Horological Art: This Mysterious Clock in a Box is Far More Than Meets the Eye
Fiona Krüger has tapped Denis Flageollet of De Bethune, wood marquetry expert Emeline Depail, and Hawthorne Fine Boxes to create her latest masterpiece.
By Cait Bazemore
Contributor
I’ll admit, I was a little late to the game in discovering Fiona Krüger. While she first established her namesake brand more than a decade ago, Krüger only came on my radar last year. Since then, I have had the pleasure of working with Krüger on two stories: one that delved more broadly into the rise of independent watchmakers and one that highlighted some of the most prominent women in watchmaking.
However, today is the first time I get to dig deeper into one of her creations, and I couldn’t be more excited – this is the Mystery Box, developed in collaboration with the legendary Denis Flageollet of De Bethune, wood marquetry expert Emeline Depail, and Hawthorne Fine Boxes.
Skulls and Chaos
When you think of Fiona Krüger, you may immediately picture her signature skull motif inspired by both her time celebrating the Día de los Muertos while living in Mexico as a child and the long-running watchmaking tradition of memento mori (reminders of mortality).
Or, perhaps, you conjure an image of her slightly more subdued Chaos collection, which launched in 2018 as a departure from the Skull and took the industry by storm last year with one of its latest additions: Fracture.
In addition, Krüger is no stranger to collaboration. She has teamed up with brands like Tasaki to bring jewelry-making crafts to both her Skull and Chaos lines and L’Epee to translate her trademark skull design into a series of clocks.
Now, Krüger has tapped the creative expertise of Emeline Depail, Hawthorne Fine Boxes, and master watchmaker and founder of De Bethune, Denis Flageollet, to bring her latest concept to life.
The Mystery Box
For this creation, Krüger drew inspiration from a new and unexpected source: the Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, whose 2017 book, The Order of Time, challenges the common understanding of time and explores its impermanence.
With the Mystery Box, Krüger wanted to home in on some of Rovelli’s key insights. Specifically, that “time flows at a different speed depending on the place; the past and future differ far less than we think, and even the notion of the present vanishes into the infinite universe.”
Translating this central idea into physical form, Krüger used patterns of overlapping dots and lines to represent the granularity of reality. Meanwhile, the exterior of the box – created in partnership with the artisan Emeline Depail, who specializes in wood marquetry, and Hawthorne Fine Boxes, a family-operated company that specializes in making bespoke boxes – features delicate black-marquetry lines interwoven with mother-of-pearl inlays, evoking photons drifting through the cosmos.
De Bethune’s fearless leader also played a crucial role. While you might associate Flageollet with his works of wrist art, he admits that he has always continued to work on clocks “because they open up a much vaster space than a wristwatch and offer great freedom of mechanical and artistic expression.” This made him the perfect partner for making Krüger’s vision a reality with the Mystery Box.
At first glance, the Mystery Box is just that – an intriguing black box with a soft ticking sound and a suspended key inviting you to explore further. Within, you’ll find the clock with floating indices displayed on glass tubes, representing hours and minutes that transcend the ordinary, perfectly resonating with Rovelli's philosophy.
Ultimately, however, the Mystery Box is more than an exceptional clock created by two of the industry’s great minds – a rising star and a legend – in partnership with Emeline Depail and Hawthorne Fine Boxes. It’s an immersive horological work of art. Through this collaboration, a shared passion for storytelling, curiosity, creativity, innovation, and mechanical mastery come together to offer a poetic reflection on the essence of time.
Pricing & Availability
The Mystery Clock has been unveiled today. It’s released as a limited edition of just 20 pieces with pricing available upon request. For more information, visit Fiona Krüger’s website.