Simply Abu Dhabi XXIX

What better way to celebrate the great man than to create a work of art in his honor? And that is just what Arnie Hira and Jordana Lynch of Simply Abu Dhabi magazine and designer Georg Bartkowiak of ChronoSeven have done. The new watch they have created is a unique edition of 2,018 timepieces never to be reproduced in this formwhose beauty, artistry, and design honor the late, great Sheikh Zayed. The limited edition number honors the one-hundredth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed’s birth date. The matte rhodium-plated grey dial, embellished with historically inclined details, evokes great emotion in the observer thanks to the interplay of the matte background and the glossy finish of the applied elements, in particular the laser- cut subdial rings available in black or white, one of which contains the hours, minutes and seconds. The hour markers found here were designed in a culturally Arabic way and match the hour and minute hands in the same color. The watch is available in two color schemes: grey background with white applied subdial rings and rose-colored printing, calligraphic appliqué, and hands or grey background with black applied subdial rings, white printing, silvery rhodium-colored calligraphic appliqué, and white hands. The subdial at 7 o’clock containing a likeness of His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is executed in solid three- dimensionally printed silver as if it were a bust or statue. This technique was chosen to create the likeness in order to ensure the most precise facial details; the appliqué with three different galvanically applied colors was hand-finished by a master goldsmith before being added by hand to the dial. Its positioning at 7 o’clock represents the seven states of the United Arab Emirates, of which Sheikh Zayed was the literal and spiritual father. The frame surrounding Sheikh Zayed’s likeness contains three dates in addition to his full name: 1918 (the year of his birth); 1971 (the year of the United Arab Emirates’ founding); and 2004 (the year of his passing). The watch’s dial is altogether discreet in appearance with only a little color punctuating the otherwise black, rose, white, and gray hues that dominate: the second hand is green, while the hour and minute hands are white or rose-colored depending on the version. The loving face of His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan brings the most color to the decorative surface – as it should. Another very beautiful detail is the Arabic calligraphy by artist Majid Alyousef on the left side of the dial, which has been laser-cut in a high-tech manner, high-polished for a glossy, contrasting glow, and applied to the dial by hand. The elegantly curving calligraphy forms the single word “Emirates” in Arabic. This is joined by decorative relief printed elements: a floral design printed in white ceramics, a silver- colored frame around the perimeter of the dial, and a white ceramic-printed palm tree symbol in the center of the time subdial. All of these elements were inspired by the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a majestic structure located at the entrance of Abu Dhabi City Island. The exalted structure comprising four minarets and 82 domes includes the fusion of Mamluk, Ottoman, and Fatimid styles so as to represent the entirety of the diverse Islamic world. The watch’s solid stainless steel 45 mm German-made case is elegantly understated; steel represents the metalized version of the white color that also stands also for understated inner value in Arabic culture. The case, outfitted with shorter lugs to make it easily wearable for every size wrist, also continues the 2 0 2 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I