marc quinn x bamford watch department

marc quinn x bamford watch department – a preview of the project

british artists marc quinn has created a special watch collection for BWD. each version features airplane hands and a different colour of an iris of a human eye is superimposed on a world map, where the use of mother of pearl is alluding to either bottomless ocean depths, or distant galaxies. the three different aviation watches (in editions of five) are made in a low-altitude (brown), mid-altitude (blue) and a high-altitude (white) version and all bear marc quinn’s written signature on the dial. each BWD watch comes in a packaging referring to the ‘black box’ flight recorder , also made with the same anodized metal. for this new collection by marc quinn the watches comes in an orange color box — orange — the ‘true color’ of black boxes.

read more in an article by elisa anis/financial times (cover image courtesy FT).

‘the eye of history (atlantic perspective) raw earth‘, 2012 painting, oil on canvas, 200h x 200w cm

the ‘the eye of history’ paintings in marc quinn’s solo exhibition at the fondazione cini in venice

image © designboom

‘the sound of silence’ (2013) exhibited for the first time at the fondazione cini in venice

image © designboom

marc quinn’s new watch collection is directly related to the new kinetic aluminium sculpture ‘the sound of silence’, which was just unveiled in his solo exhibition at fondazione cini during the venice art biennale. ‘the sound of silence’ is a mobile of airplanes and airplane crashes. explosively violent yet suspended in silence, the sculpture functions as a snapshot of a muted disaster, a manifestation of one of our darkest contemporary fears yet also captivating in its hypnotic movement.

‘the sound of silence’ and ‘eye of history’ inside the marc quinn exhibition at the fondazione cini in venice

image © designboom

BWD luxury goes down the individuality road: customised rolex watches

BWD / bamford watch department creates one-off watches designed by artists and fashion designers such as fragment by hiroshi fujiwara and darren romanelli’s DRx. the company also offers individually tailored watches, where the customer picks the colours, designs, and even the features.

‘the high-end watch market discovers unique timepieces to suit individual tastes‘ says george bamford (his name is on the dial of every one of their rolex watches). ‘I see our products and brand are almost ‘anti-bling’. our watches have a predominately black look thanks to the signature military grade titanium coating.’

BWD X FRAGMENT – SUBMARINER

hiroshi fujiwara is often credited with being the godfather of the harajuku subculture in japan and is a world-renowned streetwear designer, having created highly lauded collections previously in collaborations with nike and levis. this BWD X FRAGMENT – SUBMARINER release marks hiroshi fujiwara’s second partnership with the bamford watch department under his fragment label. the watches come in a limited edition of 15 pieces.

BWD X FRAGMENT – DAYTONA

popeye the sailor, the world’s mightiest mariner, and beetle bailey, the world’s laziest private, are integrated on the front of these custom-designed watches. the back of each piece is engraved with the DRx romanelli logo and numbered edition. each watch comes with a custom comic strip and, through an innovative packaging concept, the collection stays true to the classic properties and celebrate respectively the navy and the army.