Description
The Kollokium Projekt 02 Variant C "Cooler Waters" is the summer chapter of one of independent watchmaking's most singular dial projects. Kollokium — the project-based platform founded in 2020 by Manuel Emch, Barth Nussbaumer and Amr Sindi — has never wanted to be called a "brand," and "Cooler Waters" is its latest argument for why: a CHF 3,666.66, 299-piece limited edition whose entire identity lives in a hand-painted, three-dimensional dial that looks less like a watch face than a relief map of the sea.
It is the third evolution of the Projekt 02 topographical dial, following Variant A and the darker Variant B. Where its predecessors explored neutral and moody palettes, Variant C is unapologetically bright — a turquoise gradient pitched squarely at summer, and arguably the most wearable Projekt 02 yet.
This is a watch for the collector who wants craft and originality over a famous logo: time-only, steel, slim and limited, with a dial that rewards close inspection in daylight and glows after dark.
Design
The dial is the whole point. It is built from 67 individually hand-painted plates stacked into nine distinct layers, recreating the hypsometric look of a 3D contour map. The highest "peaks" — which carry the indices — are painted in a cool white, and each successive layer descends through a gradient into an inviting turquoise in the lower "wells." The lacquer is infused with blue-emission Super-LumiNova, so the topography survives into the dark, while the metal contour of every ridge is outlined in black for extra relief.
The white hour and minute hands carry applied white "Lichtblock" elements and the same blue SLN, and a white central seconds hand with a bent-triangle counterweight sweeps across the top. Everything sits under a tall, panoramic box-shaped sapphire crystal that lets the relief be read from the top and the sides. The case is a die-cast 316L steel monobloc with integrated lugs and bezel, a valve-shaped crown, and a single discreet "K,P–nº 02" relief on the left flank — the only outward sign of the maker.
Specifications
- Reference: Kollokium Projekt 02 Variant C "Cooler Waters"
- Case material: Die-cast 316L stainless steel monobloc (integrated lugs and bezel)
- Case diameter: 39.5 mm (Monochrome's body text rounds to 39 mm)
- Case thickness: 5.9 mm without crystal; 12.4 mm with box sapphire
- Crown: Valve-shaped
- Crystal: Tall panoramic box-shaped sapphire
- Water resistance: 50 m
- Dial: Topographical — 67 hand-painted plates / 9 layers, rhodium finish with sandblasted edges, white-to-turquoise gradient lacquer with blue-emission Super-LumiNova
- Hands: White hour and minute hands with applied white "Lichtblock" + blue SLN; white central seconds with bent-triangle counterweight
- Movement: La Joux-Perret G101 (supplied, not in-house)
- Winding: Automatic, unidirectional unbranded rotor
- Jewels: 24
- Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
- Power reserve: approx. 68 hours
- Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds (time-only, no date)
- Strap: Turquoise single-piece elastic textile with die-cast steel "hook" buckle
- Limited edition: 299 pieces
- Price: CHF 3,666.66 (excl. VAT)
- Availability: Subscribers 1 June 2026 (kollokium.com); public 2 June 2026, 14:00 CET; deliveries 3–15 June 2026
What's Exciting
Kollokium has quietly built one of the most distinctive dial programmes in the entire independent scene, and "Cooler Waters" is the most approachable expression of it so far. The neo-brutalist, map-like topography is the same engineering feat as before — 67 stacked, hand-painted plates is the kind of number that sounds made up until you see it — but the turquoise palette finally makes a Projekt 02 something you reach for on a summer morning rather than something you study under a loupe. The value proposition is hard to fault: a genuinely hand-finished art-object dial, a panoramic box crystal and a slim monobloc steel case for under CHF 3,700, capped at 299 pieces.
There's a regional angle worth underlining too. Co-founder Amr Sindi is one of the Gulf's most recognisable horological voices, which makes Kollokium one of the very few serious independents with MENA DNA baked into its founding team — reason enough for collectors in the region to pay attention.
History
Kollokium was founded in 2020 as a deliberate alternative to conventional, brand-led watchmaking, built around the idea of recurring "projekts" rather than a fixed collection or a heritage to defend. Its three founders bring complementary credibility: Manuel Emch is the executive behind the modern revivals of Jaquet Droz and Romain Jerome and Louis Erard's creative collaborations; Barth Nussbaumer is a designer; and Amr Sindi is the collector and commentator long known online as "Horophile."
The Projekt 01 series opened the account with pixelated, luminous "pin" dials; Projekt 02 then pivoted to the 67-plate topographical relief, debuting with Variant A (the "FFF&F" edition) and continuing with the nine-layer Variant B. Variant C "Cooler Waters" extends that topographical idea into a summer seascape — the same architecture in a new emotional register — and lands just as the trade turns toward London Watch Week in early June 2026.
