New York artist Phillip Toledano and Hong Kong designer Alfred Chan continue to reinvent the world of watchmaking with a new version of their inaugural B/1 watch, inspired by Brutalist architecture.
The designer-collector duo is already back in fine form at the start of 2025. Having caused a sensation last year with their first B/1 watch with a lapis lazuli dial, nicknamed the "galaxy dial", they seem to be following the same path with their new model. The B/1.2 remains an exploration of form and material, this time featuring Tahitian mother-of-pearl embedded beneath an asymmetrical sapphire crystal. The young Toledano & Chan brand thus adds another sculptural piece to its collection in a play of glass and light, maintaining its determination to develop its own design language.
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Brutalist architecture
It's hardly surprising when you consider that artist and entrepreneur Phillip Toledano and former automotive design graduate Alfred Chan are admirers of the integrated bracelet watches of the early 1970s. Since bonding over this shared love on Instagram, the two have continued to draw inspiration from two other sources: the Rolex King Midas, launched in 1962, and the Brutalist architecture of the 1950s.
Their minimalist, geometric and angular watch was inspired by the shape of the trapezoidal windows of the legendary Breuer Building in New York, designed by Marcel Breuer, associated with the Whitney Museum and acquired by Sotheby's in 2023. The result is an astonishing collision of ideas.
Shaped watches
The B/1.2 is a subtle departure from its big sister. While it retains the same dimensions (33.5 millimeters wide, and between 9.1 and 10.4 millimeters thick due to the sloping surface of the case), the addition of sapphire crystal enables it to accentuate the iridescence of the dial with refractive flashes of light. The angular hands are also similar to those of the B/1, with no numerals or symbols, but the bracelet and clasp have been redesigned to fit the new dial.
The overall effect is reinforced by an asymmetrical cut that inverts the angle of the steel case. To play with the Brutalist trend, each model is delivered in a hand-molded concrete box, similarly echoing the shape of the watch.
From Toledano & Chan's B/1 to Audemars Piguet's [RE]Master02 and Frenchman Sylvain Berneron's surrealist "Mirage" collection, design-led timepieces seem to be enjoying a revival in recent years.
Time for success
Today, Phillip Toledano and Alfred Chan have produced three watches. The inaugural edition of the B/1, released in 2024, sold out in less than an hour. Another unique piece, infused with carbon fiber and copper, was acquired at Sotheby's for $24,000. A prototype of the B/1M, sculpted from a meteorite fragment, sold for $35,560 at Phillips' "TimeForArt" auction last December.
While the B/1.2 will be available for sale and order from March 2025 at a price of 5,530 euros ($5,700), the design duo are already working on a B/2, which should see the light of day in 2026.
