Awake x Dare & Dream Collector Edition

Created by artist Nicolas Barrome Forgues, DARE&DREAM is a facetious flashback to our space odyssey, dedicated to the brand's friends and the child in all of them.

This artistic collaboration pays tribute to the ‘01’ model that has accompanied all our adventures over the last two years, making way for a new collection marking a brand new chapter for AWAKE.

This collector's edition, numbered to 50, is accompanied by an exclusive work by the artist.

From the very beginning of AWAKE, we have been convinced that art is a powerful vehicle for ideas, reflection and emotion. That's why we regularly let artists express themselves on our dials, evoking their vision of time or reinterpreting our codes and messages in a personal, offbeat way.

Dare

The history between Nicolas Barrome Forgues and AWAKE dates back to 2019, the year the brand was created. Founded on shared values and a real complicity, this relationship gave rise to a first collaboration in 2020. Like Awake, Nicolas is constantly evolving and above all likes to ‘break codes’, experimenting with new techniques and mediums to share his artistic approach. He sets himself no limits and is constantly reinventing himself, with the main aim of communicating his passion and drawing you into his fantastic graphic world teeming with detail.

Dream 

So when we asked him to imagine a special edition that would bring to a close - in his own way - the Mission To Earth space epic that began two years ago with the first Nasa collaboration, Nicolas climbed back on board the AWAKE spaceship to draw a multitude of characters and symbols linking his fantastic universe to our History.

In a distant galaxy imagined by Nicolas live the Bifrons, party-loving, carefree aliens. By not caring about anything and doing whatever they want with their planet, it's dying and there's nothing left to eat... So the Bifrons set off in search of a welcoming planet where they can live without worrying about scarcity. It was a long journey that took them to Earth. Delighted and convinced, they decide that it is on this planet that their species will find refuge.

Aboard the latest vessel, '01 Titanium', whose design has left a lasting mark on the history of AWAKE, they arrive to announce - in their own chaotic way - the arrival in a few months' time of a brand new, entirely redesigned collection...

We hope you enjoy a journey into Nicolas's unbridled universe, through this joyful show full of details and symbols, to be discovered day and night, front and back!

Doodle art dial as a tribute to the space adventures this model has accompanied.

A white dial in reference to the eternal blank sheet of paper, the metaphorical starting point for a new process of reflection and creation, but which also symbolises the ‘carte blanche’ we decided to give Nicolas to announce with humour and self-mockery the withdrawal from the collections of the 01 Titane model, which appeared in 2022.

This freedom of action allowed Nicolas to create the facetious characters straight from his imagination, the Bifrons! As the artist's wacky ideas and pencil strokes unfold, these unruly extraterrestrials take over the dial, stealing or nibbling a marker here and there, dismantling the logo, slaloming through a whole host of graphic symbols that have punctuated the existence of the ‘01’.

It's a joyful mishmash of fantasy and imagination, and a demanding exercise in style for an artist used to working in large (and very large) format!

Let yourself be carried away by this joyful flashback with its offbeat humour, and observe every detail, in the light as well as in the dark!

A caseback imagined as the final scene of a science fiction film

While the dial, with its cheerful disorder, is worked in the style of Doodle Art, the caseback is treated like the final scene of a science fiction film, a world dear to Nicolas and which has greatly nourished his art. A « HAPPY END » symbolising the end of a key period in AWAKE's life.

Decorated using the under-glass metallization technique, the caseback is adorned in elegant shades of grey, white and black, and features 2 Bifrons taking a last look at the engine room of the ship that has accompanied all our space adventures over the past two years.

One of them is about to activate the closure of a virtual airlock. A metaphor for the happy ending of a journey for these Bifrons who have reached their destination!

Nicolas Barrome Forgues is an all-round illustrator and visual artist who lives and works in Paris

Born in 1980, he began his career at the School of Applied Arts in Bordeaux, before moving into illustration and setting up the Jeanspezial collective with his friends. Initially applied to the walls of his bedroom or those of a disused factory, his images quickly evolved as he discovered new techniques.

Influenced by his passion for cinema, science fiction and pop culture, as much as by classical painting and his childhood memories, Nicolas' creations plunge the viewer into a singular universe teeming with complex images that can be read on several levels.

His works are full of all kinds of monsters, robots, hairy animals, giant octopuses, strange fish and extraterrestrials, mixed in with gently mocked icons and symbols, or more subversive messages. Without setting himself any limits, he borrows from both the great masters of classical painting and the creators of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Technical specifications

Awake x Dare & Dream Collector Edition

Limited edition of 50 pieces

Case

• Material: Recycled Grade 2 titanium
• Diameter : 40 mm
• Width between lug: 20 mm
• Thickness : 11.89mm
• Weight : 65 grams
• Glass : anti-reflective sapphire crystal
• Crown : screw-down
• Water-resistant to 10 ATM / 100 M

Dial and hands

• Dial : textured white, tampography motifs
• Luminova : BGW9

Movement

• Automatic modified MIYOTA 9039
• Power reserve of 42 Hours

Functions/Indications

• Hours, Minutes, Seconds

Strap and buckle

• White Biopoly + black Zulu

MSRP: EUR 890 (excl. taxes)

For more information, please visit awakeconcept.com