of Hall 5.0.
The Palace is by far my favorite Baselworld local, housing unparallelled watch making expertise.  HYT renowned for its hydro mechanical timepiece is at P03, while at P06, the edgy and daring Artya brand  rubs shoulders with the elusive Haldimann Horology.

HYT H2 Forged from Titanium & White Gold with Blue Fluid

 The Palace is abundant with complex complications perfected by MB &F, Konstantin Chaykin (genius in watch design) and Christophe Claret.  Badollet - keeper of my favorite design and De Bethune- creator of the finest blue  are found at P01 and P02 respectively.

Badollet Ivresse like a Painters Pallet

Hall 3.0 and 3.1 is abundant with jewelry and gem.
Hall 4U holds necessary tools for the trade and Hall 4.0 and 4.1 are National Pavilions.



Unlike the exclusive SIHH , where visitors must receive an invitation to attend, Baselworld is open to the public without prior registration.  Simply show up and purchase your ticket "on-the-spot" or online at www.baselworld.com. Prices are quite affordable at CHF   60.-for the day or CHF 150.-for the week.

Coming from far and away without a place to stay? Enjoy some Swiss Hospitality at the Mövenpick Hotel Egerkingen. If you wish to be a bit closer to the action, a room at the Hotel Alexander Basel is a stones throw away. Zürich is  a 90 minute train ride away with hotels galore ready to welcome a Baselword traveller. But whether you come by land or air, it is on the water you can stay.  Book a floating room on the "Hotel Ship" for the duration of your trip. A free shuttle bus will transport you to the show - just 15 minutes away. 

The show does not end at closing time, Baselworld Village is open from 6pm until 2am.  Restaurants and Bars provide prime places to seal a deal over some fine wine and delectable dine.  

For the best and most productive Baselworld experience planning is crucial, but  the most memorable moment may just be chance. Make a memory, a deal, a contract, a sale, a moment.  Come to Baselworld.

The Best Halloween Watch of All Time by Artya (of course)

Son of A Gun Collection (circa 2012)

Somethings amiss across the abyss within a castles turret. Strange grunting and mewling coldly caress the night as a chasm widens to a dreadful depth. Feathery figures float ,unhindered by earths force, across the only object set upon a charred desk within the room - a time teller of immeasurable precision. Beneath a brilliant moon and beyond a violet field of blooming wolfsbane, a rifle shot splinters the night. Rising in terrible crescendo, an unearthly howl fills hearts and minds of poor valley dwellers with frozen dread.  It is the teller of time that tells of  inconceivable atrocity as pools of blood coagulate beneath a sapphire crystal. 

The blood is Werewolf blood for:  

Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.

(The Wolf Man 1941)

Upon the dial are two handmade sterling silver bullets required to kill the creature once it turned.  Kill it before it kills.   Forged and engraved beneath a full moon ,one night in Geneva, and rubbed in garlic for enhanced potency, the silver bullets still bare traces of werewolf blood smitten by Arta himself and encapsulated for eternity beneath the hands of time.   The unique piece is part of Artya's Son of a Gun Collection.  This Collection features timepieces baring bullets upon dial.

The Blood and Bullet Watch sends shivers down ones spine and an icy grip around ones heart. 

If one wonders how a watch could evoke such an emotional reaction , one must remember Artya watches are sculptures - works of art, and art is meant to create heightened emotional reactions.  However Artya watches are not only art, but highly competent timekeepers fueled by automatic mechanical movements.

It takes an enormous amount of creativity and confidence to create edgy watches with slashed bezels and toad skin bands; dials sporting the wings of dragonflies or the casings of bullets. Although  Artya watches display frightful and horrifying depictions, they exude an overriding sense of good taste.  The good taste stems from the obvious exceptional craftsmanship, confidence, creativity and experience. Yvan Arpa, the founder of Artya, gleaned his watchmaking knowledge and experience  from Sector No Limit, Hublot and Romaine Jerome.  However, experience is just time on the job. What Yvan Arpa is presenting to the watch world is so much more than mere experience, it is the sense of creative freedom, untethered from the bonds of convention.

ArtyA Captures a Spider

Some watch companies struggle for designs unveiling two or three new models a year. And then there is ArtA  just brimming with ideas creating intriguing one-of-a-kind watch designs.  

The ArtyA Spider 1/1 watch evokes the feeling of springtime.  Melting snow exposing last seasons fallen leaves across which a garden spider scurries to prepare for spring.  The "snow" is a unique "mix"; the "fallen leaves" are gold leaf pigments and the spider is of the garden variety  - no longer scurrying, but immortalized on the dial.

Within ArtYa signature "slashed' case, a highly competent automatic ETA movement powers the watch.  

Presenting the Heaviest Watch on Earth by Artya

Okay watch enthusiasts,  I have my doubts about this being a wristwatch and you won't find it on the wrist of Rafael Nadel during a tennis match - it might effect his swing just a bit, but I have to give Yvan Arpa and Christian Pauchon at ArtyA credit for crafting one of the most original "wristwatches" out there. 
So I bet you must want to know the weight of this hefty horological masterpiece: 12 KILOS and a dial of concrete. 

ArtyA always manages to surprise and delight the watch community with new outrageous designs and new materials. When last did you see a watch dial crafted with concrete?   And always a favorite - the toad skin band.

ArtyA explains this watch as a symbol of time. Time is so fleeting - weigh it down a bit. 

ArtyA has done it again - and tomorrow as you enter Basel World Palace Booth P03 - check out all the wonderful watch designs that await you and all the new concrete dial designs.

BaselWorld Doors Open March 8th, 2012 and HYT H1 Hydro Mechanical Watch is on Display

 

Ok! Whose a running to BaselWorld Hall Palace Booth P05 A?  Run through the palace entrance. Race past the huge CASIO exhibits (lots of G-shocks on display - I assume).  Take note of the Urwerk and MB & F on your left ( a definite stop on your way out).  Hurry past the large P03 hall - yes the Haldimann un-watch is keeping its un-time as well as numerous ArtyA creations! Zoom past the Ikepod Hour Glasses and De Bethune on your right! Come to a screaming halt outside your destination at Booth P05 A- the HYT H1 Hydro Mechanical Watch on Display. Bend over! Place your hands on your knees and take a deep breath.  You have arrived to view the most talked about watch on the web - The HYT H1 Hydro Mechanical Watch... and once you have taken a good look at the Watch - please do me a favor and tell me all about it.

I know you have probably heard tons about this watch - Ariel Adams at  a blog to read - describes this watch better than anyone on the net.  Read his article for a full synopsis. 

And if Videos are your preferred source of information - I have provided that for you too.  

ArtyA Evokes Passion in New Women's Watch

ArtyA's seemingly endless creativity has spilled over into a stunning woman's watch. The dial evokes the feeling of careless abandonment where beauty arises out of no where catching the onlookers by sudden surprise like a fiery sunset. The unique purple on the mother-of-pearl dial is from the spiky murex marine snail found only in  Essaouira, Morroco.  In ancient times the purple dye was so coveted that Cleopatra dyed the sails of her Royal barge purple. It is one of the most ancient dyes used as far back as 18th century BC as wall paint and pottery decorations. This color was associated with Ancient Roman Royalty.

Delicate gold leaves rest on the dial as though they had drifted on the wind and landed in a pool of water.  The art of beating gold into leaves was first mastered by the Egyptians in 1200 BC, thereby adding another ancient process to the dial of the watch. Surrounding a dial, which the Phoenicians would cherish, a steel case set with 735 diamond completes the look.

Which Watch Company Does Halloween Best?

Artya 1/1 Halloween Collection 2011

Halloween is a coming and ghouls and green faced goblins roam around looking for a watch to suit their delicate tastes.  In past years I vouched for Corum's skull watches with eery motifs. Some years back I wrote a Corum watch story, which if I say so myself is pretty good.  This year ,my friends, the creepiest watches are forged in Artya. 
The watch that wrangled my senses and gave my sympathetic nervous system quite a jolt is a watch from last years Artya's Halloween Special Collection Masks of Evil Watch.  Before I even perceived the yowling white faced demon  beyond the shards of dial hands, the mounting terror coursing through my veins threatened to throw me into a full blown panic attack.  Could it have been the slashed bezel with its suggestion of a tormented mind or the thick gooey blackness of nightmares upon  the dial ? Or maybe it was the amphibian skin band, which conjured images of cauldrons and chanting witches? Maybe it was the  intense electric currents Artya uses in creating some of its timepieces. No! It must be the screaming skull, of Artya 1/1 Halloween 2011  burning in a ring of fire below bat like structures marking the hours and minutes and surrounded by a maimed discolored bezel burnt by a concentrated bolt of electricity which struck its surface with a ferocity of  between 100.000 and 1.000.000 volts.

Of course Artya provides watches for the persons who display certain animal phobias. SPIDERS - need I say more - YIKES and I do so love the misty suggestions of haunted faces on the "lava flow-like" bezel.

If one wonders why Artya watches evoke such an emotional reaction , one must remember Artya watches are sculptures - works of art, and art is meant to create heightened emotional reactions.  However Artya watches are not only art, but highly competent timekeepers fueled by automatic mechanical movements.

It takes an enormous amount of creativity and confidence to create edgy watches with slashed bezels and toad skin bands; dials sporting the wings of dragonflies or the casings of bullets. Although  Artya watches display frightful and horrifying depictions, they exude an overriding sense of good taste.  The good taste stems from the obvious exceptional craftsmanship, confidence, creativity and experience. Yvan Arpa, the founder of Artya, gleaned his watchmaking knowledge and experience  from Sector No Limit, Hublot and Romaine Jerome.  However, experience is just time on the job. What Yvan Arpa is presenting to the watch world is so much more than mere experience, it is the sense of creative freedom, untethered from the bonds of convention.
Sharing in his passion for art and creativity is his spouse, Dominique Arpa-Cirkpa, who paints the dials of the Artpiece 1/1 collection.

 Happy Halloween my friends and Sweet Sweet Dreams!

Artya Creates "Son of a Gun" for Ultimate Watch Protection Action

Watch companies go to unrepresented lengths to provide watches with ultimate protection, such as utilizing scratch resistant sapphire crystal to protect the dial, using materials such as titanium & forged steel to provide the ultimate resilience and corrosion resistance, using gaskets and screw-in case back to provide water resistance, crafting tourbillons to protect the watch from forces of gravity and utilizing alloy components and cages crafted from highly conductive materials to protect the watch movement from magnetic field.

However Artya has decided on more direct  approach to watch protection with the "Son of a Gun" timepiece.  Weapon enthusiasts will undoubtedly find this watch shooting to the top of their "must have" list.  Merging weapons and horology is a unique idea, although not so far removed as to make the entire concept astounding, after all shooting and hitting a target is all about precision and perfect timing.
  The watch bezel and dial  resemble a target with carved notches at the 12, 9, 6 and 3 'o' clock position. The dial is comprised of six 6mm bullets, which the designer connected using copper wire in a dynamite formation with more copper wire running along the skeletonized ultra sharp watch hands.  My suggestion - don't try bring this watch on a plane- you might have some explaining to do.
The dial of the "Son of a Gun" is protected by high quality sapphire crystal with a water resistance of 50 meters. A sapphire crystal case back reveals the rotor balanced by the backs of 38 mm bullets. I got to say this is one cool watch. 
If you want a unique timepiece you've always got Artya.

Weirdest Watch Straps Ever by Artya

Artya watches are always quite creative. This time it seems as though Artya went rummaging through the long forgotten basement of a Museum of Natural History and upended jars of butterfly wings and something else to create its new "Farfalla" collection. "Farfalla, of course, is butterfly in Italian. But it is not the butterfly wings situated on the dials that got my attention. What caught my attention is the watches obviously bumpy straps. Recognize the material. No its not a galuchat strap fashioned from stingray skin -the like of which is used by De Grisogono. This strap is fashioned from something quite different. Something which may very well be cast into a witches brew.
The strap is made from toad skin. Just the thought sends shivers down my spine, but I am sure some people may like the idea. Like the idea very much.
And what of the dial? The dial, as I mentioned before, harbors genuine butterfly wings - hand plucked from the finest butterflies. And the bezel? The one bezel has been subjected to electric shocks giving the watch an eery discolored look. The other bezel bares multiple lacerations - looking very much like a crime of passion.
Artya watches are sculptures; artfully capturing human emotions with unique materials.
Powering these watch specimens are high quality Swiss Automatic Mechanical Movements

Geneva Time Exhibition 2011

Starting a day earlier then the SIHH is the Geneva Time Exhibition catering to mostly smaller innovative watch companies.

60 watch brands will be displaying their newest designs including technological advancements, unique creations and exceptional craftsmanship. Watch lovers, private collectors, and watch dealers will head to the Geneva Time Exhibition.

In addition, there will be quite a competition in place, the GTE SUPERWATCH 2011 Award. The award will be bestowed on an independent watch which displays a extreme technical innovation and craftsmanship, a time telling application quite unique to the watch making world, and supreme creativity. I am sure a intriguing take on a complication may be a plus. Six independent judges will award a single watch, and the prize... a free spot at GTE 2012 plus media coverage in Plaza Watch Magazines. A number of my favorite brands are exhibitors:

Alain Silberstein, the creator of fun colorful watches with iconic bold colored hands , will be displaying his latest works of art.

Some of the other participating brands include, Artya, Clerc, Delance, HD3, RGM Watch Company, Catena, Drakkar, Catorex, Bulova, B.R.M and Quinting - the makers of the first and unique transparent watch in the world (its components crafted from finely cut sapphire crystal).

The exhibition will last only a couple of days, but the lingering effects on all participating watch brands will last much much longer.

Artya Bone Chilling Halloween Watches

Artya Halloween Special Collection Masks of Evil Watch sends chills down my spine. The bezel has been slashed like wounds on skin. On the dial a screaming deathly white skull appears from a slithering blackness as the time is marked in red razor sharp hour markers. The strap is a “Crazy frog” tanned toad skin. The watch is automatic mechanical movements with water resistance of 50 meters.

" Scared of spiders little one?", the evil green monster says through a row of pin like teeth. It is waving Artya's spider watch. Green blisters bubble, pop and ooze a thick yellowy goo from a leathery outstretched feeler.
The dial can send one with arachnophobia running for cover as the corpse of a real spider lies among cleverly crafted rubble of a long forgotten world. The battered bezel is emblazoned with demons. Hauntingly artistic, the watch has been subjected to 17 different artistic techniques to resemble that lone artifact to survive "the day after tomorrow".

As far as Halloween watches go, these two watches are about as unsettling as you can get. No candid shots at horror. These watches are the real deal.

Artya - Unbridled Watchmaking Creativity Unleashes Mezmerizing Watch Creations

Artya Tesla Squelette Quadri-Rotor Watches are quite different in a cool artsy way. Kind of like those sculptures designed from useless left over electronic junk and stuff, and believe me with all those new improved gizmos and gadgets out there and disdain for older models and styles, there are plenty more from where these electronic "has beens" came from. Artya vision is to merge contemporary art and watch making whilst employing unbridled creativity.
As Artya's brain child and watch making wizard, Yvan Arapa says " “Imagination running wild leads the artist, and the watchmaker has no choice but to follow”.
Yvan Arpa knows a thing or two about being quite unique. He is responsible for Romaine Jerome's DNA of Legends. He was the managing director of Romaine Jerome for just a short while and in that time he unveiled watches comprising of steel from the Titanic, dust from the moon and no time. Yes! The day and night watch told no time.
Now his passion is Artya ,Yvan Arpa being the founder and owner, and just by looking at these watches one can see his creativity bursting forth in even greater abundance.
The new Artya Tesla Squelette Quadri-Rotor are a mixture of mechanical and electronics. I would say the watch is a completely automatic mechanical Swiss ETA movement, but then you would indicate that there are some capacitors and wires and coils and such and such and these electronic components are right there on the dial, not even covered up by a steel case. Then I would have to acquiesce, as you are right. The mechanical watch does have some electronic components which serve an artistic function quite different from the electrical function making this watch collection excruciatingly unique.
The strap is well ... toad skin. Just in case you were thinking the strap was the usual plain jane leather. The 47mm case is steel and chemically colored and zapped. Yes! Zapped. The cases are shocked with some sort of lightning produced by the Tesla coils and end up looking like they weathered a mighty storm.
I wonder what next Artya has in store for the watchmaking world.