Word has it that if you really can’t compare a watch to any other, it really is original. By that standard the Skulls & Bones is one original watch. 

ArtyA’s latest creation doesn’t do things by halves, and it certainly isn’t a mass-market kind of timepiece. Critics might say that it’s rather extreme – and they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. But more objective minds will first and foremost note its wholly coherent style. 

Back in the day, the Skull universe, popularized many years ago by Yvan Arpa, was decried in the world of watchmaking as being in frightfully bad taste. Since then, it’s become trendy and fashionable, as people started wearing this style of timepiece to try and stand out from the crowd – with varying degrees of success. But in most cases, the relevant styling doesn’t go much further than a dial illustration, some sort of ‘skull’ motif on the hands, and little else. Until now, that is. 

Skull-tural!

With the Skulls & Bones, ArtyA has embarked once again on the style trajectory it was the first to pioneer (with many following in its wake), as ArtyA’s CEO and designer Yvan Arpa guides the concept to what must surely be its ultimate destination. The Skull universe created by the brand has been extended here to include the entire watch, from the case to the strap. The skull is much more than a simple drawing: sculpted and engraved, it’s been released from the two-dimensional representations to which it’s been confined elsewhere.  As is its wont, ArtyA has suffused the Skulls & Bones symbols with new meaning, taking concepts through to their logical conclusion, and once again placing the artistic dimension at the heart of its work. The dial is fully hand-made.

Every one of the new 47 mm models is unique, featuring hand-crafted engravings and sculptures. Each includes the brand’s own movement, frequently used in its Son of a Gun collections. This results in a reliable, high-performance caliber, the heart of which is incorporated within a small central space. Its surface is covered by a rough, seemingly unfinished steel plate surface, featuring a twitchy drawing of a skull, rather like a hastily spray-painted tag.

This is surrounded by six hand-engraved skulls in polished steel outlined in black. The style is at once tribal and urban, modern and ancestral. ArtyA leaves the interpretation of this universal symbol to each individual’s imagination. By definition, each timepiece will be unique, with each person free to have their own take on the skull universe. 

Gangs of skulls

The Skulls & Bones bezel sports another dazzling spectacle, exploring both “skulls” and “bones”. Here, ArtyA extends the core theme to encompass other graphic elements such as crosses, totems, barbed wire, guitars, and guns, expressing the whole gamut of the world of rock. Here too, ArtyA has not gone for simple cookie-cutter drawings, instead favouring genuine steel engravings. The shapes of the movement are seemingly drawn inexorably towards the bezel, each feature setting off the other. 

The most striking new aspect of the Skulls & Bones is probably its strap. Here too, no other brand has yet taken the concept to its limits, expanding the Skull universe well beyond the case. Perhaps that wouldn’t make sense for them. After all, some people’s creativity can be rather limited by convention – but that kind of thinking has never held sway at ArtyA, and its “full skull” strap proves that beyond a shadow of doubt. 

This chunky, deliberately provocative design really is a ground-breaking step in watchmaking. For the first time, it’s impossible to talk in terms of watch and strap: the watch is the strap, and the strap is the watch. The two can’t be separated; they’re inextricably linked, in life as in death. Without a doubt, 2015 has brought us the very last word in the creative adventure of the Skull.