Bubble Clown by Matt Barnes

“Watch-ya” looking at me for? If time-honored traditions make you yawn, Corum has just the thing for you

A transfigured clown stares out from the centre of the timepiece. He won’t be making children laugh or making adults young again – anything but. Matt Barnes has sought to make him disturbing, hypnotic, almost intrusive: the Bubble Clown fits into a collective unconsciousness, about as well as a bull in a china shop.

The Clown’s snarky smile, piercing stare, and rather disfigured look makes him anything but the stuff of dreams – nightmare fare more like. And yet you simply can’t take your eyes off him. Every detail on the whole is fascinating, and each is deliberately contradictory: a smile – but with razor-sharp teeth; an open yet threatening gaze; a clown costume that reveals innumerable tattoos; carnival make-up daubed over scars; and the traditional wig – styled into a Mohican. Every single distinctive clown feature has been hijacked.

The overall effect doesn’t exactly invite itself onto the wrist – it’s more a case of it latching on there in a display of power, consistency, and singularity.

The mechanical cladding for Matt Barnes’ Clown is pretty off-the-wall, too. The timepiece lacks hands; instead, hours and minutes are displayed by means of two red circles on the flange. In addition, the Bubble Clown is 52 millimeters wide, offering the Clown a creative expanse whose breadth is unprecedented in watchmaking.