Takashi Murakami Turns Time Objects Into a Watch Brand

Takashi Murakami’s smiling flowers have travelled from gallery walls to fashion, luxury collaborations and global pop culture, but his latest move puts them inside an entirely new framework.

Time Objects is the Japanese artist’s own watch brand, and its first creation is a Swiss-made mechanical watch that treats the wrist as both sculpture and timekeeper.

At a glance

• Takashi Murakami has launched Time Objects, a new watch brand debuting with the Skull Flowers Cylindrical Jumping Hours Tourbillon.
• The watch uses a Grade 5 titanium skull case, rotating flower eyes and a lateral jumping-hours display developed with Marco Tedeschi.
• Five versions are planned, including two 12-piece limited editions and three gem-set variants priced from CHF 85,000 before taxes.

The name Time Objects is telling, because Murakami isn’t simply placing familiar artwork on a dial.

The debut watch is built around a fully sculptural case, an unusual display and a mechanical architecture that sits closer to independent haute horlogerie than a conventional artist collaboration.

Murakami’s watchmaking move

Murakami founded Hiropon Factory in Tokyo in 1996, which later became Kaikai Kiki, the company behind the production and marketing of his artworks and related creative projects.

His visual language is often linked with Superflat, the concept that brings traditional Japanese visual culture into conversation with manga, anime and consumer imagery.

Watchmaking entered his world through Hublot, beginning with the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black in 2021.

That collaboration later expanded into more colourful interpretations of his flower motif, including the 2023 Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow with rotating gemstone petals.

Time Objects moves the idea from collaboration to authorship.

The brand’s guiding concept is called The Chronos Paradox, built around life and death, beauty and transience, and the tension between a fleeting instant and something that feels eternal.

A skull case with flowers in motion

The Skull Flowers Cylindrical Jumping Hours Tourbillon takes the skull as its case architecture rather than a decorative theme.

Murakami has said the team explored more than 600 skull shapes before settling on the final form.

The case is made from Grade 5 titanium and constructed from 33 components, measuring about 44mm across and 18.4mm high.

The artist’s smiling flowers sit in the eye sockets, with petals mounted on a ball-bearing system so they rotate as the wearer moves their wrist.

Those animated flowers don’t display the time, which is part of the watch’s odd charm.

They operate as expressive kinetic elements, placing Murakami’s bright imagery inside a skull form that openly acknowledges mortality.

Water resistance is rated to 30 metres, and the watch is worn on a black rubber strap with a titanium folding clasp shaped like a skull.

Jumping hours by Marco Tedeschi

The time display is set into a lateral aperture at six o’clock, away from the conventional front-facing dial format.

Hours are shown on a rotating cylinder that jumps instantly at the top of each hour, while a trailing disc indicates the minutes.

The mechanics were entrusted to Marco Tedeschi, the watch designer and engineer who joined Hublot in 2007 and contributed to the development of its manufacture, including work on movements and cases.

One of his best-known projects from that period was the Unico chronograph, and he later served as CEO of Romain Jérôme before founding Kross Studio in 2020.

The calibre KM 7012 TM was developed exclusively for Murakami’s watch.

The hand-wound movement has 409 components and 81 jewels, runs at 21,600 vibrations per hour and offers a 125-hour power reserve.

A tourbillon is positioned at 12 o’clock on the reverse side and is visible through the sapphire caseback.

The darkened plate is engraved with Murakami’s skull and flowers, while the tourbillon bridge is shaped like a flower.

Five versions and a collector-level debut

The launch collection includes five versions of the Skull Flowers Cylindrical Jumping Hours Tourbillon.

Black Rainbow and All Black are each limited to 12 pieces and priced at CHF 85,000 before taxes.

Three gem-set editions will be produced in very small series.

The Full Pavé Diamonds version is set with 744 diamonds totalling 9.3 carats and priced at CHF 148,000, while the Full Pavé Black Diamonds edition uses 744 stones totalling 9.3 carats and is priced at CHF 142,000.

The Full Pavé Rainbow version is set with 744 coloured stones and priced at CHF 140,000.

For collectors, the appeal is less about discretion and more about the meeting point between contemporary art, independent watchmaking and mechanical theatre.

Details & Specifications

Time Objects opens with a watch that’s deliberately difficult to categorise, which is precisely what makes it credible as a Murakami project.

It doesn’t soften his visual world for traditional watchmaking, but instead asks high mechanics to meet it on his terms.