The Oktopus Crazy Universe is another collaboration with artist and engraver Johnny Dowell. As with the Oktopus Reef that Dowell worked on, this new project saw him take an existing Linde Werdelin piece and transform it with a full-case engraving.

By trade, Dowell is a gun engraver, following in the footsteps of an uncle, a gun maker. He learned his engraving craft 14 years ago, a five-year learning period. Since then he has been plying his trade at one of Britain’s most prestigious gun engravers, later beginning to work on jewellery and, most recently, watches.

While the Oktopus Reef depicted an underwater scene, the Oktopus Crazy Universe looked up for inspiration. The Crazy Universe gets lost in the stars. Morten Linde, co-founder of Linde Werdelin, wanted a space theme to reflect the moonphase of the watch. In discussing the project, Linde and Dowell found that marvelling at the wonders of space was a shared passion.

Morten Linde revealed a childhood fascination with learning about the universe: “As a child I even dreamed of being an astronaut. Even though people are exploring space there is such mystery contained within it, wondering what else could be discovered. To create a space theme was an obvious extension of the watch’s moonphase complication, and it was a delight to discover space was a passion for Johnny too.”

The Oktopus Crazy Universe takes an Oktopus BluMoon as its base, onto which Dowell has engraved the universe design. The whole process, from designs to finished engraving, required up to 100 hours, during which the hard Titanium Grade 5 outer case broke Dowell’s standard engraving tools.

“Working on Titanium Grade 5 was a great test for me; I doubt I will ever engrave a harder material in my life,” said Dowell of the process. “My everyday tools snapped and shattered as soon as I even touched the titanium. I switched to tungsten carbide tools which were definitely better suited to the task but even they were pushed to the limit.”

Adorning the case are drawings of the sun, various planets, including Earth, on the six o’clock facet, Mars, Saturn and Pluto, moons and shooting stars. The space theme is derived from the Oktopus BluMoon’s moonphase complication, bringing the scene to life.

“The early phases of the project were us discussing what we liked about space,” continues Dowell, who also goes by the moniker “King Nerd” in various online communities. “I am fascinated by weird and wonderful sci-fi, and it’s all connected by the unknown: I’m captivated by space because I can never know enough about it.”

The Oktopus Crazy Universe is a continuation of Linde Werdelin creating a bespoke offering, beginning with the LW 10-24 and its customisable dials, hands and back cases. All Linde Werdelin series are already limited to fewer than 100 pieces, but with the Engraved series there are fewer than a handful of each.

Available on the Linde Werdelin website, the Oktopus Crazy Universe is priced at 20,000 Swiss francs, excluding VAT.

More informations about the timepieces: http://www.lindewerdelin.com/

LW Oktopus Reef in images