Grail Watch 8: Kudoke 2 ‘Starry Night’
Born from a collaboration between Grail Watch and independent watchmaker Stefan Kudoke, the limited edition Kudoke 2 ‘Starry Night’ takes inspiration from a masterpiece painting of Vincent van Gogh.
The Grail Watch 8 ‘Starry Night’ is based on the Geneva Grand Prix award-winning Kudoke 2 watch with the in-house Kaliber 1-24H. This movement boasts a hand-frosted movement bridge, mirror-polished angles, a hand-engraved balance cock, and snail-finished barrels.
Kudoke 2 fuses restrained, German neoclassical watchmaking design with a poetic sky disk complication at 12 o’clock indicating 24 hours, with a display of day and night.
The Kudoke 2 “Starry Night,” is inspired by the seminal work of Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, in particular the swirling vortex of luminous stars that he saw above him as a patient at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum.
The Kudoke 2 ‘Starry Night’ is characterized by a brushed and mirror-polished grade 5 titanium case, treated with CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) to give it a shimmering translucent blue color.
The dial is a stunning “twisting vortex” guilloche treated with blue PVD coating that evokes flinqué enamel watches from the 18th century. The ultra modern case has been exceptionally contrasted with this decidedly old school dial.
Finally, the infinity-shaped hands, the chapter ring for the indexes as well as the chapter ring for the 24 hours, and the hand-engraved sun and moon disk have all received the careful application of hand-painted Super-LumiNova to create a visual homage to the emotional impact of Van Gogh’s legendary painting.
The hand-finished movement of this exclusive watch features Stefan’s original British yellow gold-treated, frosted three-quarter plate and hand-engraved balance cock. The star engraving within the infinity symbol on the balance cock is unique to this edition and a subtle reference to the “Starry Night” inspiration.
The Starry Night was painted in June of 1889, when Vincent van Gogh was a patient at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum. Inspired from this masterpiece, the Kudoke 2 ‘Starry Night’ blends the creative spirit of the great Post-Impressionist artist with Grail Watch’s design code of a Luminous Signature.
The concept of Luminous Signature is the third code in Grail Watch’s creative mantra. It was first expressed in Trilobe Une Folle Soirée, where the three time-telling disks and all the angles of the baseplate had been treated in Super-LumiNova.
Before that, Grail Watch had created two Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Chronographs with fully luminous dials. Launched earlier this year, the Chronoswiss Opus Blue comes with a CVD treated grade 5 titanium case and a luminous skeleton dial.
Apart from the new blue CVD treated grade 5 titanium case, blue PVD coated guilloché and special luminous indications, it also comes with three straps — a gray Alcantara strap selected by Stefan and Ev, a Delugs for Grail Watch Denim Babele strap and a fantastic Delugs Cut-To-Size navy blue rubber strap.
This watch will be made in just 30 examples and is priced at EUR 13,300 excluding taxes.
Technical details
Model: GRAIL WATCH 8: KUDOKE 2 ‘STARRY NIGHT’
Case
Brushed and polished blue CVD-coated titanium case
Diameter: 39mm
Thickness: 10.7mm
Sapphire crystal
Onion-shaped crown
Water-resistant to 50m
Dial
Blue PVD coated guilloche dial
Minute chapter ring filled with green Super-LumiNova
Hand-engraved sky disk: Gold-plated Sun / Rhodium plated Moon and Stars filled with blue Super-LumiNova
24-hour chapter ring filled with blue Super-LumiNova
Infinity-shaped steel hands filled with green Super-LumiNova
Movement
Manual-winding Kaliber 1-24 with 46-hour power reserve; 28,800 beats per hour
Yellow gold-plated hand-engraved balance cock
Yellow gold-plated frosted finished movement
Strap
Alcantara strap with quick-release spring bars
Blue CVD coated titanium pin buckle
Edition
Limited and numbered edition of 30 pieces
Price
EUR 13,300 excluding taxes
