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watchworks haarlem x nomos club 701 ‘the frunch’

My beloved NOMOS Club 701 – now with a custom dial by WatchWorks Haarlem.

My friend Farid of WatchWorks Haarlem is not only a prolific vintage watch specialist, but also an accomplished artist. Farid has a contemporary style deeply influenced by street art and graffiti culture, and a particularly keen eye for lettering. Anyway, a couple of months ago he showed me a Seiko 5 dial he’d been experimenting on, custom painting it in a style best described as a mix of Jackson Pollock and @TheDialArtist. I was captivated. My mind started racing. And not long after, my trusty NOMOS Club 701 was on its way to Haarlem. Today WatchWorks Haarlem and myself are proud to introduce you to the result. Please welcome the WatchWorks Haarlem x minimatikal NOMOS Club 701. What should we call it? Tutti Frutti. Painter’s Pallet. Or Disco Dip?!

Wait – as an homage to Farid’s graffiti-infused past we’ll go with The Frunch.

‘Frunch’. It was Joker of the famous Amsterdam graffiti crew USA who came up with the term Frunch in 1985. A name he gave to an abstract form of graffiti. Graffiti is characterized by letters, it is the essence. But also in the cradle of the subculture New York city there were writers in the early eighties such as Futura2000 and Jonone who subordinate the letters focus on abstraction. Characterized by spray mist, paint splashes, drippings and diffuse use of color. The perfect inspiration for the design of a modern watch dial.

Dutch Graffiti Library

But before we digress, let’s take a look at a few behind-the-scenes pictures:

So what’s the process of doing a custom dial such as this like? First the watch is carefully disassembled. The dial and movement are taken out of the case and the hands removed, before the dial can come off. A word of caution: this is all best left to a watchmaker, and preferably one with access to spare parts in case of accidental damage or parts that need replacing. Once the dial is loose, the canvas is ready for Farid to work his magic. The dots are applied by hand using a hand-cut tool, one by one, using top-secret paint in a variety of colors. Now all that’s left is a bit of time for the paint to dry, and reassembly can commence.

Please contact WatchWorks Haarlem for inquiries.

Photo’s by @JeroenSV of Van Santen & Vink Photographers / behind the scenes by WatchWorks Haarlem.