“It might have taken us longer to finish the first watch than it took Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel,” says Thum. So it seemed compelling to take this object that was about death and destruction and make it into something that was also a machine, but one of beauty.”Ĭreating this watch ended up being a much bigger challenge than Thum and Zapolski, who left the company in 2012, originally imagined. Swiss watchmaking, at its highest levels, is probably one of the most refined things that human beings do. “The idea evolved from there … We focused on watches because they are also mechanical - but at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of things that human beings make … The AK-47 is not a refined thing.
I said, ‘I think we should try to make it into something that would live in the world, something that would be a part of people’s lives and that would get talked about,’” says Thum. “John was thinking about an art installation. They wondered: could they transform these weapons into something benign - even something beautiful? Photo: Moises Samanīoth Thum and Zapolski were concerned about the proliferation of assault rifles in Africa and wanted to come up with an idea to take AK-47s specifically out of circulation. Thum makes these weapons the raw material for something beautiful.
The curve of the AK-47’s magazine has become eerily iconic in images from conflict regions.Ī stockpile of AK-47s and other assault rifles. (An interesting watch: the PBS Frontline special, “On the trail of an AK-47.”) In April, Al-Shabaab gunmen used AK-47s in a horrifying attack on a university in Kenya that left 148 people dead. Because of its low cost, ease of use and long-term durability, the AK-47 has become the gun of choice for rebels, militia members and terrorists in Africa. While it has become one of the most widely used shoulder weapons in the world, in Africa it is especially prevalent. The AK-47 is a gun designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov for the Soviet military in 1947. “We were talking about the AK-47, and we both said, ‘We should talk about this more.’” “I don’t remember how we got to this topic, but the subject of security and guns came up,” says Thum. “Like a lot of people at TED, you meet in the hallways - and then they become people that you know and interact with for the rest of your life.”Īs the two talked, they discovered that they had both recently traveled to Tanzania. “We met in between sessions in the lobby,” Thum remembers. The idea for Fonderie 47 was born out of a chance meeting at TED2009, when Thum struck up a conversation with fellow entrepreneur John Zapolski. The watch is the company’s pièce de résistance. Thum calls the AK-47 “the most infamous and destructive gun in the world” and through the company Fonderie 47, he transforms these weapons into jewelry - rings, cuffs, earrings, necklaces and more. This watch was dreamed up by social entrepreneur Peter Thum, the founder of Ethos Water and a TED attendee. And each purchase funds the destruction of an additional thousand assault rifles in Africa. Each watch has the serial number of the weapon destroyed to create it displayed across the side. Before being crafted into a high-end timepiece, this metal formed an AK-47. This watch - which at $195,000 is no small investment - comes in a rose or white gold finish.
It’s a statement watch, the kind of piece that people inevitably ask about. A swirl of visible gears and carefully calibrated dials, it charts time in an unusual way - the hour jumps into place at the top, the minute is marked in a semicircle along the bottom, and the seconds swoop above. The watch looks both futuristic and retro at the same time. Through the company Fonderie 47, social entrepreneur Peter Thum has helped decommission 45,000 of these assault rifles in Africa. The metal in this watch was once an AK-47.