In the landscape of independent horology, Danish brand Arcanaut has carved out a niche that sits somewhere between industrial design and sci-fi prop making. Their latest release, the Arcanaut Arc II D’Arc Sh’Arc: Cyber Cyan, feels less like a traditional timekeeper and more like a wrist-mounted anomaly recovered from a dystopian future.
It represents a collision of materials that shouldn’t necessarily work together—ancient stone and exotic alloys—yet the result is a cohesive, glowing testament to the brand’s material universe.
The foundation of this 40.52mm piece is the “Sh’Arc” case, crafted from Zircuti, a zirconium-titanium composite tailor-made for Arcanaut by Nichols Damascus in the USA. When heat-treated to exact specifications in Denmark, the metal reveals hypnotic dark-grey striations that ripple through the material like Damascus steel, but with a distinctly futuristic edge.
Bead-blasted to a matte finish, the case feels stealthy and organic, providing the perfect frame for the star of the show: the dial. Under a double-domed sapphire crystal treated with a colour-matched blue anti-reflective coating, the dial is formed from D’Arc Matter, a composite material created from pulverized Scandinavian slate.
Milled and finished in Copenhagen by the “Master of Materials” James Thompson (aka Black Badger), the dial possesses a brutal, unapologetically raw texture that absorbs light rather than reflecting it.
However, it is when the lights go down that the watch truly earns its “Cyber Cyan” moniker. Set into the slate are indices made of Cyber Cyan Lumicast, a proprietary solid lume tone developed exclusively for Arcanaut by Swiss experts RC Tritec.
When charged, the contrast between the ancient, dark slate and the electric blue illumination is startling. It glows with the intensity of a reactor core, evoking a neon-soaked aesthetic that makes the wearer feel ready to hunt down replicants in the pouring rain.
The whimsy continues on the reverse side. The exhibition caseback reveals the “Robot GlowPatch,” a laser-engraved motif hand-filled with Super-LumiNova that stares back with unblinking pink eyes, a playful nod to our potential future AI overlords.
Powered by the reliable Swiss automatic Soprod M100 movement and secured by an integrated black rubber strap, the watch is as robust as it is visually striking, boasting 100 meters of water resistance. Limited to a strict production run of just 15 pieces, the Arcanaut Arc II D’Arc Sh’Arc: Cyber Cyan is priced at $5,450. It is a rare opportunity to own a piece of horological art where brutalist texture meets liquid-metal shimmer, resulting in a watch that looks like it fell straight out of Tron.
