Anime merchandise and traditional Japanese craftsmanship rarely share the same workbench. But it has happened before with ukiyo-e art, and now GARRACK, the character collaboration brand from Ueni Trading, is changing that, too, with a new trio of Evangelion mechanical watches featuring handmade raden dials.
If raden sounds unfamiliar, you’ve almost certainly seen it before. It is the centuries-old art of cutting abalone shells into paper-thin pieces before inlaying them into lacquerware to create shimmering decorative patterns. This time, instead of adorning a jewellery box or ornamental cabinet, the iridescent shell finds a new home on the dials of three Evangelion-inspired timepieces.
Available in Unit-01, Unit-02, and Unit-00 editions, each dial is handcrafted by Tsuyoshi Musashigawa, the fourth-generation head of Musashigawa Workshop, a long-established Takaoka lacquerware studio. Every shell fragment is cut, coloured, positioned, and finished by hand, giving each watch a unique appearance as the natural mother-of-pearl catches the light from different angles.
The artistry extends beyond the dial. Each watch runs on a Japanese-made MIYOTA automatic movement housed inside a 41 mm stainless steel case with a calf leather strap, mineral crystal, a see-through caseback printed with the NERV logo, and 5 ATM water resistance. Unit-specific details, including the EVA colour schemes, number markers, and A.T. Field-inspired indices, complete the design.
Prices start at 77,000 yen (around US$530) for the Unit-01 model, while the Unit-02 and Unit-00 versions are priced at 79,200 yen (around US$545). These beautiful timepieces are available as we speak from the GARRACK web store [JP].
Images: Ueni Trading Co. Ltd. [JP].