Jan 4, 2018
Reading time 3 min.
4 Skull Watches We Can't Get Out of Our Heads
A HEAD FOR HOROLOGY
With unique pieces from HYT, Richard Mille, Speake-Marin, and Bell & Ross, here are four examples of skull watches that may entice more than scare you.
Many watch brands have at least one skeleton watch in their collection, but only a few have actually introduced skull watches — timepieces with skulls on their dials, some with a horological headbone actually incorporated into the movement itself. Here's a heads-up on four recently released skull watches.
1. Richard Mille Tourbillon RM 052 Skull
Above and below: Richard Mille Tourbillon RM 052 Skull
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Richard Mille's RM 052 Skull is a limited edition of 21 watches, introduced at SIHH 2012. The watch had a price of $500,000 when it was first announced. The watch's main feature is the skull-shaped grade 5 titanium baseplate at the center.
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PR
The skull is also integrated into the movement: the upper and lower “jaws” hold the ruby of the tourbillon cage, and the back of the skull is also the movement’s center bridge. The four bridges that connect the movement to the case also a form a skull-and-crossbones pattern. All details about the watch here.
2. HYT Skull Pocket
HYT Skull Pocket
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HYT unveiled its first pocketwatch at SIHH 2017 - and the dial features a skull. (The brand already launched its first skull-themed timepiece in 2015.) The new Skull Pocket has no hands. Like all models from the unconventional brand, it shows the time with the help of two liquids, a clear and a colored one. Where the liquids meet, a visible line tells the wearer what time it is. But even for a HYT timepiece the Skull Pocket is special, because it's not only the first HYT pocketwatch but also features a mechanical light-source technology which the brand initially developed in 2016. Read all about the pocketwatch here.
3. Bell & Ross BR 01 Airborne
Bell & Ross BR 01 Airborne
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The BR 01 Airborne from Bell & Ross features a glow-in-the-dark skull on its dial. The BR 01 Airborne was developed in honor of the courageous soldiers who fought during World War II, particularly the paratroopers of the U.S. Airborne divisions.
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The skull was one of the emblems they wore on their uniforms as a symbol of courage in the face of death.
4. Speake-Marin Crazy Skulls
Speake-Marin Crazy Skulls, closed
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The dial of the Crazy Skulls from Peter Speake-Marin's eponymous watch brand features not one but two skulls. While the space between them forms a heart in the watch shown above, one can activate the watch's minute repeater with a slider on the left side of the case, which activates the repeater and also makes the skulls reveal the usually hidden tourbillon at 6 o'clock, as shown below.
Speake-Marin Crazy Skulls, open
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The first time Speake-Marin placed a skull on a watch dial was 10 years ago, on the Cabinet des Mystères model. More details about the Crazy Skulls watch - which was released at SIHH 2017 - can be found in this article.
This article was originally published in 2014 and has been updated.
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