Cay Brøndum – Historic Horological Artist

You love your Rolex. You love other people’s Rolexes. You love looking at them and talking about them and imagining them on your wrist. Or in your mind’s eye you see them laying on your desk on top of some paperwork or provenance in a still life straight out of a watch nerd’s dream.

If all that describes you, we found an artist you should check out. Cay Brøndum.

Brøndum hails from Copenhagen, Denmark. He’s officially been making and selling fine art for nearly 25 years. Probably longer than that though, judging by the quality of his work. His medium for his historical horological art is pen and ink, watercolor, and digital application of photos to old paper. Truly, mixed media.

The paper, all original old letters and technical drawings, dates from the early 1940s to the late 1960s. He discovered it in an old suitcase he found at a flea market years ago. He loves the look the paper yields, saying, “I liked the history and how the paper in color has aged like tritium on a vintage watch.”

But Cay told me he’s almost out and he’s not sure what base he’s going to be using next. “It´s gonna be interesting,” he says.

As for his horological art – the real subject of this post – take a look at this MilSub rendering, for instance.

We’re trying to picture a Rolex fan, especially a Submariner geek, who wouldn’t want this one on their wall.

Like world history? How about pieces featuring the likes of Winston Churchill? Or Martin Luther King? The Dalai Lama? Even Che Guevara gets his fifteen minutes of Rollie fame renewed once more. These images are digitally applied to the original paper.

Or how about the world of entertainment? Brøndum has painted famous watches along side the likes of Walt Disney, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Eric Clapton, and James Bond.

Even Kermit the Frog makes an appearance. Yep, there’s a painting of the World’s Foremost Frog, plucking his banjo alongside his namesake Submariner. Miss Piggy is nowhere to be found, but we suspect if Rolex ever releases a pink Sub, a suitable piece of art will become real at the pen, ink, and brush of Cay Brøndum.

And just so you understand, Rolex isn’t the only watch brand Brøndum features in his work. Timepieces like Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak and Omega’s Speedmaster have been featured too.

We have to admit, Cay Brøndum’s art trips our trigger big time. If it resonates with you too, you can find more here. And check him out on Instagram here.

(All images are courtesy of Cay Brøndum)

The post Cay Brøndum – Historic Horological Artist appeared first on Bezel & Barrel written by Ed Estlow.