Krayon Anyday in 18K Rose Gold: Innovative Design

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I have a soft spot for independent watchmakers who solve real problems rather than engineering complexity for its own sake. Rémi Maillat, the founder and watchmaking engineer behind Krayon, does precisely that. His Neuchâtel-based manufacture has already earned two Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève prizes, a Best Watchmaking Innovation in 2018 for the Everywhere and a Calendar and Astronomy Prize in 2022 for the Anywhere. Now, with the Anyday in 18K rose gold, Krayon delivers its most wearable proposition yet.

A Dial That Thinks Like You Do

The dial of the Anyday rose gold edition is, frankly, one of the most intellectually satisfying things I have seen on a wrist in recent years. At its centre sits a sunburst anthracite grey surface adorned with a guilloché pattern built entirely from stylised “Y” motifs, Krayon’s signature. Applied rose gold indices, shaped as Y’s, carry both polished tops and contrasting sandblasted facets, a finishing detail that rewards close inspection.

Around the periphery, a fixed ring runs from 1 to 31, and a rose gold crescent-moon pointer hand travels along it, marking the current date. Beneath the cutouts of this peripheral track sit two superimposed discs, hand-painted by André Martinez, a craftsman based in Le Locle: weekdays register in anthracite grey and Saturdays and Sundays appear in gold, creating an instinctive five-and-two cadence you absorb before consciously registering what you are reading.

Then there are the four dots at 6 o’clock. Rather than jumping straight from 31 to 1, Krayon inserts four additional positions between these two numbers, extending the display to 35 total positions, exactly five complete weeks. These dots carry the same weekday/weekend colour coding, simultaneously previewing the opening days of the next month and anchoring the closing rhythm of the current one. It is a small detail, but it demonstrates exactly how carefully Maillat thinks through every display decision.

Calibre C032: 378 Parts, Two Cams, One Purpose

At 35.4mm in diameter and just 5mm thick, Calibre C032 is a genuinely remarkable in-house movement. It winds manually, runs at 3Hz, delivers a 72-hour power reserve, and counts 46 jewels across 378 components. What defines it mechanically, however, are its two cams.

The first cam charges over 24 hours and releases its stored energy at midnight, pushing the date forward in under 1/1,000th of a second. The second, a larger snail cam, completes one full rotation every 31 days and drives the instantaneous end-of-month transition. Three lightweight discs in sapphire, aluminium, and openworked titanium ensure both jumps remain smooth and frictionless. Crown operation is logical: position one winds the movement; position two advances the date clockwise or corrects the day-of-week counter-clockwise; position three sets the time in both directions.

The finishing elevates this calibre well into the upper tier. Krayon decorates the mainplate with “sinusoidal” waves, a direct reference to the curve of daylight hours over the year as measured in Neuchâtel. The bridge contours follow the outline of the Neuchâtel lakeshore, a deliberate geographical signature rather than ornament. Krayon executes chamfers sharply, cuts inward angles cleanly, and polishes surfaces to a depth you expect from a manufacture at this level. Hodinkee observed, and I agree, that the black polishing and chamfer work here competes with some of the finest finishers in the industry.

The Case: 39mm of Polished Rose Gold

Krayon retains the case proportions of the original edition: 39mm in diameter and 9.5mm thick, crafted in 18K rose gold and polished throughout. Reference C032-02 carries 30 m of water resistance, appropriate for a dress-oriented daily watch. The contrast between warm rose gold and the cool anthracite dial is genuinely striking in person, far sharper than photographs suggest. The watch pairs with an anthracite lizard leather strap and an 18K rose gold pin buckle, understated and correctly proportioned for the case.

A Complication for Real Life

Krayon‘s trajectory is one of the most coherent in contemporary independent watchmaking. Maillat has built three distinct model lines, each earning recognition from the GPHG and each solving a specific horological problem with genuine originality. The Anyday rose gold carries an expected price of CHF 88,000, consistent with the white gold edition, making it the most accessible entry into the Krayon universe. What that figure buys you is the first mechanical watch to display a full month on its dial, a beautifully finished in-house calibre, and a calendar that delivers genuinely useful daily information few watches at this price can rival. For daily wear, I am would love to have it on my wrist.

Krayon Anyday in 18K Rose Gold Technical Specifications

Reference: C032-02

Functions

Planner: Permanent indication of every day and date for the current month
Automatic update at the end of the 31 days months
Permanent indication of day and date for the 4 last days of previous month and the 4 first days of the next month
Central hour and minute display
Date display along periphery, indicated by a moving crescent moon
Day of the week indicated by color (distinguishing weekdays from weekends)
First week of the following month indicated by four small dots positioned at 6 o’clock

Movement