In the span of just a few short years, Kollokium has gone from a nearly secret insider side project with a hard to discern future to a fully fledged brand. When the Projekt 01 first came on the scene, it was a bit of a mystery to most what the founders (Manuel Emch, Barth Nussbaumer, and Amr Sindi) had planned, or even if they had planned anything at all. There was a one-off quality to that initial drop that seemed to communicate it could all be abandoned at any moment.
Honestly, the watch industry probably needs a little more of that energy – watches that exist outside of a business plan and represent an artistic vision more than a marketing ploy. But credit to Kollokium for being smart about the way they’ve managed expectations and continue to move the ball forward across several subsequent releases since the Projekt 01. In addition to new colorways for that original design, they’ve introduced an entirely watch (not so creatively called the Projekt 02) that builds on the design language introduced in the first piece and deepens the complexity pretty significantly. They’ve just announced the latest Projekt 02, Variant C, and it’s the latest chance for collectors to get in on one of the most interesting new designs in indie watchmaking.
As a refresher, the Projekt 02 is defined by a dial built on a series of stacked plates (over 60 of them) in different shapes and sizes that when fully assembled resemble a three dimensional topographical map. The terrain of the “map” undulates such that hours “markers” are effectively peaks located around the dial’s perimeter. It’s striking in part because if you viewed the dial outside the context of a watch, I don’t think you’d ever place that it was a surface on which time could be told. But add hands, case it, and strap it to your wrist, and it begins to (almost) make sense.
I saw a Projekt 02 in the metal for the first time in Geneva earlier this year during Watches & Wonders week and briefly spoke with the Kollokium team, and I came away deeply impressed with the complexity of the 02’s dial. Manuel Emch pointed out that there is simply no way to construct a dial like this except painstakingly by hand, and there’s little room for error in the placement of the dozens of plates or lume application. It’s one of those things where degree of difficulty really impacts your thinking about the end product. It’s a cool looking object, for sure, but imagining an artisan putting the pieces together to create it by hand takes it up multiple levels.
The case of the Projekt 02 lends itself to fully embracing and enjoying the craft behind the design. Here, the key design feature is the lack of a bezel and the integration of a large crystal that allows one to view the full height of the dial from the side. The verticality of a dial is rarely exploited to better effect than in Kollokium’s pieces – they’ve really landed on something here.
The Variant C that was just revealed is Kollokium’s take on the “summer watch” in shades of turquoise. The white to blue gradient effect evokes both tropical and arctic environments, and works well at highlighting the height of the dial. According to the brand, the dial and finishing of the plates has been designed for maximum contrast and light play, which should be impressive from a number of angles given the design of the case and crystal.
The Variant C is a limited edition of 299 pieces. It is on sale beginning today but only to Kollokium newsletter subscribers. Remaining pieces go on sale tomorrow at 10:00 AM eastern time. The retail price is CHF 3,666.66. More information can be found at the brand’s website here.
