The Collaborative Spirit of an Abstract Artist and a Watchmaker

On the picturesque banks of Lake Como, in advance of Salone del Mobile, fine artist Sam Berger walked through the elegant, excited crowd of a design debut. Strapped to his wrist was a mechanical watch unlike any other, the PR 02. Invented by his longtime friend and former roommate, Nelson Rayl, the timepiece—released under the label Perpetual Renaissance—featured a crystalline ice-blue case. Not only did Rayl design and develop the watch model, he also created the technology to produce the transparent form. The watch-wearing represents more than friendly support; it marks a shared creative undercurrent and fixation on temporality.

“We are both very philosophically minded. We have long conversations about the importance of being sensitive to the fragility of time—seizing moments, making sure that we are selectively attuned to our worlds so that we are able to create a certain way,” Berger tells Surface. This is a component to his artistic process, wherein he composes expressive, visual-enveloping painted pieces. “I very much try not to plan when I am going to paint,” he adds. “It’s when something emotionally evocative inspires me to do so.”

Berger and Rayl met in college. Though both are now New Yorkers, they lived together for three years in Santa Monica. And while both have intellectually stimulating day jobs, they pursue their personal artistic expressions by night. “In some ways, it’s a value-add because you have this latent period,” Rayl says. “You almost need that space in between for your ideas to develop over time.”

Both creators ruminate on the role of time in their lives and regarding their art. “With watchmaking, you have to make the product—but then you have to look at it for months before you fully decide how you are going to iterate on it,” Rayl explains. “It’s so form-based. You need to see that form in different scenarios, conditions, and light sources. When I first create a piece, I will immediately have ten iterations in mind. But after wearing the watch for a week, those ten iterations will all be different.”

As with most independent watch brands, Perpetual Renaissance was born from Rayl’s fascination with mechanical objects. “There are so few left,” he says. “If I think about the things that I prize most in my possession, it is my watch and my espresso machine. Those are the two great mechanical objects in my home.” It just so happens that both of those devices are predicated on temporality, as well.

Rayl considers himself driven by a quest for extreme perfection, and to satiate his own collecting desire. He found that the perfection he sought out was represented by a handful of independent brands, most of whom were prohibitively expensive. “In my mind’s eye, there was always a representation of what I wanted from a watch and the only way I could get that was to make it myself,” he says.

Each Perpetual Renaissance, which incorporates a Peseux 7001 hand-wound movement, is manufactured on a resin 3D-printer that Rayl built himself, specifically for this application—it was necessary as nothing existed to work at this small scale. Honey-like resin sits atop a glass surface. Super-bright UV light hardens it into plastic. Rayl works layer by layer. This allows for clarity and the smoothness of his pieces. The result is extremely light. Though the color can be manipulated, Rayl chose light blue for the way it catches light.

Rayl says he continues to find motivation by a desire to create beautiful objects. It’s the same for Berger. “The reason I started painting is because you can have this immediate, arresting, beautiful effect on people,” he says. “You paint and you share it with someone. You have that moment when you create something that allows other people to reposition themselves in life.”

Berger’s color palette captivates. It mirrors his effort to infuse his own inspirations into the canvas. “I paint mostly in acrylic,” he says. “I try to find moments of inspiration throughout the day. My day is very creative, in a sense, in that it’s around construction and working with thoughtful designers. There’s always something to play off of. Living in New York City, there’s inspiration everywhere. I try to do that through color.”

“When we were living together, our apartment became this haven where we were painting and watchmaking—doing these things that require discipline, thinking about these philosophies,” Berger adds. Their first project together, however, was a text. “From 2020 to 2022, the main thing we were working on with all our free time was a philosophy and metaphysics paper that’s 40 pages called ‘A Map of the Universe,’” Rayl says. Its purpose was to define the way they understand the universe—from a celestial level to the way humans interact with and perceive the world. They still reference it.

This acts as another unifying factor for two creators sensitive to the world, and grappling with their talents. “I always tell people that I wouldn’t wish watchmaking on my worst enemy, just in terms of how difficult it is to pull off. It’s almost an impossibility, which is part of the attraction to me,” Rayl says. Berger adds that right now he’s trying to paint as much as possible. And while there is a gallery space in L.A. that has four of his pieces, he wants to do a collaborative show in New York with Rayl next—with watches illuminated along with his visceral paintings.