While the idea of a skull watch might sound like a kitschy Halloween-themed novelty, they actually run deep in horological history, dating back to pocket watches of the 17th century in the memento mori tradition of reminding you of your own mortality. However, these were not the skull dial timepieces we think of today but instead “form” watches that, like the name states, take a shape beyond a traditional round timekeeper. In the case of the skull form, they typically shared a similar blueprint with the jaw unhinged, exposing the dial on the underside or roof of the mouth. Today, we see many watchmakers continuing in this tradition, shifting away from form watches and extending the imagery to dial designs, some of which are achieved by simple painting while others more closely echo the form watches with sculptural elements – here are a dozen of them.

Bell & Ross Laughing Skull

Bell & Ross steps out of its aviation roots with a series of skull watches adopting the skull and crossbones motif also known as the Jolly Roger. Here, the brand takes its signature square watch case to lay the foundation for the design, which extends across the dial and bezel. The piece comes to life thanks to a mechanical jaw automaton that moves up and down to mimic laughter when you wind the watch.

Bomberg Edge Skulls Mosaic

For Bomberg, the skull motif is not just a one off for a special edition collection – its core imagery featured prominently across several of the brand’s major lines like the Bolt-68 Neo, BB-01, and Skull Rider collections. These stylized skulls and sugar skull designs are a direct tribute to Mexican traditions, like Dia de Muertos or the Day of the Dead. While a number of the designs lean into the moody and dark nature of the skull, others fully embody the colorful spirit of Mexican culture like this mosaic version.

Chopard L.U.C Skull One

Chopard is another brand with a tradition of honoring the Dia de Muertos or the Day of the Dead. Using the Salon Internacional Alta Relojeria Mexico (SIAR) watch fair in Mexico City as a launch point for these specialized designs, Chopard has produced a number of models using the skull as a centerpiece while showcasing the brand’s high-end hand-engraving and micro-painting, alongside the technical prowess of its ultra-thin L.U.C mechanical movements.

Corum Bubble Skull Tourbillon

At the turn of the new millennium, the late Severin Wunderman purchased Corum and launched the Bubble watch. This was one of those designs that radically disrupted traditional Swiss watchmaking with an avant-garde approach. As a Holocaust survivor, Wunderman developed a profound, lifelong preoccupation with mortality, the fragility of life, and traditions of the Day of the Dead. In line with these principles, a stylized skull was featured on one of the very first Bubble dials at launch. Since then, the brand has released numerous ‘skull’ Bubbles, like this tourbillon that places the complication right inside the open mouth.

Fiona Kruger Petit Skull

Fiona Kruger is another watchmaker who shares in this ethos, exploring the themes of time, mortality, and the celebration of life. This connection is largely informed by her childhood growing up in Mexico where the Dia de Muertos celebrations showed her skull motifs could be colorful and joyful tributes to life and memory. As she made her way into the horological sphere as a watchmaker, she became equally inspired by the historical 17th century memento mori timepieces. The culmination of these connection points throughout her lifetime has made the skull a central theme of her designs with the Petit Skull collection encompassing many iterations on the form.

Hermès Slim d’Hermès C’est la Fete

Hermes is no stranger to a slew of whimsical illustrations throughout its wares and watches. Among this imagery, the horse motif is one of the brand’s strongest recurring motifs and takes on an array of iterations. Perhaps one of the most unique is in the Slim d’Hermes C’est la Fete featuring a skeleton horse and rider. Like many of the Maison’s designs, the inspiration started with one of its scarves showcasing a design by a Japanese artist and illustrator named Daiske Nomura with a skeletal horseman in a tailcoat and top hat. Hermes went on to adapt the scene down to the scale of a watch dial using a combination of miniature enamel, paillone enamel, and engraving.

Hublot Classic Fusion Skull Tourbillon

Hublot has never been a brand to shy away from a bold design. So, it comes as no surprise the skull has shown up in its offbeat watches. The motif has been used a few times across the brand’s catalog. What particularly stands out about the Hublot Classic Fusion Skull Tourbillon is the juxtaposition of multiple interpretations of the skull concept. Here, the brand has cleverly employed a skeletonized dial with the skull tourbillon along with bone-shaped bridges and plate.

HYT Skull

HYT offers a unique take on the skull thanks to its one-of-a-kind fluid-filled design approach. The brand has iterated on the motif in a few editions. While most of its timepieces have a circular glass capillary to indicate the hours, with the HYT Skull the brand has engineered the tubes to trace the outline of the skull shape with eight bends. Completing the look, the right eye of the skull displays the power reserve indicator while the other eye contains the constant seconds in a rotating disc.

Louis Vuitton Tambour Carpe Diem Minute Repeater

Like Hermes, Louis Vuitton is known for playing with illustrations throughout its collections and extending to its line of timepieces. While not a frequently recurring theme, the skull has made a couple appearances over time. One of the most memorable is the Tambour Carpe Diem Minute Repeater, which offers a juxtaposition of memento mori and the idea of seizing the day. What sets this model apart is its animation when the minute repeater is activating, causing the jaw to drop, revealing the words “carpe diem” that give the watch its name.

Mr. Jones The Last Laugh

When it comes to brands with highly expressive and illustrative dial designs, Mr. Jones is at the top of the list. So, it seems only fitting the skull has made its way into a few of the brand’s models. Spanning beyond intricate depictions and use of bold color, The Last Laugh is a standout interpretation thanks to its combination of the motif brought to life with technical prowess. Here, the upper teeth display the hours via a jump hour mechanism, while the lower teeth show the minutes. With the model’s jump hour feature, the top teeth flip exactly on the 59-to-00-minute shift. In addition, the skull’s eye sockets feature mirrored surfaces, letting you see your own reflection in death’s gaze.

Ressence x Alain Silberstein Type 1 REV “Carpe Diem”

Along with Louis Vuitton, Ressence and Alain Silberstein teamed up to explore the interplay between the concepts of mortality and seizing the day. The composition of the model merges Ressence’s space-age fluid mechanics with Silberstein’s iconic Bauhaus-inspired primary colors and geometric shapes. The marriage of the two watchmakers’ DNA brings to life the design’s inspiration from Philippe de Champaigne’s famous painting “Vanitas Still Life with a Tulip, Skull and Hour-Glass.”

Richard Mille RM052 Skull Tourbillon

Like Hublot, Richard Mille certainly has a reputation for instantly recognizable and avant-garde timepieces. Within these audacious designs, we’ve seen the skull theme used on a few occasions. For the RM052 Skull Tourbillon, the brand takes a similar approach as Hublot pairing skeletonization with the skull motif. Here, within the frame of the classic rectangular Richard Mille case shape, the skull forms the actual skeletonized baseplate and bridges of the movement, with the jaws holding the tourbillon cage.