Takashi Murakami Debuts the Skull Flowers Cylindrical Jumping-Hour Tourbillon Watch

Guided by his “Chronos Paradox” philosophy, the new venture explores life, death and impermanence through mechanical watchmaking.

Summary

Takashi Murakami launches "Time Objects," his first solo venture into watches.

The Skull Flowers Cylindrical Jumping-Hour Tourbillon Watch turns a titanium skull into the case, with spinning flowers in its eyes.

Time appears through a side-mounted cylindrical jumping-hour display.

Takashi Murakami has made his first move into fine watchmaking. The Japanese artist behind the Superflat movement and characters like his smiling Flowers and Mr. DOB has launched “Time Objects”, a new venture that pairs his art with timekeeping.

The project is built on a philosophy Murakami calls “The Chronos Paradox,” which explores pairs of opposites such as life and death, permanence and impermanence, and a single moment and eternity. “Watches have always been my dream. This is because watches govern time, while art transcends time,” Murakami said in a statement announcing the launch. Chapter One begins with the Takashi Murakami Skull Flowers Cylindrical Jumping Hours Tourbillon, called SKULL for short.

For this release, Murakami made the skull itself the case. He went through more than 600 skull designs before settling on the final shape, sculpted in Grade 5 titanium at roughly 44mm wide and 18.4mm tall. His signature flowers sit in the eye sockets and spin on ball bearings as the wrist moves. The watch also rethinks how time is read as it has no crown, no traditional dial and no hands. Instead, the wearer tilts the watch outward to read a side window at 6 o’clock, where a rotating cylinder jumps to each new hour on a 24-hour scale and a trailing disc shows the minutes. The brand bills this as the world’s first cylindrical jumping-hour display.

Powering it is the hand-wound Calibre KM 7012 TM, developed exclusively for Murakami, with 409 parts, 81 jewels, a 3 Hz beat and about five days of power reserve. Through the sapphire caseback, a flower-decorated tourbillon at 12 o’clock sits beside a barrel bridge engraved with the artist’s skull and flower motif.

Chapter One launches with five distinct interpretations: the “Black Rainbow” and “All Black” versions, each limited to 12 pieces and priced at 85,000 CHF (approx. $95,000 USD), as well as three heavily gem-set “Full Pavé” editions ranging from 140,000 – 148,000 CHF (approx. $156,000 to $165,000 USD). All models are secured with a black rubber strap and an adjustable titanium folding clasp. Inquiries can be made via the watch-info@kaikaikiki.co.jp email.