Rémi Maillat founded Krayon in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 2017 with a single technical premise: build a mechanical wristwatch that calculates and displays actual sunrise and sunset times for any date at any location on Earth. Universal sunrise/sunset complications had been attempted before in pocket watches (notably by F.P. Journe in the Astronomic Soleil), but no maker had previously built a wristwatch where the user could simply set the geographic coordinates and date, and the mechanical calculation would deliver accurate sunrise/sunset times for that location. Maillat spent several years on the calculation architecture before launching the first Krayon reference.
The first Krayon, the Everywhere Horizon, launched in 2017: a 42mm white-gold case with the universal sunrise/sunset display, day/night indicator, and conventional time. The watch took the Aiguille d'Or at the GPHG (Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève) in 2018 - the highest watchmaking award - in a remarkable recognition for a brand that was barely a year old at the time. The win confirmed Krayon as a serious entrant in the haute-horlogerie independent tier.
Krayon's modern catalogue includes the Anywhere (a refined version of the Everywhere with simplified dial layout), the Everywhere Horizon (the original universal sunrise/sunset reference), and various special editions in different metals and dial finishes. Production volume is extremely small (single-digit pieces per year for some references) and pricing starts around CHF 80,000 rising to CHF 600,000+ for the more complex variants. The brand is positioned firmly at the apex of modern independent haute horlogerie alongside makers like Akrivia, Voutilainen, Laurent Ferrier, and Ferdinand Berthoud.
