GoS Sarek

Stunning in a blaze of mesmerising metallic colour, the Sarek watch from Swedish watchmaking duo Gustafsson and Sjögren captures the wild beauty of the Scandinavian landscape in a shimmering dial of Damascus steel.

As long time admirers of each other’s work and mastery of their craft, watchmaker Patrik Sjögren and traditionalist bladesmith Johan Gustafsson established their GoS watch company to create an unlikely harmony between the two worlds of the tranquillity and delicacy of the watchmaker’s atelier with the heat, noise and hard toil of the ironworker’s forgeworks.

The result of their combined efforts are watches which are, by their very nature, unique, unusual and beautiful. For the new GoS Sarek, inspiration flowed from the colours and wilderness of Sweden’s Sarek National Park, and in the hands of the metal specialist this vast vista has been frozen to spectacular effect in his dial of Damascus steel. Like contours on a map the effects swirl and flow with blues, purple, greens, coppers and gold.

Using age old techniques to create these dials there are no short cuts; each one is made from a steel which has been repeatedly layered, forged, hammered and ground to produce a disc which is as individually unique as a fingerprint. Many more hours of concentration in a repeating cycle of heating and polishing to extract these incredible colours from its 164 layers as the dial is painstakingly brought to life.

Viking themes pervade throughout, with sharp, pointed spear-like steel hands, and around the dial the index ring twelve drilled holes mark the hours. The squat, grooved crown too is inspired by the hilt of a Viking sword. The 43mm stainless steel case features contrasting brushed and polished surface finishing, and around its flank, deep ridges recall an ancient bracelet.

Turned over, the polished and numbered steel caseback features a sapphire window which exposes the automatic self winding movement within. The Soprod A10 calibre has been further personalised in house with polished bevels and edging, and topped off with the signature GoS ‘triskele’ oscillating weight, which resembles three axe heads.