Introducing: The Exclusive Maen × IFL Watches Manhattan Graffiti Collaboration

Watches and street style go together quite well. While this combination might not be for everyone, there is a huge audience for modern timepieces that celebrate the best in street culture. But what if you combine the colorful graffiti world with the traditional shapes of horology? That’s exactly what Maen and IFL Watches have done with the new Manhattan Graffiti collaboration. The canvas for the art is the popular Maen Manhattan 37, and the artists at IFLW created special graffiti dials that celebrate the most iconic New York boroughs and neighborhoods. The result is a colorful tribute to the city that made graffiti a worldwide phenomenon.

With the collabs that IFLW creates, the dial tells the story. This time, it is no different. But whereas the artists at the IFLW workshop usually translate a story to a visual wonderland that depicts it, this new Maen × IFL Manhattan Graffiti is very much on the nose. And it should be because graffiti’s origins are rooted in that bold visual directness. For the new Maen × IFL Watches Manhattan Graffiti, the brands decided to honor New York’s most iconic boroughs and neighborhoods, including the one that gives the Maen Manhattan 37 its name.

The details of the Maen × IFL Manhattan Graffiti

Let’s take a closer look at the details of this special timepiece. The canvas is the Maen Manhattan 37, which debuted in early 2022. Thor praised the sleek, slender style and its high ’70s glam factor in his review. I agree with Thor that the watch definitely stands out with its stylish presence. As a result, you will immediately recognize it the next time you see it.

While the style is nothing revolutionary, when the Manhattan 37 came out almost three years ago, there weren’t many watches like it. But the watch world has changed quite a bit since then. With the resurgence of the iconic style of the 1970s, the Maen Manhattan has become one of the go-to affordable options for celebrating it.

The Manhattan 37 case measures 37mm in diameter, 47mm from lug to lug, and 9.3mm thick. Additionally, the watch features an integrated stainless steel bracelet, just like the industry’s icons from the 1970s. Inside the case, Maen uses the Sellita SW200-1 to power the watch. This well-known automatic movement operates at 28,800vph, has 26 jewels, and offers 38 hours of power reserve. But the talking piece of this special edition is, of course, the dial, and the team at IFLW chose to use a black one as the backdrop for this New York City tribute.

A bold and colorful dial celebrating New York in style

As you can see, IFLW’s artists added the names of four boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Queens) as well as Wall Street, Harlem, and N.Y.C. to the dial in that typical graffiti style. The only borough missing is Staten Island, although I understand why that borough might need a dial of its own due to the length of the name. What I love about the style of art is that it takes me back to the early days of graffiti in Amsterdam, which was heavily rooted in the city’s punk scene.

The style of the words on this dial has a very punk feel that takes me back to my teenage years, partly because I was part of the (later) hardcore and punk scene back then. Additionally,  I had the pleasure of working on the documentary Kroonjuwelen – Hard Times, Good Times, Better Times. The movie sheds light on the Dutch graffiti scene from the late 1970s to the early 2000s.

The movie perfectly shows that New York and Amsterdam were frontrunners in the rise of graffiti popularity in the 1980s. Famous New York artists, like Lee Quiñones, Dondi, and Rammellzee, greatly influenced the young graffiti punks in Amsterdam. They even brought NYC graffiti legend Futura back to Amsterdam to talk about some of the tags and pieces he and the Amsterdam kids created. While this is a bit of a sidestep in the overall story of the watch, you will understand that seeing the dial brings back great memories of my younger years.

A graffiti puzzle on a classic watch dial

The folks at IFLW had to solve the puzzle of how to position the different names on the dial. I love that they “spray-painted” over the text on the lower half of the dial to accomplish this. As you can see, the words “Manhattan 37” and “Automatic” have been painted over.

This makes the dial look like a wall targeted by graffiti artists, and I love that. Another detail I love is the placement of the word “Harlem” between the hour markers from 10 to 1 o’clock. It’s another visual trick that reminds you that you are still looking at a watch that displays the time.

Availability, pricing, and final thoughts

If you love graffiti and NYC, this colorful homage to the city should be right up your alley. Maen and IFL Watches will make this exclusive release available through the IFL Watches website or Maen’s official website during a 24-hour window starting this upcoming Monday, November 25th, at 16:00 CET and ending on Tuesday, November 26th, at 16:00 CET. The watch will cost €1,399 including VAT for people in Europe. The price for people outside of Europe is €1,199 before local taxes. Additionally, delivery of the first 100 units of the Maen × IFL Manhattan Graffiti is scheduled for mid-December. Any additional orders past the first 100 will be delivered in May 2025.

From what we heard, there was quite a bit of buzz surrounding the release of this watch during the Windup Watch Fair in New York last month. So if you are a fan of this watch, you’ll probably need to move quickly if you want one in December because the first 100 pieces will probably sell out in a flash.

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