CNN
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In watchmaking, heritage is crucial. But while rival European watchmakers tout the heritage of their centuries-old workshops, the new creation from design duo Toledano and Chan has a much older history: It’s made from roughly 1 million years old It was carved from a meteorite that hit the Earth before.
Dubbed the B/1M, the Brutalist-inspired watch is made from part of the Muonionalusta meteorite, the remains of which were first discovered in 1906 in the Swedish village of Kitkiöjärvi. Its collision with Earth – was found in northern Scandinavia.
Although meteorites had been used in small quantities on luxury timepieces before, artist Phillip Toledano and watchmaker Alfred Chan wanted to take it a step further.
“You see meteorite dials all the time; they’re not uncommon on watches,” Toledano told CNN via Zoom from New York. “But the whole meteorite case, the dial, the lugs — all of that stuff — is very unusual.”
The reason may be (at least in part) price. Toledano declined to say how much the fragments used in the B/1M cost, but he noted that the raw meteorite sells for more per gram than gold. The prototype watch is expected to sell for between $8,000 and $16,000 at auction. art auction timepresented by Phillips Watch Company in New York on Saturday.
“There are no meteorite trees, so it’s very expensive to dispose of,” Toledano said. “The annoying thing is that when you use gold, if you have leftover pieces, you can recycle them for other projects, but with meteorites you can’t.”
The Muonionalusta meteorite is primarily made of iron, which meant the pair had to protect their watch with an anti-rust coating. But the material also has a unique aesthetic quality: unique multi-directional stripes, called the Weidmannstatten pattern, that give it an “otherworldly” appearance with a “slight shimmer,” Toledano said.
He and Chen paired the concrete-like case with gray ostrich leg straps, giving the design a contrasting, organic texture. The pair hope to produce the piece in limited quantities, but due to the nature of the material, each piece will have a unique look.
“For us, the interesting part[of watchmaking]… is exploring new materials and new forms,” Toledano added.
Toledano and Hong Kong-based Chan, who co-founded their watch brand in 2021, met through Instagram and bonded over a shared love of Brutalism. The B/1M prototype (like the steel B/1 model before it) was inspired by the angular forms of the postwar movement, and more specifically, the windows of New York’s Brower Building.
Designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer, the 1960s building is known for its austere, top-heavy form, punctuated by several trapezoidal windows. It was originally home to the Whitney Museum of American Art, but is now owned by auction house Sotheby’s.
The iconic windows reflect the asymmetrical shape of Toledano & Chan’s design. Just as the Brower Building is essentially devoid of decoration, the surfaces of B/1 and B/1M are devoid of numbers or symbols. (Toledano dismissed concerns that this might make the watch difficult to read: “If you look at the dial and can’t tell the time, you know you have a bigger problem,” the artist joked.)
While Toledano was surprised by the popularity of the original steel version—the $4,000 watch sold out within an hour—he said it reflected a growing market for designs that eschew traditional shapes. increase.
“I’ve noticed in the last year or so that the outlook for watches has really opened up, and people – especially men – are open to different shapes of watches.”