February 2013. Inspired by a street culture that transforms its unique pieces into real happenings, Yvan Arpa ventures an improbable wedding: high-end watches and firearms.
And it’s just the right time, since the world is on fire and bloody, the television news of the world are daily bloodied by gunfire and the battlefields are devastated by the madness of men; in the United States, the almighty NRA torpedoes the cease-fires. It is in this context that the watch designer Arpa, although only practicing martial arts whose non-violent values he venerates, is experiencing a new success with his collection “Son of a Gun” whose black model was presented at GTE 2013.
Amazing. This bubbling agitator of the mediatized watchmaking industry is suspending six 6mm Flobert bullets, in the style of a revolver barrel, between the dial and the case of a 49mm-diameter timepiece in the course of becoming iconic. The bezel and dial suggest a target, while at the back, the oscillating weight of the Swiss automatic movement is weighted down by the base of three 38mm special cartridges! Each piece remains unique.
As for the bullet casings, they sometimes come from a shot fired by some future customer. In fact, by capturing real bullets to divert them from their deadly targets, this sniper of the creative shoot, of the horological piece with high added media value, gives them a second life, a new life as well as philosophical relief. He shoots at point blank range in the heart of a strong aesthetic, he hijacks a symbol, defuses it; inevitable reminder of our earthly ephemerality. If all the bullets ended up in ArtyA watches, I would encourage the arms industry because it could eventually participate in its salutary reconversion.
