A different kind of Bart Simpson Dial

No, this isn't a 5513 Submariner with the desirable "Bart Simpson" layout, nice as that particular vintage Rolex reference may be.

Rather, this timepiece was born at the hands of an incredible Russian artist and engraver by the name of Artur Akmaev. My first awareness of Artur's work came by happenstance when I stumbled upon a timepiece he actually created for himself celebrating all-things-Batman. Engraved timepieces have never really been my cup of tea, but the attention to detail in Artur's watch, combined with the incredible scenes he seemed to be able to create within other of his watches, got me thinking. I've always been a huge fan of The Simpsons, however being a true Simpsons snob the show ended, at least for me, with the conclusion of season 10 (which is more than 15 years ago). Those early episodes are, in my humble opinion, some of the best comedic writing in the history of modern television.

So, what would a classic Simpsons watch look like? I reached out to Artur, who promptly responded that he was interested in the project. From there the fun began. I started by sending a dozen or so stills of seminal scenes from some of my favorite early Simpsons episodes. Together we whittled down the list, figured out which characters would make the cut, and picked the scene / clothing / pose we wanted for each of the characters. Could the dial, or "entrance" to the watch, be anything other than the Springfield power plant?

Artur then went to work for a few weeks behind the scenes weaving my hodge-podge of images and thoughts into a coherent front side and back side for the timepiece. I asked for some challenging things, such as, by way of example, a moving small seconds hand in the shape of Mr. Burns as the power plant softball team coach (a classic episode). Artur was able to accommodate virtually all of my quirky asks.

After a bit of back and forth, the final design was agreed. Artur started with a nice ETA / Unitas movement - the perfect large canvas for this type of project - and wove my disjointed series of images and characters into a work of comic art.

Independent watchmaking comes in many shapes and flavors. I am a great admirer and supporter of Dufour, Kari, Christian Klings, Masahiro Kikuno, Thomas Prescher and many of the other independent watch makers plying their craft these days. But there is a fun side to this corner of the horological universe as well, and don't let the playfulness of Artur's watches fool you - his hand-crafted creations are intricate, detailed, well-finished and quite simply second to none. The dial unfolds over 3 layers adding amazing depth to the scene. A truly incredible talent.

(and for what it's worth, while I won't disclose price in this post, his watches are also a TREMENDOUS value ... really)

Here's the journey in pictures:

Artur's rendering of the dial side - At this stage we were envisioning an entire Mr. Burns spinning around on the small seconds axis ..... eeeeeexcellllent.