CAN’T-MISS COLLECTION

Parts & Crafts

While jewelry is broken apart and melted down when it’s no longer wanted, watches are less obvious candidates for recycling. The founders of Berd Vaye, however, beg to differ. The New York City–based company creates fetching sculptures made of Lucite filled with vintage watch parts. “We have to give them a second chance,” says Eduard “Eddie” Kurayev, a watch dealer who, along with fellow dealer Albert Akbashev, founded the company in 2014.

Available in the United States since September, the collection currently includes just seven SKUs: small and large versions of a sphere and a cube ($2,900 for the small, $5,900 for the large); small and large versions of a skull ($2,700 and $5,900, respectively); and a large 26-by-26-inch frame that retails for $6,500.

Each sculpture requires three to four weeks to produce, including gathering, disassembling, and cleaning the vintage parts. Further proof that the secondhand watch market is booming.

(From top) Horosphere large sphere; $5,900, Lost in Time large skull, $5,900, Time Framed large frame, $6,500; Berd Vaye; info@berdvaye.com; berdvaye.com

 

HOT STOCK TIP

Texan Time

Austin, Texas, isn’t a hotbed of watchmaking—yet—though that may change with the debut of Tockr, a new Austin-born, Swiss-made brand whose signature model is an aviation-inspired automatic timepiece with a sweet backstory. An homage to founder Austin Ivey’s grandfather, a World War II pilot who flew Douglas C-47 transport planes across the Himalayas, the C-47 Wing features a -radial engine dial and a cushion-shape case that recalls the wing of an airplane. “It’s become our biggest seller,” Ivey says. “And that’s surprising to me because it’s such a different watch, not like anything else out there.”

C-47 Wing watch with Swiss automatic movement in 45 mm stainless steel case; $2,400; tockr.com