Kollokium is an independent Swiss watchmaking collective and project-based horological platform established in 2020. Based in Wollerau, Switzerland, the company distinguishes itself by operating as a creative laboratory rather than a traditional manufacture, focusing on experimental design and alternative perspectives in contemporary watchmaking.
The brand was founded by a trio of industry veterans: Manuel Emch, Barth Nussbaumer, and Amr Sindi. Each founder brings a specific background to the project; Manuel Emch is recognized for his leadership roles at brands like Jaquet Droz and Louis Erard, Barth Nussbaumer is an established watch designer known for his work with HYT and Petermann Bédat, and Amr Sindi is a prominent watch collector and consultant widely known under the moniker TheHorophile. The founders intended Kollokium to be a space for “creation ex nihilo,” allowing them to develop timepieces free from the historical constraints and corporate structures typical of the Swiss luxury watch industry.
Enthusiasts are drawn to Kollokium for its “neobrutalist” design language, which emphasizes industrial textures, raw materials, and depth. The brand’s aesthetic is influenced by post-war brutalist architecture, retrofuturistic science fiction, and synth-pop culture. Collectors often highlight the brand’s commitment to transparency and its unconventional manufacturing methods, such as the use of die-casting for steel cases to achieve a more industrial, unrefined finish compared to standard machining.
The brand’s catalog is organized into “Projekts” rather than traditional collections. Its inaugural release, Projekt 01, gained significant attention for its unique dial architecture, featuring 468 hand-applied cylindrical markers of varying heights. These markers are coated in Super-LumiNova to create a three-dimensional light display under a high-domed sapphire crystal. Following this, Projekt 02 introduced a topographical dial composed of 67 stacked dial plates across nine layers, creating a miniature landscape within the watch. These timepieces typically utilize automatic movements from Swiss manufacturer La Joux-Perret and are released in limited, numbered variants.
