Kollokium came on the watch scene almost two years ago shrouded in mystery. The Projekt 01 was not only a daring exercise in the avant-garde, it was from a brand that was, in some ways, kind of formless. Founded by watch industry veterans Manuel Emch, Barth Nussbaumer, and Amr Sindi, the pedigree was high but the teasing messages on their website and social media could lead you to think it was all a goof. Kollokium, in the years since, have evolved their Projekt 01 design with multiple colorways and lume treatments, always keeping the same signature “dial” effect, which is an array of hundreds of precisely sized cylinders that when viewed together show rough hour markers through undulations (like on a pin-art board) that allow for time telling. It’s all very sci-fi, and high concept, but Kollokium became a “real” brand at some point along the way, and have captured a devoted following of owners and prospective owners, always awaiting the next drop.
Well, the next drop is here (sort of) and it debuts a striking new design. No points for creativity here, but the watch is simply called the Projekt 02, and according to Kollokium the design is rooted in the initial concepts that came from the brainstorming that eventually produced the Projekt 01. The brand describes it as a bit more organic, but very much still in their “neobrutalist” wheelhouse.
Instead of those lume filled cylinders we saw in the Projekt 01 releases, the dial here is created from a total of 67 stacked plates of different sizes and shapes that form what appears to be a surface something like a three dimensional topographical map. The effect is trippy and architectural in a way that’s similar to the Projekt 01, but the design feels has a softer and more organic quality to it. Kollokium, in their press materials, write that if Projekt 01 was Blade Runner, Projekt 02 is Dune. As a sci-fi nerd who has internalized this stuff over the course of decades, I honestly can’t think of a better comparison point.
The dial consists of 9 layers and 67 individual plates, all of which are painted by hand with lacquer and lume (because of course the whole thing is lumed). The original idea was to apparently create the dial through a CNC machining process or a monobloc mold, but the Kollokium team could only achieve the depth and detail they wanted by doing things the hard way. According to the brand, it takes around 6 hours to assemble a dial, and because the plates are so thin, they can bend when pressed together, which results in the entire dial having to be scrapped. Kollokium notes that because of all the hand work involved in making these dials, no two will be exactly alike.
The case is diecast stainless steel, made in a process that allows the brand to achieve certain goals that would be impossible or cost prohibitive if created with a more traditional method. The key feature of the case is that it is effectively a structural platform for a multidimensional dial and crystal, and the lack of a bezel or caseback along with the structural integrity achieved through diecasting allows for a thin barrel shape that provides a view of the dial from the side. I have yet to see a Projekt 02 in person, but it’s the same concept as the Projekt 01, and it’s quite dramatic and really impressive to see how that dial is constructed from an often unseen point of view. The case measures 39.5mm in diameter and is just 5.9mm tall without the sapphire crystal (the oversized crystal pushes the total height to 12.4mm). The movement used is the La Joux-Perret G101, an automatic caliber with 68 hours of power reserve.
This first variant of the Projekt 02 is likely to be a difficult watch to come by. It’s limited to 199 pieces, and will be offered initially to owners of the original “Friends & Family” edition of the Projekt 01, and then to existing owners of other Kollokium watches. This release is playfully being called the “Friends, Family, Fools & Flippers” edition. Kollokium promises the first publicly available version of the Projekt 02 in the first quarter of 2026. The retail price is CHF 3,333. Kollokium
Zach Kazan
2025-10-08 19:00:00