First Nations artist Shaun Daniel Allen teams up with Chopard to create a watch inspired by the Australian landscape.
Shaun Daniel Allen doesn’t look like your typical prestige watch employee. For one thing, Shal, as he likes to be called (“There are a lot of Shauns, but only one Shal,” he explains), is more heavily tattooed than your average roadie. His youthful looks, bad boy ink and all, belie his 38 years and lead to a breakup.
He says he was recently recognized on the street by a journalist who couldn’t remember his name and shouted “Chopard!” “I was with a friend,” says Shal, holding court in his apartment in inner-city Sydney, “and he’s like, ‘What the fuck? Does this happen to you often?’”
Perhaps because of his body art, he argues, “People don’t conflate me and Chopard.” It’s not hard to understand the confusion, Shal adds; Even he was taken aback when Chopard contacted him about a possible collaboration just over a year ago. “When I first went to see her I was like, I don’t know if I’m your type. I’m not used to being in these types of spaces and having these types of conversations.”
He has to quickly get used to his new reality. Last month, Chopard released Shal’s take on the Swiss brand’s history alpine Eagle model, which was itself a re-edition of the St. Moritz, the first watch creation by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele (now co-president of Chopard) in the late 1970s.
First previewed at the About Time watch fair in Sydney in September, it attracted considerable interest and was officially dubbed “The”. alpine Eagle Sunburnt, the exclusive timepiece – released in a limited edition of 20 pieces – comes as a 41mm stainless steel watch with a 60-hour power reserve and a burnt red dial reminiscent of the scorching outback sun. One of Shal’s artworks is painted on sapphire crystal on the transparent caseback.
When the renowned Swiss luxury brand approached Shal, it had already attached the red dial – a nod to the rich ocher tones of the Australian soil at different times of day and graduated so that the tones become darker at the edges – as a lure for Australian customers.
Shal was commissioned to design an ornate caseback and a hand-painted, sustainable wooden case for collectibles. After presenting a handful of paintings, each with his signature abstract motifs referencing indigenous emblems, tattoos and music, both parties landed on a serpentine image reminiscent of the flowing of rivers. “I painted a lot of water in this last work and the image we chose references the rivers back home,” he says, alluding to the formative years he spent with his grandfather just outside Casino.
It says a lot about Chopard, Shal emphasizes, that they wanted to donate to a charity of his choice. “Like everything else about this project,” he explains, “they were open to listening and taking on new ideas, and it actually felt like a collaboration, like they weren’t cornering me.”
Another nice touch is that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the watch will go to funding programs run by the Ngunya Jarjum Aboriginal Corporation – an organization founded in 1995 by Bundjalung elders, whose work Shal stopped following the 2022 flood disaster in eastern Australia witnessed their area first hand. “Seeing Ngunya Jarjum suffer from the floods,” he says, “and knowing how much they do for the community in Bundjalung Land was heartbreaking.” I want Bundjalung families to thrive and be supported. “
So what was it like for this patron of Australia’s waterways to swim in the luxurious part of the pool? “I’ve done a few things with brands,” he says, referring to the Louis Vuitton project at a Brisbane art gallery earlier this year, “but nothing on this scale.” It’s definitely fancier than I’m used to, But I’m not complaining.” Neither of them are watch lovers.
