Krayon Anywhere – Sunset and Sunrise at the Place of Your Choice (Live Pics & Pricing)

First breaking on the indie watchmaking scene in 2017, Krayon and its founder Rémi Maillat made a name for themselves with Everywhere, a mind-boggling complicated watch capable of computing sunrise and sunset hours for any location on Earth. The development received a well-deserved industry accolade with the Innovation Prize at the GPHG 2018 (the Oscars of watchmaking). The brand is back with the Krayon Anywhere, a second, simpler (relatively speaking) take on the same concept. It shows the length of the day together with the sunrise and sunset hours at the place of your choice.

Krayon Everywhere

Although quite rare, some watches can indicate sunrise and sunset times. These are manufactured for a given place, because the sunrise and sunset times follow an annual cycle varying according to the location. From a technical perspective, these watches are equipped with a mechanism driven by a cam that rotates once a year – for this reason, these are usually paired with other astronomical indications. The geometry of this cam is designed in relation to a particular place to display the changes in sunrise and sunset times. 

Above: Two grande complication watches with sunrise and sunset indications. The Vacheron Constantin Celestia uses two hands to display the sunrise and sunset. The F.P. Journe Astronomic Blue for Only Watch 2019 uses shutters (sector at 12 o’clock).

This limitation was overcome in 2017 when Krayon introduced Everywhere, a watch that can determine the sunrise and sunset times for any location, provided you input the date, the latitude, longitude and your time zone.

The Krayon Everywhere was the first mechanical watch to provide universal sunrise and sunset indications, i.e. with the possibility to adjust the location. To determine the sunrise and sunset times, its uber-complex movement needs to compute the date (taking into account the equation of time), the latitude, the longitude and the time zone. The crown has three positions: the first one for winding; the second for adjusting the time; and the third to adjust the universal sunrise/sunset parameters. Pressing the pusher at 7 o’clock sets all the indications in succession, one after the other, via the crown. The duration of the night-and-day, as well as the sunrise and sunset times, can be read at a glance on the 24-hour ring thanks to three overlapping discs.

Krayon Anywhere

Three years after the presentation of Everywhere, Krayon now introduces Anywhere, a second, simpler (relatively speaking) take on the concept. It shows the length of the day together with the sunrise and sunset hours at the place of your choice. Besides traditional hour and minute hands, the Krayon Anywhere features a sun-shaped indicator that travels on a 24-hour track on the periphery of the dial. The length of the night and day are displayed on a bi-colour ring. The areas of convergence represent the sunrise and sunset.

The Krayon Anywhere stands out from other sunrise/sunset watches because its location parameter is not built-in. It is based on a cam designed and purposely manufactured in relation to a specific place. It relies on the Everywhere development and, as such, it incorporates an internal adjustment system. Unlike Everywhere, the input cannot be performed directly and it needs to be adjusted by a watchmaker. But this is probably a quicker and simpler option if you move to another country or place and would like your watch to be adjusted. Or simply if you end up selling your watch, it can be adjusted to the new owner’s location.

Essential parameters to indicate the sunrise/sunset hours are the date and month, which are shown in the sub-dial at 6 o’clock. It is a simple calendar and therefore needs to be adjusted when the months are not 31 days.

If the Krayon Everywhere had an automatic micro-rotor movement, the Calibre 30C0 is manually-wound. It beats at 3Hz and its barrel can store up to 84 hours of power reserve when fully wound. Its superb architecture can be admired through the exhibition caseback.

The mechanism at 6 o’clock makes it possible to adjust the sunrise/sunset indications. The long central screw is used for the latitude. The two adjustment screws on the bridges on either side of the mechanism are used (respectively for the sunrise and the sunset) to set the longitude. It is superbly finished with inward and outward angles, beautiful waves (whose curves are inspired by that of the sunrise in Neuchatel), polished jewel sinks, and more… A nice detail, there are no visible screws to hold the bridges in place – as mentioned before, except the two visible screws that are used to adjust the movement.

With its compact dimensions – 39mm diameter and 9.5mm height – the Krayon Anywhere is surprisingly small given the complexity of its movement. The tapered lugs are individually soldered. Its dial is engraved with projections of terrestrial latitude and longitude. All of this makes the watch super elegant and comfortable to wear.

Price and versions

The Krayon Anywhere is available in 18k white gold, in 18k pink gold and in stainless steel. The watch is worn on an alligator strap with a pin buckle matching the material of the case. A quick-release spring bar system allows you to change the strap easily. Price is set at CHF 96,000 in steel and CHF 116,000 in gold.

More details at krayon.ch.