As a tribute to the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, Pierre and Jean-Claude Biver have decided to create, in collaboration with the Mexican artist Joel Niño, a unique timepiece for the Salon Internacional de Alta Relojería (SIAR) to be held in Mexico City from October 17 to 19.
Father and son launched their first watch last March, a minute repeater, carillon, tourbillon, with stone dials. For SIAR, the unique piece is the same Carillon Tourbillon but in rose gold and with an onyx dial. It features sandblasted motifs representing the traditional Mexican “papel picado” and hand-engraved rose gold appliques representing Calaveras – one of Mexico’s most famous symbols. This Calaveras is inspired by those of Diego Rivera, in particular his emblematic catrina.
The Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead is an irreplaceable tradition, and has the particularity of giving a positive approach to death and the afterlife. This is why skeletons are always painted with a smile or a joyful action, the idea of which has been taken up on the dial of this unique piece – the dancing couple symbolizing eternal love. Moreover, the Day of the Dead is considered a celebration of memory, a ritual that privileges remembering over forgetting.
Similarly, as Jean-Claude Biver explains, “the complication, through its vibration by means of the carillon, the beauty of mastering the invisible and fidelity to the mechanical watchmaking tradition, allows the soul of the piece to be born, to reach eternity, just as the Mexicans keep their ancestors and traditions alive through the Day of the Dead.”
In this way, Pierre and Jean-Claude Biver have succeeded in uniting watchmaking tradition and Mexican tradition in a unique timepiece that simultaneously pays tribute to high horology and Mexican culture.
