French watchmaker Awake is working with Parisian illustrator Nicolas Barrome Forgues on a 50-piece limited edition watch with a dial designed by the artist.
It is the second time Awake has worked with Mr Barrmome Forgues, who is famous for using animated monsters, robots, hairy animals, giant octopuses, strange fish and extra-terrestrials in his work that mixes characters with icons and symbols to portray subversive messages.
Awake describes the collaboration watch, Dare& Dream as a “facetious flashback to our space odyssey dedicated to the brand’s friends and the child in all of them”.
Clear?
It is based on the Awake 01 Titanium watch with the dial’s artwork commissioned through a challenge to Mr Barrmome Forgues to come up with a design that brings to an end the watchmaker’s Mission To Earth space epic that began two years ago with its first Nasa collaboration.
The Awake Dare&Dream watch has a white face decorated with “doodles” including a rocket, fish, planets, a flying saucer, moon characters and satellites.
The artwork tells a story: “In a distant galaxy imagined by Nicolas live the Bifrons; party-loving, carefree aliens. By not caring about anything and doing whatever they want with their planet, it’s dying and there’s nothing left to eat so the Bifrons set off in search of a welcoming planet where they can live without worrying about scarcity. It was a long journey that took them to Earth. Delighted and convinced, they decide that it is on this planet that their species will find refuge,” Awake describes.
The watch’s case back features two Bifron characters who appear to be on the brink of heading through an airlock, potentially to oblivion or a utopian life on Earth.
“It is treated like the final scene of a science fiction film, a world dear to Nicolas and which has greatly nourished his art. [It is] a happy end symbolising the end of a key period in Awake’s life,” the watchmaker explains.
The watch comes in a 40mm x 11.9mm titanium case housing a modified automatic Miyota 9039 movement.
Orders will open on May 16 for the watch, which can be bought on a decorated white rubber strap or one made from black textile.
Prices have not yet been announced, but expect it to sell for around $1,200.