As with any hobby (or obsession, as may be the case) that has a longer timeline to dive back into, there are many bits and pieces of ephemera that can draw attention. Often when we see something concerning an older ad (be it for a car, watch, or anything else), it falls into one of two camps. It’s either “can you believe they ran with this?” or “Wow, that is some great artwork.” One artist is taking items from that second camp, and bringing things to another level.
Cay Broendum starts with source materials such as old blueprints, letters, or other pieces of paper that are just plain old, that somehow can be tied in to the subject – that subject, of course, being watches. To that piece of dead tree, a photo of some sort (say, of the ever-cool Steve McQueen) is attached (digitally).
To that compilation, Broendum hand-paints a watch onto the piece, using ink, watercolors, and pencils. To look solely at the watches, they do look like illustrations we’d see from another era – expertly capturing what we’ve come to expect in photographs, just with that indescribable skill that comes with art like this.
With some of his works, Broendum works to tie the artwork to true (non-watch) moments in history, which lends an altogether different sort of patina and interest to the pieces. All told, they’re some lovely pieces of art that would be fitting for the office or den of a watch aficionado.
If you’d like to see what he has on offer (or perhaps to work to commission your own specific piece), head on over to his website. In the meantime, if you’d like some more insight to his thought process, check out this interview over at Hodinkee.
All images courtesy of Cay Brondum
