Swiss watchmaker RJ shook up the annual COUTUREtime show with a subversive Joker-themed celebration held at the Wynn villas on Friday, May 31. RJ CEO and Creative Director Marco Tedeschi invited exclusive guests to discover the latest RJ DC Villains collaboration watch, The ARRAW The Joker watch, with the help of one of Batman’s greatest nemeses: The Joker himself.
The unforgettable, interactive event celebrated one of the latest of RJ’s ambitious and creative contemporary luxury wristwatches to date. The RJ event culminated with live performances by iconic DC character The Joker and his masked and made-up minions, from devious card tricks to clever acrobatic feats.
ARRAW The Joker chronograph by RJ
RJ Watches has underlined its status as the pre-eminent creator of unique watch collaborations by joining forces once more with one of the world’s biggest entertainment companies, Warner Bros Consumer Products, on behalf of DC Entertainment.
Building on the global success of the Skylab Batman watch, RJ has delivered a new limited-edition series of watches inspired by Batman’s arch enemies, The Joker and Two-Face. These new limited editions mark the first time that RJ has employed its signature ARRAW case design to produce a collaboration watch. Batman’s original nemesis and criminal mastermind The Joker has been the arch enemy of Gotham City’s crimefighter since the very first edition of the DC comics in 1940.
The new RJ Joker watch perfectly reproduces the aesthetic of the comic strip villain. Design cues from his flamboyant character appear throughout the watch, from lethal razor-tipped playing cards to striking facial make-up. The self-winding Joker chronograph is presented in a circular satin-brushed 45mm titanium version of RJ’s iconic ARRAW case, marked by its signature rubber bumpers, beautifully shaped lugs and arrow-shaped hands. The ARRAW watch case is crowned by a titanium bezel that is laser engraved with an intentionally chaotic Joker motif.
Beneath the anti-reflective sapphire glass, each Joker dial in the 100-piece limited edition is individually hand-painted, meaning no two Joker watches will have the exact same make-up. The watch dial itself is a stylistic interpretation of the Joker’s own face, with an intricately airbrushed finish that evokes the make-up of the Gotham villain. The dial fades to white at the edges and two piercing black eyes stare from the center of the dial.
The ARRAW hands on the Joker watch are also uniquely stylized with playing card ‘Aces’ at the tips. The same ‘Aces’ motifs act as dial markers, while the chronograph’s second hand is finished in Joker Purple with a stylised ‘J’ at its base. The reverse of the titanium case features a bold laser-engraved portrait of the Joker himself, and each watch in the edition is individually numbered as a ‘One of 100 Limited Edition’.
Every RJ Joker watch comes with no less than three interchangeable straps, an array of options that reflects the colourful character of one of Gotham’s most notorious villains. Colorful alligator skin versions in bright green or purple with contrast stitching match the Joker’s hair and clothing and can be easily swapped by simply pressing the Batman logo release screw on the watch lugs. Each leather strap is lined in hard-wearing rubber, while a third full-rubber black strap is also provided. Each strap is fastened using a titanium deployment buckle clasp. As part of the collectors’ edition, each watch will be presented with an exclusive deck of Joker playing cards.
