Toledano and Chan

The newly-created B/1 watch is an unexpected blend of the integrated bracelet watches of the 1970’s and the brutalist style of architecture that emerged in the 1950s in the United Kingdom. Artist and watch collector Phillip Toledano, and watch and car designer Alfred Chan, began a journey that would take them three years to complete. There was no business plan and no market survey, but simply a desire to make something “beautifully unusual”. Intrigued by the bold sculptural style of 1970’s watches, they admired how designers of that era considered a watch in totality, namely that the bracelet and watch head were one continuous thought. In 2021, they viewed the watchmaking landscape as divided between the major brands reissuing models from their past, and the bold exuberance of independent brands creating their own new styles. For Toledano & Chan, what was missing was something sculptural, something architectural, and with a striking shape. Accordingly, they set a goal to design a purely sculptural watch, with an integrated bracelet - a “continuous concept” watch, where the aesthetic idea was expressed throughout the entire timepiece.

The resulting B/1timepiece they invented and designed is a pure exploration of shape and materials, with two major sources of inspiration:

The Rolex Midas and early 1970’s integrated bracelet watches, and more importantly, the brutalist architect Marcel Breuer, and his Whitney Museum building in New York City, proudly acquired by Sotheby’s in 2023. The final result was a collision between these two ideas: Part 70’s watch, part brutalist architecture, and entirely new. Specifically, the watch they created is directly modeled after the windows of the Breuer building, which brilliantly mirror the unusual shape of the watch case itself. 

Sotheby’s is proud to reveal a truly piece-unique watch, made exclusively for this auction by new and celebrated watchmakers Toledano & Chan.

Made from copper-infused carbon fiber, this striking timepiece is smaller, lighter, and with a different dial than the regular production B/1 watch made from stainless steel, and released on May 16^th, 2024. The B/1 is a destro watch, always worn with the crown facing left. The case back is engraved "Unique/ 1".

To the best of our knowledge this is the first watch made of carbon fiber infused with copper.

About Toledano & Chan:

Phillip Toledano is a widely exhibited conceptual artist, with seven published books to his name, and an entrepreneur. Alfred Chan has been designing watches for over a decade, working for Japanese, European and American brands.