Anicorn Watches, Beat the Clock!
Anicorn Watches is the Hong Kong independent design studio that has been quietly redefining what a watch can be since its founding in 2014. Graphic designer Joe Kwan and entrepreneur Chris Chan started with a simple but radical premise: a timepiece should tell the time in a way that no one had thought of before, treating every element of the design, from the typeface to the movement layout to the case architecture, as an opportunity for original thinking. The result was the K452, which was funded on Kickstarter in under 24 hours and set the tone for everything that followed.
The Anicorn Design Philosophy: Graphic Thinking Applied to Timekeeping
Joe Kwan's background as a graphic designer is the key to understanding what makes Anicorn different. Most watch brands approach design as a finishing exercise: the movement comes first, the dial and case are styled around it. Anicorn inverts that logic. Storytelling and visual language drive the design process from the start, which is why their watches consistently feel like editions of something rather than just products. Each release, whether a standalone model or a collaboration, carries a coherent graphic identity that makes it legible as a cultural object and not merely a functional one.
Philip Colbert: The Lobster That Tells the Time
By 2019, five years into their existence, Anicorn had assembled an impressive roster of collaborations. The first standout partnership was with London-based artist Philip Colbert, whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture and fashion. Colbert's signature character, a lobster alter-ego that has become one of the most recognisable motifs in contemporary pop art, was translated directly onto the watch face. The lobster's pop-claws now serve as the watch hands, pointing to the hour and minute with a deadpan absurdity that is entirely in keeping with Colbert's world. The edition was limited to 25 pieces.
Daniel Arsham: Past, Present, Future
The collaboration with New York-based artist Daniel Arsham brought an entirely different dimension to the Anicorn project. Arsham's practice is built on the idea of temporal displacement: he re-imagines contemporary objects as ancient artefacts discovered by future civilisations, eroding familiar products into fossilised forms that feel simultaneously modern and archaeological. The Anicorn x Arsham watch carries the words PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE engraved on its sides, and the typeface is calibrated so that it aligns perfectly at 11:00, a time that Arsham considers to hold spiritual significance. The collaboration extended well beyond the watch itself: the package includes an hourglass, art gloves and additional pieces that frame the timepiece as part of a complete art experience.
NASA: Celebrating 60 Years of Space Exploration
The NASA collaboration is perhaps the most technically distinctive of all the Anicorn editions. Created to celebrate the agency's 60th anniversary, it honours the sacrifices and achievements of space exploration with a watch that looks unlike anything else in the Anicorn range. The case is coated in Cerakote Ceramic Coating, a process more commonly found in aerospace and firearms applications, which gives the watch a flat matte white surface that references the white of astronaut suits and space capsules. Limited to 60 pieces in line with the anniversary number, the edition sold out within hours, reportedly before it even went officially live.
Anicorn x TheArsenale: Mobility Meets Timekeeping
TheArsenale's own collaboration with Anicorn brought the brand's identity into the watch world for the first time. The result is unmistakably TheArsenale: a bright orange colourway that carries the same energy as our brand's visual language, with the three symbols of the International Motion Authority engraved on the case sides. The watch arrives in a matching bright orange box, completing the object as a design statement from the moment of unboxing. It is the first time our passion for mobility design has been expressed through a timepiece, and Anicorn was the right partner to make it happen.
Shop Anicorn Watches at TheArsenale
The full Anicorn range, including the Anicorn x TheArsenale watch and the Moon Time NASA limited edition, is available through TheArsenale. Browse the complete Anicorn Watches collection or explore the broader TheArsenale watches selection for a curated overview of the most design-forward timepieces we carry. For background on the brand, Core77's interview with Joe Kwan remains one of the best introductions to how Anicorn thinks, and Wristcheck offers a detailed history of the brand's development in Hong Kong.
