"Titan was paying attention. The Indian watchmaker's "Titan of the Year" platform exists precisely to freeze moments like this in metal and mineral, and for 2026 they had an obvious, irresistible choice. The result is the Grandmaster X Gukesh Dommaraju Special Edition, a 500-piece limited run that takes the geometry, hierarchy, and quiet intensity of chess and presses it into one of the most thoughtfully designed Indian watches in recent memory."
"Titan's design team went well beyond printing a chessboard pattern on a disc and calling it a day. The dial is a hand-crafted stone marquetry composition in tiger eye and black agate, two minerals with very different personalities that together produce the warm amber-and-dark-grid texture of a real wooden chess board. Closer inspection rewards patience, and the design team clearly understood that a chess player's watch should reveal itself the same way a brilliant move does: slowly, deliberately, with growing appreciation."
Gukesh Dommaraju's victory over Magnus Carlsen at Norway Chess 2025 marked a decisive moment in competitive chess and showcased a new generation. Titan honored that moment through its 2026 "Titan of the Year" selection, producing the Grandmaster X Gukesh Dommaraju Special Edition as a 500-piece limited run. The watch emphasizes artisanal detail, with a hand-crafted stone marquetry dial in tiger eye and black agate that mimics a wooden chessboard. Hour markers reference chess pieces—Queen at 12, Rook at 9, Bishop at 3, King at 6—and the red seconds hand carries a Knight counterpoise.
Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News
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