Fiona Krüger, a young Scottish artist, has earned recognition from the Swiss watch world ? and earned it, oddly enough, with skull watches. What better subject to tackle on Halloween" Excerpted from the upcoming WatchTime Special Design Issue 2018, here’s our conversation with Krüger, in which she reveals what inspired her distinctive motif and how she views her place in the watch industry.

INSPIRED BY THE SKULL

Several sources of inspiration in my life history contributed to my fascination with the skull motif. I had studied visual art in Edinburgh before I came to design in Switzerland. I knew nothing about watches at the time. My interest began in the context of my master class in Lausanne. We visited Audemars Piguet?s ateliers and the Patek Philippe Museum, where I fell in love with timepieces, especially the ones in the historical collection. I realized that a timepiece needn?t be round and flat, but could be given almost any shape. I discovered that the skull motif had played an important role in the history of watchmaking. Skulls and skeletons were frequently used, especially in 16th-century ladies? pocketwatches, which were often shaped like three-dimensional skulls. For me, the skull was a universally recognizable symbol. There?s also a very personal source: I spent three years in Mexico as a child and I vividly recall the skull symbolism of the Di?a de los Muertos.
A NEWCOMER TO THE SWISS WATCH INDUSTRY

I wasn?t what the people in the watch...