BrokenFaces series R(ust)
Unique and handmade clocks made with recycled metal. A philosophical view on time in these series, where transience is visible through the influence of weather and the absolute arbritrariness handling of the metal. Making these clocks demands lots of handicraft: from searching on site to getting them to the right size, polishing the hands, determining the balance and fixating the quartz element.

Finding the raw material is fun, putting it together is even more fun. Blank, coloured or rusted surfaces, cutting up bigger pieces, or welding smaller pieces together into bigger pieces.
BrokenFaces: an art concept were old time becomes the present. There is more on this on Instagram.

Slideshow BrokenFaces 'Rust in Series'

The origin of BrokenFaces: series W(atch). The first model (obsolete now).
Watch faces ‘with a history’ were photographed and printed on Innova photo paper.
They were then carefully pasted onto museum cardboard.
Both the cardboard and the glue were acid free to prevent damage to the photo.
They were then given a new quartz clock with sweeping second and were placed
in a rim of brushed stainless steel covered with a glass plate.
All models had the same case and hands, are 30 cm diameter and 5 cm deep.

Each clock was individually hand crafted and only 15 pieces of each model were produced.
The clocks were numbered and if the model was sold out, they would remain sold out forever.
The BrokenFaces themselves came from used pocket watches or wrist watches,
some of which are no larger than 18 mm in diameter, that are often decades old.

The person behind BrokenFaces series model W(atch) is photographer and video maker Ruben Koerhuis from Voorburg. A few years ago, curious about the profession of a clock maker, Ruben did a photo shoot at a clock makers shop and came across a box of old, discarded watches.
This is when the idea of giving the watches a new life was planted – the past time can become the present time. And, as is always the case with ideas, some get dropped but those that remain are done with much dedication and pleasure. This model fathered all the other -more artistic- series.