It’s not often that a watch face is actually a face, but in this instance, the whole case is a head (with a face in it).

Originally conceived as a skull, but turning out to look more like a robot, the KOPF watch by German Polosin is certainly a novel idea.

Born in Russia, with artistic input from a Ukrainian, leaning on Swiss and Russian watchmaking industry advisors and ultimately being made in England with a German name, (“Kopf” is “head” in German), this watch is a multinational creation.

German Polosin, creator of the KOPF watch explains his inspiration behind the watch:

When you live in Russia, thoughts of the Memento Mori type arise one way or another, and under the growing pressure of the dictatorship, I wanted to express them especially poignantly.  I had made several models of watches with a skull before, but this time I wanted to create a mechanical sculpture. When the pilot model was ready, Covid took millions of lives. When I managed to launch the watch in a small series, Russia attacked Ukraine, and it is still unknown what this will lead to. Memento Mori, comrade.

German Polosin KOPF Watch

Face & case

Split into 2 visible and defined areas, the 37 x 53mm case is made of stainless steel and is in a very unique head shape; the upper area features the eyes, nose and top jaw with “teeth” and the lower part being the lower jaw.  The case is made up of a number of complex profile parts and contains 11 polymer gaskets to keep its integrity sound.

The original design concept was that it would be a skull, however, it possibly looks more like the head of a robot with big googly eyes, which are the main focus of the watch, being the dials.  They protrude slightly up from the main case, with polished brushed surrounds which contrast well against the hand hammered and brushed areas covering the rest of the case top.  The eyes (under sapphire crystals) each contain 12 luminous tritium tube markers sitting on concave slopes into their centres and have relatively big central hands, which also have a tritium tubes on their pointing end.  Both the tritium tube colour scheme and central hand colours can be chosen by the customer; the tritium tubes can be in one or a a mixture of both green and/or orange and the central hands (in this case, purple) can be a choice of electrochemical anodized colours in black, blue, green and purple tones.

Both of the eyes have engravings on them between the tritium tubes on the bottom sections; the left eye reads “KOPF” and the right eye has the watch number in the series, in this case, “N100”.

A raised, bulbous oval shaped nose in brushed metal sits just between and below the eyes and has the German Polosin “g” engraved and painted in black in the centre.

A row of chunky “teeth” can be seen below the nose and recessed back slightly from the main case.  The crown actually sits in the centre of 3 visible sections of teeth and is surprisingly quite easy to pull out to change time, thanks to access from the front and back; but also due to the bottom jaw section which moves backwards and forwards.  The jaw also acts as a self adaptation tool when fastening the watch around the wrist, dropping back at up to 45 degrees giving a more comfortable fit.  There is actually another, longer, tritium tube along the centre of the width of the inside of the jaw.

From the sides, you can see detail as the case side follows the structure of the upper case and a screw holds the bottom jaw in place, one on either side.

The back of the watch is quite busy with text – all engraved and filled in black, there are various inscriptions, including, “KOPF”, “First Serie”, the watch’s number, material used, the year of manufacture, water resistance (3 ATM/30m), “Made in England” and “German Polosin”.  There is the option for a personalised engraving here too.  The case back is screwed down with oversized screws in each corner.

In the centre of the case back, the exhibition window allows a peak into the movement; most of it is obstructed by the rotor.  In this version, the movement has been PVD coated in black, however, another option is for it to be rhodium coated instead.

One last option for the purchaser is to have a secret message inside the case back, which will be preserved for someone who opens this watch in the future.

German Polosin KOPF Watch Case Back

Movement

A Swiss ETA 2892-A2 automatic movement with bi-directional winding is used as the base movement, with in-house modifications done by use of modules for the eyes.  A total of 29 jewels are used once the movement is modified, with the base movement beating at 28,800vph.

Owners should expect around 40 – 42 hours power reserve once fully wound.

German Polosin KOPF Watch Strap & Buckle

Strap

The KOPF watch is delivered on a stainless steel mesh strap, with a stainless steel folding clasp, with KOPF engraved and filled black on the fastening end.

The mesh strap is delivered to fit your wrist size, with about a quarter inch adjustment each way using pin adjustment within the back of the clasp.

German Polosin KOPF Watch Crown

Other Stuff

German Polosin started as a watchmaker by restoring vintage watches for his own collection in 2006.  He taught himself watchmaking from literature and friends, whilst gathering a community of amateur craftsmen on his website.  A few years later, he quit his IT banking career and followed his passion.

Initially, German became known in the watch world as a private master in servicing high-end Swiss watches and as a restorer who was not afraid to take on complex projects.  The first watches he made were conversion watches based on unusual vintage mechanisms, followed by several limited editions on watch forums and since 2013-2014, watches were been created under his own brand name.  German was based in the Konstantin Chaykin manufacture for a number of years, where he received an incredible amount of knowledge and experience – it was during this time that German transitioned from a restoration workshop to the level of a modern watch manufacture.

None of his business partners liked the idea of the KOPF watch as it was too dark, however, after a discussion with Ukrainian 3D artist Fred Bekher, the initial visual concept was born.  Just after the first sketches were ready, the announcement of the Joker watch by Konstantin Chaykin came out, that was a moment. After that he presented Konstantin with a 3D printed model and asked if he should actually a make it – to which he responded “of course it is”.

The first prototypes were created in Moscow at their own production base with an Arix CNC machine.  Starting around 2019, as the political situation in Russia worsened, he gradually moved the workshop from Moscow to England.  German completed the transition in 2022, by moving his Moscow craftsmen to the UK and finally closing the old workshop.

Since 2022, they have been ordering rough CNC blanks from a medical instrument manufacturer – they manufacture all the mechanical parts (cutting gear teeth, axles, bridges, etc.) themselves.  The most expensive procedures (setting jewels, assembling wheels, finishing, electroplating, engraving, control and adjusting) are carried out entirely in England, in the Horological Underground workshop, Bristol.

The watch (including the base mechanism) uses more than 250 components; more than 90 of them are actually made, processed and/or assembled in the workshop in Bristol.

Horological Underground also does repairs on and sells other brands’ watches, as well as selling some of German’s other creations.

German Polosin KOPF Watch On the Wrist

Our verdict

I had been speaking with German off and on for a while about doing a review and when it was finally arranged, I was a little excited to be honest, as it is a watch I hadn’t ever seen in person and I have always been a fan of the concept – one thing I wasn’t sure about though, was how it would be in reality.

When I first saw (and held) the KOPF watch in the metal, all fears of an anti climax subsided and I was actually pleasantly surprised!  It’s crazy, it’s unusual and not everyone will get it, but I definitely like it!

The build quality was better than I imagined and the case and strap felt substantial.  My biggest observation was probably the physical size of the case – it is a lot smaller than I had expected based on images I had seen of it over the years.

I don’t mind wearing a large watch, but I was genuinely amazed at how much smaller it sat and fitted on the wrist.  The length of the head covers my wrist almost entirely and the fact the jaw drops at an angle means even with my quite puny wrist, it fits very comfortably and looks just right.  The width is only 34mm, plus 1.5mm of eye overhang on either side, taking it to 37mm total, which again, looks good here, but would almost certainly be too small for my taste had it been a round case.

At 14mm thick at its highest point and with the angles to the case, there may be a bit of a tussle with cuffs, but I’m quite sure owners would be quite happy having the KOPF on show.

Cynics may be considering the similarities between Konstantin Chaykin and the KOPF watch, but German is very open about working with and discussing the concept with Chaykin.  Whilst the KOPF watch may well look like it could fit well into the idea of Chaykin’s Wristmon collection, in reality, the main similarity is that the eyes tell the time.

SO it’s probably quite obvious that I like it, but I always try to throw out a negative comment/point just to be objective on my reviews and I’m actually struggling a bit – I suppose the only thing I might suggest is that whilst the metal mesh bracelet suits the KOPF watch perfectly, I would try something like a distressed/destroyed denim strap, or maybe a heavy grained exotic leather (hornback or shark(?)).  Apart from that, I can’t really say much else even vaguely derogatory.

Only 100 pieces will be made in this first series, of which over 50 already have their homes.  With a starting price of 8,000 GBP (plus taxes), its by no means cheap, but seems good value for the build and hand made elements to me and you are unlikely to see another one out on your travels.  Not to mention you get to work closely with the watchmaker and there are customisable elements at no additional cost (and some of which may come at a slight price increase, depending on how far your creativity goes).

Just to add that German is quite flexible on his approach.  There has been talk of a sold gold KOPF watch and I know he has already tried bronze, so if you fancy something a little bit more “out there”, I’m sure it would be an open conversation.

https://kopf.watch/
https://german242.com/en/