Itay Noy, based in old Jaffa in Tel Aviv, has been crafting unique timepieces for 20 years. Trained at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and the Design Academy in Eindhoven, his creations don't follow popular industry trends, but rather, present unique and compelling ways of telling the time and displaying ancillary information.
Noy's latest timepiece, dubbed the Night Flight, is inspired by travel, albeit perhaps in an indirect way: He conceived of the watch after attending Craft Wear, an international design workshop hosted by the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute in 2019, during which he learned about lacquer techniques. The Night Flight itself is a snapshot of the night sky above different cities — Taipei, Beijing, Seoul, Melbourne, Geneva, Cairo, Athens, Berlin, Jerusalem, and others — as seen from the window of an airplane arriving in each locale. The dial makes use of lacquer and 24K gold for a sparkling interpretation of the cosmos, while a transparent case back shaped like an airplane window gives a glimpse of the movement.
In order to create the dial's sky-like effect, each was hand-painted with multiple layers of lacquer mixed with 24K gold, giving a multi-dimensional, shimmering look that changes as you lgaze at the watch from different angles.
Housed in a black, PVD-coated stainless steel case 44mm in diameter and 12mm thick, the Night Flight features a sapphire crystal, 50m of water resistance, and a small sub-seconds near 10 o'clock in the shape of a propeller. The movement powering the watch is a manually wound Unitas cal. 6497-1 — ruthenium-plated and skeltonized, it has a power reserve of 38 hours, 17 jewels and a beat rate of 21,600 vph.
Each watch is a one-of-a-kind piece, made to order by Noy, and ships on a handmade leather strap with double-folding clasp. for $16,800. Though not for the faint of wrist (or faint of wallet), Noy's pieces are a source of fascination, a whimsical take on horology from someone who isn't content to chase trends, but rather, consistently follows his own star.
