ArtyA Wavy Red Heart: A Red Sapphire Watch for Valentine’s Day

Watchmaking house ArtyA, known for its avant-garde approach to horology, is unveiling a creation that breaks with convention: the Wavy Red Heart. Designed specifically for Valentine’s Day 2025, this watch stands out thanks to its case crafted entirely from ruby-red sapphire crystal. By playing with light and the material’s transparency, ArtyA offers a watchmaking interpretation of the theme of love, while incorporating a manufacture mechanical movement and a brand-new lighting innovation.

A unique edition, available from 14 February 2025, illustrating the brand’s ability to experiment with materials and push beyond traditional watchmaking codes.

A red sapphire case: a technical and aesthetic feat

The choice of ruby-red sapphire crystal for the case of this 40 mm watch is far from incidental. Prized for its resistance and transparency, this material is rarely used in this form due to the complexity of machining it. In the case of the Wavy Red Heart, it plays a central role in the watch’s visual identity.

The red sapphire delivers an intense hue that shifts with angle and lighting, amplifying the effect of the undulating curves that define the Wavy case design. These fluid forms, paired with the Stairway to Heaven calibre, give the watch a distinctive aesthetic that contrasts with the often angular lines of traditional watches.

A light display inspired by the heartbeat

Beyond the choice of material, ArtyA has integrated a lighting circuit that creates a visual effect inspired by heartbeats. Thanks to a fluorescence system, a luminous pulse is visible through the case, creating an intriguing contrast between the rigidity of sapphire and the sense of motion induced by light.

This adds an extra dimension to the watch without disrupting its mechanical operation. The lighting effect, while discreet, heightens the model’s originality and places the watch within a more experimental approach to contemporary horology.

An in-house movement and artisanal finishing

On the mechanical side, ArtyA has chosen to fit its Stairway to Heaven HMS calibre, a manual-winding movement designed and assembled in-house. It stands out for several technical features:

• Twin barrels mounted in parallel, delivering a 72-hour power reserve.
• 134 components, all hand-decorated.
• Frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz), ensuring standard accuracy.
• Stair-shaped balance bridge, hand-polished, which gives the movement its name.

The attention paid to finishing is a key element of ArtyA’s expertise. The sculpted and sandblasted going-train bridges, along with hand-executed bevels, underscore the importance of craftsmanship in the watch’s design.

A pared-back dial and gold hands

The Wavy Red Heart’s dial is deliberately minimalist, leaving centre stage to the play of light through the red sapphire. Only a few elements are used to mark the passage of time:

• Brushed and diamond-cut gold hands, adding a touch of contrast against the red backdrop.
• An unfussy display of hours, minutes and seconds, favouring simple, immediate legibility.

This aesthetic choice contributes to the watch’s identity: rather than an overload of detail, ArtyA relies on the strength of its material and a pared-back approach to time.

A unique piece, on the boundary between watchmaking and contemporary art

ArtyA has chosen to make the Wavy Red Heart a unique piece. Produced in a single example, it is aimed above all at collectors and enthusiasts of exceptional watches who appreciate creations that step outside traditional watchmaking standards.

This watch is priced at:

• CHF 74,900
• EUR 79,900
• USD 82,900

A price positioning that reflects not only the model’s exclusive nature, but also the technical difficulty involved in producing a case entirely in red sapphire.

A deliberate statement for an unconventional watch

With the Wavy Red Heart, ArtyA is not trying to appeal to a broad audience, but rather to explore new aesthetic and technical avenues. The choice of red sapphire, the integration of a lighting display, and the carefully decorated movement make it a watch that sits on the border between horology and an art object.

If this watch may divide opinion with its radical approach, it illustrates a trend that is increasingly present in independent watchmaking: the desire to experiment with unusual materials and concepts in order to offer pieces that look like no other.