Introducing A Tribute To A Video Game That Conquered The World — Do You Want To Play With The Krayon × Pac-Man?
Ask yourself, how many hours have you spent playing Pac-Man? That may be hard to recall, but quite possibly when you were in your teens in the 1980s or ’90s, it was many, many hours. Pac-Man is undoubtedly the most iconic arcade game ever. Since it only requires a joystick and simple movements, it’s easy to play, making it fun for millions of people. Now ask yourself this: do you want to play with the Krayon × Pac-Man? The watch celebrating the video game is based on the Anywhere collection, a mechanical tour de force capable of indicating sunrise and sunset anywhere on Earth. This time, the caliber’s mechanics play the iconic game.
Did you know Pac-Man was the game’s second name? It was originally called Puck Man before it was renamed due to concerns over profane vandalism of arcade cabinets. The arcade game developed and published by Namco debuted in Japan on May 22nd, 1980. For those born way before or after the 1970s, in the game, players guide Pac-Man through a maze, aiming to eat all the dots while avoiding four colorful ghosts. Consuming larger blinking dots known as Power Pellets temporarily turns the ghosts blue, making them vulnerable and allowing Pac-Man to eat them for extra points. The game’s creator, Toru Iwatani, set out to design a game that would appeal to both women and men. He succeeded. Both Krayon’s founder, Rémi Maillat, and his partner in life and business, Fei Hou, played Pac-Man intensively in their youth.
Do you want to play with the Krayon × Pac-Man?
Why did everyone play Pac-Man? Well, for starters, it’s not a violent game. Also, it was one of the first video games, if not the first, to feature a recognizable character. And apart from being easy to play, cleaning/eating up stuff fulfills everybody. The platinum Pac-Man × Krayon is too exclusive to make everyone happy, but it sure is a fun, fascinating, and playful creation.
Officially, last year, Pac-Man celebrated its 45th anniversary, but we are not going to complain that Krayon is late to the party. Let’s say the brand is fashionably late. The surprising Krayon × Pac-Man makes everything all right. The watch tells time in the most playful, dynamic, and luxurious way. This limited series of 15 platinum watches has a distinct artistic approach — childhood emotion rediscovered, a deliberate wink, and a fun-filled demonstration of creative maturity. Fun is on the rise in the world of watches. Proof is in the creations from Studio Underd0g and the various seconde/seconde/ collaborations, for instance. The new Krayon shares the same spirit, but its execution and inner workings are on a whole different level.
Pac-Man is complicated
The Krayon × Pac-Man is based on the Anywhere, a watch that displays sunrise and sunset times for a specific location. As the date changes, sunrise and sunset times also change. In practice, if one lives in a place where winter means shorter days, the watch will reflect that. To make it happen, two sapphire discs rotate to illustrate day and night. A white gold sun traverses these discs and corresponds with a black outer 24-hour track. When the sun enters the darker section, complete with a background of stars, it is night. Now, the Krayon × Pac-Man uses the same in-house C030 movement that debuted in 2020 to make Pac-Man go around the dial.
The just 5mm-thick hand-winding caliber consists of a whopping 432 parts, adorned with anglage and fine surface finishing. It contains 55 jewels, has a 72-hour power reserve, and beats at 21,600 vph. It’s the perfect mechanical machine to render a digital game. A threaded transverse screw within the movement makes it happen. Originally, the two screws on either side of the transverse screw adjusted for longitude for sunrise and sunset, respectively. In the Pac-Man watch, the system turns the yellow character into the day/night indicator. It advances around the dial like the sun in the original complication. Dots, fruit, and ghosts appear at sunrise and sunset times for the selected location.
Pac-Man is hungry
The “great cookie” symbolizes sunset: when Pac-Man reaches it, night mode begins. At midnight, the ghost gang turns blue (as in the game, they become “edible”) before regaining their original colors at dawn — red for Blinky, pink for Pinky, orange for Clyde, and light blue for Inky. The direction of their gaze subtly indicates the sunrise. On equinox days, the configuration becomes perfectly symmetrical, with 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night.
The watch’s aesthetic stays true to the original 1980 video game. The famous, hungry yellow character, the dots, the fruit, and the ghosts retain their precise proportions, as if suspended in 1980. On a polished onyx dial as deep as night, the maze unfolds. It’s delicately pad-printed for a translucent effect, but that only becomes visible when light strikes at a precise angle. Along the perimeter, the hand-painted fruit and ghosts seem to float, while inscriptions like “DEC,” “MIDNIGHT,” and the Krayon brand logo show the original pixelated typography.
Every game of Pac-Man is different, and so is every Krayon × Pac-Man watch. The position of the ghosts, fruit, and symbols varies from piece to piece; some ghosts advance on four legs, others on three; strawberries and cherries shift in shape and hue.
Pac-Man loves platinum
Faithful to the brand’s young tradition, the Krayon × Pac-Man watch is crafted in platinum. This alloy is reserved for the most prestigious projects, Métiers d’Art creations, unique pieces, and special series. The 39mm platinum case has a 9.5mm profile, including the sapphire crystals on both sides. Also, just so you know, the watch has a 30m water resistance rating.
The platinum Krayon × Pac-Man is a limited edition of just 15 pieces, each with one-of-a-kind touches. The watch comes on a hand-stitched black alligator leather strap that closes with a platinum pin buckle. The price is available upon request, though it is expected to exceed CHF 150,000.
So, do you want to play with the Krayon × Pac-Man? If so, check out Krayon’s website.
