Gonzo is a stage and screen star and a Hollywood legend. He performed his first act on The Muppet Show in 1976, announcing his unique brand of death-defying showmanship by eating a rubber tyre to the tune of Flight of the Bumblebee. He would become one of the show’s most-loved performers and go on to feature in a series of movies with his Muppets co-stars.
The watch is every bit as bold and daring as Gonzo himself. It’s based on the ProPilot X Calibre 115, a taut, highly technical piece in titanium powered by a skeletonized movement developed by our in-house engineers. Hand-wound, Calibre 115’s celebrated features are a colossal 10-day power reserve and a non-linear power reserve indicator that shows the time remaining until the watch needs winding with ever-greater accuracy.
From there, it’s all Gonzo. The gradient blue to red to yellow colorways are inspired by his fur and his unique style; the lasered dial ring magically changes color depending on the light, like one of his mystifying stage acts; the power reserve hand is in the shape of a chili, per one of his classic shirt designs; and the power reserve indicates 10 “GREAT” days, recalling Gonzo’s stage name.
But the big reveal is hidden in the mainspring, the 1.8-metre (nearly six feet!) metal coil that stores the watch’s power, made visible by the skeletonization of the barrel at 12 o’clock. As the watch is wound, tiny etchings lasered into the spring’s edge come together to form Gonzo’s smiling, enthusiastic face. It then disperses again as the power is expended and the chili hand nears zero, like the tension that builds during the countdown to Gonzo’s cannonball stunt. It’s an audacious watchmaking first, which sounds very serious. But of course, that’s really not the point...