Introducing The Krayon Anyday - A Watch For Humans

I consider myself to be a pretty switched-on guy.

Yes, I know that kind of self-confidence is rare on this website (not), but when it comes to watches at least, I pride myself on understanding most of the things that I talk about. Recently, however, my immense knowledge has been tested, my grey matter strained and my ego left in tatters. All from trying to understand how a watch that looks so simple, can offer something so unique and so practical.

When I read the press release of the offending watch, The Anyday from Neuchatel-based brand Krayon, I had to sit down away from my kids so I could concentrate. I then read some other publications’ overview of it and then sat quietly for a while to let it all sink in. It seemed like no-one, including myself, quite grasped the complexity of it. There was a sense of reservation in the articles I read, almost like they didn’t want to admit that they didn’t understand it either.

The good news is however, Rèmi, the brains behind Krayon is a real life genius so I don’t feel too bad about not understanding his creations straight away. I am a mere mortal after all.

I will alway be honest to you, dear reader, so with my proclamation of incompetence out of the way. Let’s dive straight in to Krayon’s latest release, The Anyday. Maybe we can understand how it works together.

Krayon - A Short History Of Innovation

When I visited Krayon in Neuchatel, I was blown away by the quiet creativity that seeped out of every crevice of their facility. It was one of the most serene ateliers I’ve ever been to. I’ve only been to two but you get the idea…

Before we talk about the Anyday, and for some context, I want to mention their first collections, the Anywhere and Everywhere. Both are capable of tracking sunrise and sunset times, and both are technical marvels with a thread of warmth and creativity built in. Often, highly technical watches can feel industrial and sterile. It’s tough to bring humanity to highly technical watchmaking and mathematics but no-one does it better than Krayon.

Anyday - A Watch To Keep You Calm

Like a duck on water, the Krayon Anyday is calm and composed on the surface with a lot happening underneath. Dubbed a ‘Mechanical Planner’, it’s the first of its kind and can accurately track the date, the time and the day of the week, all in an uncluttered and simple way. It’s impressive, beautiful and unfathomably creative in a way that only Rèmi can pull off.

Hours And Minutes

As with the Anywhere, the central dial of the Anyday displays the time with a precise handset and the classic “Y” hour markers . A guilloché pattern fills the negative space and gives it an almost monogrammed look. I can’t wait to see what Krayon does with the dials on future versions of the Anyday. A micro painted depiction of Monet’s sunflowers perhaps? The possibilities are endless.

Date and Day

Ok, I’m going to butcher this but bear with me.

A crescent moon indicates the date on a hand-painted sapphire disc at the periphery of the dial. Seems simple enough. To display the days of the week, however, we have another, this time movable disc underneath that displays the weekdays in a dark blue, and the weekends in a lighter shade. This gives you an accurate representation of what day it is, but also where you are within the current month. If you’re like me and visualise time in blocks, then this is incredibly useful.

This might be weird but in my mind's eye, my weekdays look like small squares all lined up, and my weekends are larger squares bookending on either side. Picturing it like this allows me to have a visual representation of my tasks, and how long I have to do them. I don’t count the days, I see how much time I have left on my visual weekly scale. I’m not going to say that I have the same brain as Rèmi, not even close, but it’s cool to see that we at least have a similar way of thinking about our time.

At six, you have four dots in between the 31st and 1st that tell you what the next four days of the upcoming month are or what the last four days of the previous month were. This essentially makes the Anyday a five-week planner, and although the crescent moon will jump from 31 to 1 at the end of the month, you will still know what the days are on either side of it.

The (Totally Real) Use Case

I’m sitting at a cafe, waiting for my oat latte to arrive when my phone rings. Initially, I ignore it because I’m too busy looking at my brand new Krayon Anyday, but as I glance past my watch I see that it’s my local Porsche dealer. I fumble with my gluten-free croissant as I rush to answer.

“Hello!” I say before the voice on the other side tells me my brand new 911 Carrera T is ready to be picked up. “Are you free on the 12th?”, my dealer says. I bloody better be, but what day is that… Once quick glance at my Anyday and I see that this month the 12th falls on a Monday. That works. Let’s book it in.

This is obviously a hypothetical situation (for now) but it illustrates how practical this watch can be on a daily basis.

The Jumping Cams Of Krayon Calibre C032

Making all of the mechanical magic happen is the Calibre C032. The evident simplicity of what is happening on the dial is powered by a set of two cams. One that builds up energy over 24 hours to advance the day at midnight, and a larger cam that moves the date forward, jumping from 31 to 1 at the end of the month. In typical Krayon fashion, at the 6 o'clock position the case back is left largely open, displaying the beautifully polished levers and snail-shaped cams for your viewing pleasure. A nice little easter egg is that the shape of the lower bevelled edge of the largest bridge mirrors the shape of the banks of Lake Neuchatel. The very same banks I gazed at as I stood on Krayon’s balcony in October last year. Love it.

A Widening Collection But A Deepening Connection

There’s always a risk when a small independent brand like Krayon introduces a brand-new collection after such a strong start in the industry. It’s like Pink Floyd releasing their next album after Dark Side Of The Moon, how do you follow that?

Luckily, Krayon has not only kept up their momentum with the Anyday but they have stayed true to their vision of making practical complications, full of emotion and personality. Yes the finishing of Calibre C032 is impeccable, the dial is gorgeous and the case is unique. But the true appeal of this watch is the way it connects its wearer to the world of horology through usefulness. This is a watch that I can see becoming a daily for many of its owners, purely because its function is so approachable. Krayon takes the world of high horology and softens it, warms it up and seasons it with a flavour that no other brand can.

The Anyday is a home run, and I can’t wait to see what Rèmi comes up with next.

Cya in the next one. x

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