Eisenkiesel — Day Date 40

Eisenkiesel is a hyperrealistic portrait of one of the most compelling watches in contemporary independent watchmaking, executed entirely in Caran d'Ache pencil on paper. Rendered freehand, without the use of digital tools, this work belongs to TheWatchPortraits — an ongoing personal project through which Francesca Perona approaches exceptional timepieces as subjects worthy of artistic portraiture.

The pencil medium demands absolute precision and patience: every layer of colour is built up stroke by stroke, constructing depth, reflection and texture from nothing but pigment on paper. The result captures not only the physical object but the essence of what it means to draw time — each mark a question about how light falls on a dial designed to the tenth of a millimetre.

A unique original that stands between technical document and artistic interpretation — a record and a tribute in equal measure.

TheWatchPortraits is my personal artistic project — where the precision of a designer and the hand of an illustrator converge into hyperrealistic portraits of exceptional timepieces, each one executed entirely freehand.