Up Close With the Krayon Anywhere Arborea

I have long admired Krayon and its watchmaker-engineer, Rémi Maillat. While deep-pocketed brands might commission an external complications specialist such as Chronode or Renaud et Papi to create something as complex as the Krayon Everywhere’s USS movement, Maillat personally undertook the painstaking calculations and component design for the Krayon Everywhere—a watch capable of indicating sunrise and sunset anywhere in the world.

In 2023, I had the distinct honor of meeting Maillat and his wife, Fei, who supports Krayon’s business development. The couple recounted a diving trip off the coast of Spain several years ago, when they hoped to see fish at sunrise, while they were still active and illuminated by first light. A miscalculation, however, resulted in a long wait on board—and that experience became the impetus for the Krayon Everywhere.

As a brief segue, Maillat released a new model in 2025 called the Anyday, which features an innovative way of displaying the day, date, and week along the circumference of the dial.

After unveiling the Krayon Everywhere in 2017—a watch that allows users to easily adjust for their current longitude and time zone, and a deserved winner of the 2018 GPHG Innovation Prize—Krayon introduced the more accessibly priced Anywhere in 2021. Unlike the Everywhere, the Anywhere requires a watchmaker to set the wearer’s location: a screw on the right side of the caseback sets the longitude and time zone for sunrise, while another screw on the left does the same for sunset. Anywhere went on to win the 2022 GPHG Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize.

Although the Anywhere is positioned at a lower price point than the Everywhere, it has notably become a canvas for artistic expression. This began with Krayon’s contribution to Only Watch 2021: a pièce unique Anywhere featuring small polygonal cells—what Krayon calls “alveoli”—filled with vibrant lacquer to form an abstract rendition of Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise.

The warm reception of this objet d’art led to the limited-edition Anywhere Azur, as well as Formula 1 icon Jean Todt’s unique Anywhere inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night.

Lacquer-painted versions of the Anywhere are rare Pokémon indeed, so when avid collector and rare timepiece specialist Jimmy Ip allowed me to photograph his 15-piece limited edition Krayon Anywhere Arborea Métiers d’Art 2024, I was chuffed.

Acquired for S$280,000, this latest reimagining of the Anywhere draws inspiration from Henri Rousseau’s The Virgin Forest at Sunrise.

“I’ve observed very strong demand for Krayon, as collectors increasingly recognize the artistry and mechanical craftsmanship of Maillat and his team,” shared Jimmy, co-founder of SRK Haute Horlogerie. “The Anywhere Arborea is stunning in photos and even more mesmerizing in person.”

Throughout the day, a hand-finished sun gradually makes its way along light and dark sectors that Maillat engineered to indicate day and night anywhere on Earth. His C030 movement also displays the date and month on a small subdial at the 6 o’clock position.

The round dial is complemented by gently curved lugs and a fluted crown used for both winding and setting, decorated with a globe that serves as a reminder of Krayon’s ethos.

Above all, I love that the Anywhere Arborea’s platinum case measures just 39mm in diameter and a slim 9.5mm in thickness—spellbinding savoir faire and an incredible horological endeavor, distilled into a modestly sized accessory.