Time Flies: L’Epée 1839 Shows Off Some of Its Greatest Artistic Collaborations

We love watches. We love Geneva Watch Days. But the sheer number of new timepieces presented at the annual event can be overwhelming. That’s why it’s always necessary to take a break and examine the occasional clock.

Fortunately, at GWD 2025, L’Epée presented the Creative Art Residency, a roundup of some of the clockmaker’s most imaginative creations to date.

It was a very welcome break from all the novelties, and the sheer joy and imagination of each of the offerings in this mini exhibition provided crucial context to the reason we love watches so much in the first place.

For time to have meaning beyond measurement, it needs to have a message. For the Time Flies “Messenger,” L’Epée’s resident artists, painter Jeremy Brun and designer Juliette Lefèvre, wanted to create something that told the story of humankind’s most imaginative inventions ever – the airplane.
 

Not only did aviation define the 20th century, but the desire to slip earth’s slippery bonds continues to fascinate us all. Furthermore, flight plays a significant role in L’Epée’s history as they supplied clocks for the legendary Concorde.

What makes the Time Flies “Messenger” so artistic is that these ideas of daring and glamour are expressed in a minimalist way. This 8-day clock is presented in the form of a stylized 1930s propeller plane, offering just enough information to suggest the form of a plane, and, according to its makers, “just enough empty space to inspire our imaginations.”
 

Hours and minutes are displayed on large diameter stainless steel disks with black PVD coating on a circular-brushed satin finish and stamped numerals. This allows one to read the time (presented on the cockpit) quickly, while the skeletonized movement draws the viewer deeper into the movement.

Here’s the interesting thing about L’Epée 1839: The brand does not distinguish between artist and engineer. In fact, every unique piece in its collection is a collaboration between the manufacture’s in-house team or a partnership with talented artists – sort of like how action painters from the 1950s believed that the way a surface was prepared was as much a part of the art as the finished artwork.
 

In the case of the Time Fast II & Regatta Fluorescent, resident artist Floriano Castaldi and designers Milagros Rodríguez (Regatta) and Georg Foster (Time Fast II) teamed up to produce two unique clocks that investigate the surface, form, and perception of two very different objects.
 

The Time Fast II uses that series’ retro racing car aesthetic, while the Regatta has the sleek silhouette of a fast boat. Both use a base of palladium-finished brass, stainless steel, and aluminum, but Castaldi added another layer of meaning thanks to his special “fluorescent” lacquering technique. The resulting paint job evokes a nostalgia for a well-loved Hot Wheels or a fast machine that’s survived a few seasons of competition.

Artist Chris Alexander (a.k.a. The Dial Artist) first collaborated with L’Epée 1839 on a limited edition of their grenade-shaped clock. Alexander, a British artist based in Scotland, got his start customizing wristwatch dials and is now extending his signature technique to car-shaped clocks, proving that all culture is intertwined.
 

Alexander has paired up with designer Georg Foster to celebrate street art, art bombing, and graffiti with a collection of one-of-a-kind, hand-painted car-inspired timepieces: the Time Fast D8 Raced, the Time Fast II Urban Racer, and Time Fast D8 by TDA.
 

Each edition is an exploration of car culture and graffiti; two cultures that are constantly evolving yet also, somehow, timeless.

L’Epée 1839’s commitment to artistic collaboration extends beyond the occasional mash-up. The L’Epée 1839 Creative Art Residency is an important part of its creative incubator.

One of the most breathtaking examples to come from this program is the Phoenix Flying Tourbillon by L’Epée 1839 x Vincent Calabrese. This edition features two bold mechanical creations by master watchmaker Vincent Calabrese and decorated by two very talented artists.

The first piece, The Phoenix Eternis Ignis, encases Calabrese’s masterpiece in a gorgeous black orb made of titanium, on which artist Morena Fetoshi has hand-painted a fiery orange phoenix (and clouds) – an emblem of eternal renewal. It’s a lovely allegory about the endless cycle of time.
 

The other piece, the Icon – Beaux Arts by French artist Séverine Bugna, plays off the fluid beauty and natural whimsy of Calabrese’s tourbillion. Here, Bugna’s cute, contemporary colors and shapes speak to the joy of movement. Every line is meant to convey a smile while emphasizing the movement’s heartbeat

The greatest pleasure of both pieces is the way that each unites technical mastery with pure artistic expression.

In this version of designer Milagros Rodríguez’s Regatta clock, L’Epée 1839 worked with the master boatbuilders and restorers of Adeco to explore the marine connections of this sleek scull-shaped clock.

While the mechanism’s architecture and the mechanics (most rowing competitions require precision teamwork and endurance, neatly summed up by this caliber’s eight-day power reserve) connect La Regatta to nautical themes, by crafting the clock out of wenge wood – recognized for its strength and exoticism – this piece evokes a feeling of calm like gentle ripples on the water.