Black Corner Sailing Stones Watch BC.26.0001.ST1 - Limited Edition

The Brand

Black Corner began with a simple idea: rethink how we experience and tell the story of time. Through distinctive watches, the brand brings together contemporary design, craftsmanship and storytelling to give every piece its own identity. Each watch is conceived as a true collector's piece, designed to stir emotion and say something about the person who wears it.

Breaking with traditional watchmaking conventions, Black Corner takes a free-spirited, creative approach in which details, materials and mechanisms all shape the experience. Produced in limited runs, its watches have a special connection to rarity and exclusivity. Each timepiece becomes more than a way to tell time: a watch with character, designed to accompany the moments that shape a personal story.

With Time's Traces, Black Corner explores the mysterious marks time leaves on the natural world. Each design draws on a real phenomenon and turns it into a distinctive watchmaking experience. Sailing Stones is the first chapter in this collection.

The Watch

The Black Corner Sailing Stones is a distinctive watch inspired by one of the most mysterious natural phenomena in Death Valley, California. On the dried surface of Racetrack Playa, heavy stones appear to have slid on their own for dozens or even hundreds of meters, leaving long trails in the cracked mud.

Long unexplained, this phenomenon was observed and documented in 2014: in winter, a thin layer of water sometimes covers the playa before freezing overnight. As the sun warms the desert, thin sheets of ice break apart and, pushed by the wind, slowly drag the stones across the ground. Once the water evaporates, only their tracks remain.

Black Corner brings this story to the wrist with Sailing Stones. The dial becomes the dried playa, the Grande Minute represents the wandering stone, and the central black disc traces the path it leaves behind.

Its gently curved tonneau case, made of 316L stainless steel, measures 31 mm wide and 41 mm long. Its curved sides follow the wrist, while alternating brushed and mirror-polished finishes highlight its facets. The asymmetrical crown, positioned at 2 o'clock and set with a black stone cabochon, completes the contemporary design inspired by stone.

The caseback is made of solid steel and engraved with a stylized map of Death Valley, along with the inscriptions Time's Traces, Sailing Stones, Black Corner and Limited Edition 1 of 100. Only 100 pieces are produced, each accompanied by a hand-signed certificate of authenticity.

The Dial

The dial is the heart of the story behind Sailing Stones. Its hammered surface, in a sandy gold color and subtly cracked, evokes the parched ground of Racetrack Playa after the water evaporates.

At its center, a black guilloché disc with a spiral pattern represents the mark the stone leaves on the ground. Its design recalls the winding trail that remains on the playa after the stone stops moving.

The dial's centerpiece is the Grande Minute, an elongated dauphine hand whose anthracite tip symbolizes the wandering stone. With each revolution, it appears to cross the black disc, reenacting the stone's journey through the desert. One revolution takes sixty minutes: a journey through stone and timekeeping.

The hands, finished in “desert gold” PVD, blend with the dial while keeping the hours and minutes easy to read. The applied hour markers, with their mirror-polished finish, remain deliberately understated to preserve the design's visual balance.

The dial is protected by sapphire crystal on the front and on the back of the watch, offering excellent scratch resistance. Sailing Stones deliberately has no luminous material, an aesthetic choice that deepens its connection to natural light and the desert landscape that inspired it.

The Movement

At the heart of this watch beats a Miyota 8215 automatic movement, a Japanese caliber known for its durability and reliability. It has 21 jewels, runs at approximately 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz) and offers a power reserve of approximately 40 hours. It can also be wound by hand.

This movement also drives the Grande Minute, bringing Sailing Stones' central idea to life: the stone does not stay still on the dial; it moves with the passage of time.

Black Corner's choice of a Japanese automatic movement reflects its approach: favoring reliable mechanics that suit the watch's identity over touting a movement's origin for its own sake.

The Bracelet

Made of 316L stainless steel, the stretch bracelet on Sailing Stones follows the curved shape of the case. Its flexible construction feels comfortable on the wrist while preserving the watch's contemporary metallic look.

With no traditional clasp, it comes in several sizes for a better fit on the wrist. Its 18 mm lug width creates a seamless look with the case and its polished and brushed steel finishes.

The bracelet comes in three sizes, which you can select from the drop-down menu:

XS: 18 × 122 mm
S: 18 × 136 mm
L: 18 × 151 mm

Water Resistance

With a water-resistance rating of 5 ATM, Sailing Stones withstands splashes and rain and can be worn for a brief swim in shallow water. It is not designed for diving or activities involving high water pressure.

Its sapphire crystal, fitted on both the front and the back of the case, provides excellent scratch resistance. The engraved solid caseback protects the movement and extends the watch's story with its depiction of Death Valley and the inscription “1 of 100.”