Kenji Chai × BOLDR Venture Chaigo Limited Edition Watch Is Joy Manifested
Limited edition watches come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they make sense, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they come from a good place, sometimes it is clear they don’t. When I first heard about the Kenji Chai × BOLDR Venture Chaigo Limited Edition I took a moment to get my head around it. While Swatch has been doing collabs of this nature for literally decades, it is rarer for a micro/small independent to enter such a field. After doing my research, I decided it shouldn’t be. The world needs more joy in it. And so thanks to BOLDR, Kenji Chai, and Chaigo (the blue stray dog) himself…
Toys and watches don’t go together obviously. It would be crazy to suggest, however, that the same things that watch lovers enjoy about watches couldn’t also apply to toys. Intricacy, creativity, collectibility… These things are features of both arenas. And you were thinking that the sheer cost of collecting watches and toys means these hobbies are worlds apart, I would remind you that the very first G.I. Joe action figure sold at auction for $200,000. That would buy you quite a few Speedmasters, in case you were wondering…
The Kenji Chai × BOLDR Venture Chaigo Limited Edition comes with a toy. It is Kenji Chai’s signature toy. A super cool action figure based on Chai’s most famous character Chaigo (a blue dog). Every single one of these little guys is hand-painted. The dog features on the watch also. It’s cool. It’s fun. And with just 160 pieces of the watch being made, it is truly limited. But why should you care?
Does art speak to you?
When Leon Leong (founder of BOLDR) told me about a project that involved a graffiti artist, my ears pricked up. I’m a long-time fan of graffiti and street art and have bought several watches (and baseball caps — my other passion) with graffiti central to their design. I remember dashing to the local Swatch store to pick up the Grems limited editions of 2010. My watchmaking tastes may have shifted slightly since then, but my adoration of street art remains. I was curious, therefore, to see the result of this cooperation.
“Art is a game of soul connection. When a piece of art makes you feel a certain way, that is where it’s true value lies” — Kenji Chai.
But before I checked out the watch, I checked out Chai himself. He’s really famous in Malaysia and has performed some stunning work on the buildings that dot his home country. However, I had not heard of him personally. As soon as I saw his work, I regretted not having heard of him sooner.
“I [was] born in the year of a dog, and the Mandarin word for dog is ‘Go’. I put that together with my surname and created Chaigo, a resurrected spirit with a new lease on life.” — Kenji Chai.
This artwork will not be for everybody, but I’m sure many of you will be as taken by it as I was. Regardless of your artistic leanings (should you possess any at all), I think it’s clear to see the talent on display here. As such, I’ve included several images of Chai’s artwork in this release post. Watchmaking can offer its fans a great many things. Exposure to creative worlds beyond its own craft is one of those hidden bonuses we too often overlook.
Does it make sense?
There’s a lot of cynicism around limited edition watches these days, and rightly so. We must, must, must be critical whenever brands go down this route? Why? Is it a blatant cash-grab? Such projects should be discouraged because although they are destined to succeed, the only winners there are the bank balances of the brands and co-conspirators that care more about levering your money from your wallet than they do about the product on your wrist.
The worst thing about projects of that nature (and we see many in our industry), is that buyers positively reinforce the tactic while simultaneously sullying the reputation of a limited release strategy which has a definite place and purpose in our industry.
The point of limited editions
Limited projects should do something different. They should be pivot points for the industry and its followers to observe. The product should either be aesthetically challenging, ground-breaking, unexpected, or distinct, or the product itself should be the result of extreme craftsmanship, an extoller of hand-skills close to extinction. I don’t know about you, but a hand-painted action figure with a matching watch, celebrating the work of gob-smackingly talented graffiti artist works for me. It isn’t a watch for the whole world, but for the people it has been created to inspire, it does just that.
“Dedicate time EVERY DAY towards your dream. It is very easy to have a dream, but not everyone wants to put in the work. As long as it becomes a habit to put in the work, even just for half an hour every day, you will go a long way.” — Kenji Chai
Now, excuse me while I try and track down some of Kenji Chai’s work on canvas. I need to bring those vibrant colors in from the outside. There will be a hands-on review of this piece with more pics of the watch as soon as it arrives with me in Germany. But if you want to snare one of the 160 pieces available, you might not want to wait that long… Learn more about BOLDR here.
