If you know Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, you know his colorful, smiling flowers. They’re cheerful, instantly recognizable, and have appeared on everything from luxury handbags to sneakers, and even UNO cards. But what happens when the man decides to make a mechanical watch? Well, you get a skull with flowers for eyes. And not just any skull, mind you. One that tells time using a mechanism unlike anything we’ve seen before.
Folks, meet the Takashi Murakami Skull Flowers Cylindrical Jumping Hours Tourbillon, the first creation under the artist’s newly launched watchmaking venture, Takashi Murakami Time Objects.
And boy, is it something.
For starters, this isn’t a conventional watch with a skull slapped onto its dial. The skull IS the watch case. Murakami reportedly explored more than 600 skull shapes before settling on the final design, sculpted from Grade 5 titanium and measuring approximately 44 mm across and 18.4 mm thick.
Those signature smiling flowers occupying the eye sockets aren’t static decorations, either. They’re mounted on ball bearings, allowing them to rotate with the wearer’s wrist movements. Because why settle for flowers that merely smile when they can spin, too?
But where do you read the time? Good question.
There’s no conventional dial, no hands, and no crown. Instead, you tilt your wrist outward to reveal a small window along the bottom edge of the skull. Behind it is what Murakami’s team describes as the world’s first cylindrical jumping-hour display, with hours changing instantaneously on a rotating cylinder while the minutes advance continuously on a separate disc.
Powering this mechanical oddity is the exclusive hand-wound Calibre KM 7012 TM, comprising 409 components and 81 jewels. It beats at 21,600 vibrations per hour and offers approximately five days of power reserve. Flip the watch over, and you’ll find a tourbillon decorated with Murakami’s flower motif, visible through the sapphire caseback.
The collection launches in five versions: Black Rainbow, All Black, Full Pavé Diamonds, Full Pavé Black Diamonds, and Full Pavé Rainbow. The last three are lavishly decorated with gemstones, including versions featuring 744 stones. The Black Rainbow and All Black editions are limited to just 12 pieces each.
The Full Pavé Rainbow version, in particular, looks like something straight out of a Día de los Muertos celebration, with its colorful gemstones and spinning flowers for eyes. All that’s missing is a proper Mexican fiesta.
Murakami calls his exploration of time The Chronos Paradox, bringing together life, death, and the fleeting nature of existence. Deep stuff for a watch with spinning cartoon flowers for eyes. But then again, that’s Takashi Murakami for you.
As for the price, the Black Rainbow and All Black editions start at CHF 85,000 each (about US$101,760), and they are limited to just 12 pieces each. The Full Pavé Rainbow costs CHF 140,000, the Full Pavé Black Diamonds CHF 142,000, and the Full Pavé Diamonds CHF 148,000, all before taxes.
You can check out the collection over at watch.kaikaikiki.com.
Images: Takashi Murakami Time Objects.
