Jisa Shaji
What does power look like when it has nothing left to prove?
Look at the dial and you will find the answer walking across it. A black panther moves without hesitation through an Art Deco night, crossing out of green growth and into gold architecture. A low amber moon sits behind it, with stars scattered overhead. Every part of that scene went on by hand.
The Idea
The brief our artists worked from came down to a single line. The greatest power lies in complete control.
You can see it in the panther. It moves through the frame with the ease of something that has never needed to announce itself, and the whole composition is arranged around that calm. Discipline ahead of aggression, confidence ahead of spectacle, elegance ahead of excess.
The Artwork
Our artists built the scene in deep emerald and gold, borrowing the geometry and glamour of the Art Deco era. Gold bars and flat panels stand in for a skyline. Stylized palm leaves push in from the edges. The moon does the lighting, warming the landscape until it reads like a stage.
Look closely and you will see how much of this is detail work. Each leaf, every gold line, the stars, the panther’s face. It all goes on one element at a time, which is why the light catches each dial a little differently and why no two finish the same.
The Watch Behind the Artwork
The Astronaut came first, then the Freedom. The Rive is our third Festina canvas, a 35 mm Swiss made quartz watch in gold tone, its fluted bezel holding the artwork like a picture frame. Crystal-set dot markers ring the dial and the date sits at six o’clock.
Underneath there is sapphire glass, water resistance to 100 meters, and a matching bracelet on a butterfly clasp. Festina classes it as a dress watch, which is exactly what this artwork wanted. The painting is the loud part. The watch carrying it stays composed.
The Festina Rive Monarch is available now at iflwatches.com, priced at $790 USD. Limited to 100 pieces worldwide.
Technical Specifications
- Case: 35mm gold-tone stainless steel
- Case height: 9mm
- Lug-to-lug: 42.5mm
- Bezel: Fluted
- Crystal: Sapphire
- Dial: Hand-painted, crystal-set dot markers, date at six o’clock
- Movement: Ronda 705 Swiss quartz
- Water resistance: 100 meters (10 ATM)
- Bracelet: Gold-tone stainless steel, 20.20mm, butterfly clasp
