Remi Maillat, the founder of Krayon, with "(Sunset/ Sunrise Time) Everywhere" watch in Tokyo (Live Pics)

May 06, 2018,00:33 AM
 

Some people may remember this thread from about a year ago...  Please click below. 

www.watchprosite.com

This is the watch which shows sunrise and sunset time wherever you are (up to Latitude 60), unlike the conventional ones - e.g. AP’s EOT can tell you sunrise and sunset time, but it has to be for ONE location you designate at the time of you place an order.

I was not aware back then but I was invited to the interview with its founder, Mr. Remi Maillat, on his world tour (Swiss - New York - Hong Kong - Tokyo - ??).  Remi was quite young and very gentle guy, no, a gentleman, who is very patient on questions and explaining his background and about the complication of "Everywhere".  Quite an impressive person and watch, indeed.  Way out of my league, but it is always fun to see and handle such a wonderful machine.


Mr. Remi Maillat.  His father is a researcher of Tribology who was working for watch industry, and his mother is a mathematician.  Having grown up in such an environment, naturally he went to Le Locle University of Applied Sciences to study Micro Mechanics/ Micro Techniques.  He thought that studying engineering is the way to express his artistic side of watches with the function/ complication he desires.  He may be like Abraham Breguet in modern time smile)  Then he joined a major maison and worked for designing various complication for that maison, including but not limited to tourbillons, minute repeaters, perpetual, micro rotor, ... you name it..  He spent very fruitful six years and left there in 2013 after 6 years.  So, he is NOT a watchmaker, per se.


He founded Krayon in 2013, which at the beginning was a watch designing/ architecture consultancy.  So, the company, Krayon, was not intended to be a watch brand when it was founded.  He says, "I have been thinking of this sunset/sunrise time complication because it is useful and beautiful.  Unfortunately, the similar function complication required setting the location of the wearer, but in this era of global travel.  So, I started studying about the mechanism and step by step, I got closer to the completion of this mechanical calculator to show the sunset and sunrise time on the watch."   

So, he brought his simple yet complicated idea to the watch in only 10 years after graduating college.  Wow.  And his company, Krayon, has not become a watch brand.

Official pic of him.  Yes he is as young as in the video smile



And let's see the PV of this Everywhere watch.












The watch - Krayon Everywhere - has three base models and the customer can request for many customizations including engraving, dial (pattern, material, etc.), color of "day" and "night" (in this base model, yellow and blue), as you wish.






The one he brought was with baguette bezel.




You may need to get used to how to read the time.  The photo below shows it is around 13:30.  And notice the hour hand is in the "middle bezel" that shows day or night (yellow area or blue area).  So, the hour hand is actually where the Sun is, so to speak.  




And the dial layout is pretty intuitive.  Hour hand go around in 24 hours, just like the Sun (blue indicator on the day/ night disc, the pic below shows between 13h and 14h).  on 12h, Longitude (W or E) and your local time (UTC +/-).  On 3h indicates what function the crown is set to be used for (changes by pushing a button on 8h on the side of the case.  And on 9th is the Latitude (N or S).  On 6h, please see the photo above, shows month and date.  The big blue hand shows minute.



Official pics.





Let's see videos of how it is adjusted - both are short.

The crown has double action - normal position lets you wind the main spring, one-pull lets you adjust the time regardless of the function selector, and two-pull lets you adjust the function which you select by pushing the 8h button.  So, if you do not travel, you can use the watch as normal watch - one-pull, adjust the time.








How they paint the day/night disc.  This parts actually requires THREE layers of crystal.







This is the sample of engraving.



Official pics.










The bridges could be a bit more chamfered deeply, but the surface polishing quality is top notch as he paid a lot of attention to finishing as well.  I am simply amazed at how small this "mechanical calculator" is packed into such a small-ish body.






This is the pusher which cyclically changes the function of the crown (indicator on 3h).




See the complicated parts in the center of this photo.  It seems that this one has some secret - he said it requires 8 months to assemble this parts alone and has 35 parts within (total number of parts of this movement is 598).




Official pics.  Good finishing.



This movement is constructed on both sides of the "main plate".  It does not have "base plate".




The company - Krayon - has only three people, and do in-house designing and engineering.  All the works - parts, engraving, decoration, and assembly - are outsourced to the well-known reputable suppliers.  To be precise, the prototypes assembly and adjustment were done in-house, as it has small atelier.










My pic.




Wrist shot - I admit that baguette is not for my wrist, but otherwise, with this complication the size is not gigantic but okay for me.








As you see, the watch is not extraordinarily too thick, either.  I may have different taste for engraving, though.  But this is just a sample that Remi wears.






He explained "almost" everything using his laptop.  There are some that cannot be published, so please pardon me not revealing too much (well, admittedly I understood perhaps maybe a third of it, hahaha).




Let's see some of the videos Krayon made for public view.





Some of the graphics.





As you can see below, the day/night disc with yellow/blue color is actually the product of three layers of crystal.  Also, you can see the inner bezel showing the 24 hours is tilted inward.  If you understand the mechanism with these pics, you must be an engineer/ watchmaker smile










Another "anatomy" that might help.


.. and the video...















This is about where Fukuoka city is as I adjusted (I was going to adjust to Tokyo, but my aging eyes...) - Fukuoka city location is: Long E130, Lat N34, UTC +9.  May 4th.  Sunrise, according to this watch is around 5:40, sunset 19:05.  The meteorologically correct answer is: sunrise 5:27, sunset 19:03.  A bit off, maybe because the watch is adjusted to more like E133, N38.  Anyway, wow, this is incredible mechanism.  Bravo!








A great watch!

This watch has made me think that the innovation in watchmaking going forward may require engineer's mind, not only watchmaker's mind (another example is Roman Gauthier)......  When I thought it is getting boring, now suddenly it is getting exciting!

Oh, I forgot to mention important information.  ONE has already been delivered and FOUR are on order and they are making at full speed.  He says, 5 pieces per year is their best.  That is quite an encouraging news - despite its price tag.

This complication is really tempting, but way above my pay grade.  I can't wait his next model!


Thank you for reading through.

Best

Ken


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Comments: view entire thread

 

Front, Back and Movement Look Awesome

 
 By: Teacher Yang : May 6th, 2018-00:42
Detailed and Excellent Report Ken! Yang

Great photos and vids..

 
 By: john c : May 6th, 2018-01:33
..thanks for posting. Best, John.

Thanks for this very informative post.

 
 By: VMM : May 6th, 2018-11:59
The movement looks amazing. Vte

Interesting, Ken..

 
 By: Echi : May 6th, 2018-20:25
Purely from an aesthetic stand point, I wonder if all the adjustments can be put at the back so that the dial can focus more on showing off the sunrise/sunset aspect. I realize of course that it might be an engineering nightmare I also wonder if they’re g...