(This article by David Fickling is taken from International Watch, issue 55, pages 64-67, October 1999, Please visit the Gallery page for more detailed pictures)     "The decision to take up casting was a career move not a hobby", he explains. "I'd never consider myself to be artistic, so initially I cast only machined shapes. It never crossed my mind that I could make figures myself." His attitude changed when he attempted his first carving, almost on a whim. A long-standing fan of martial arts, Knight sculpted a medallion with the likeness of a fellow Karate club member, and was surprised by the quality of the results. From that point, the idea of creating a sculptural watch took hold of him, and the result was the K1 (K standing for Knight). Its essential characteristics were the sculpted bridges and cocks supporting the skeletonized movement and the unusual egg shaped case holding it. The cocks came in the form of little men holding the components in place, trying to steady the movement amidst the whirring gearwheels and springs. Originally conceived as slaves led on by a man with a whip, they soon became Greek gods inventing time, complete with scrolls, dividers and compasses; but the technical difficulties of both designs meant that the final version was far simpler. With figures like robust workmen operating a vast machine, it was exhibited at Goldsmith's hall. "When you look at the finished watch, it does look quite static", admits Knight, "but that first watch was tremendously difficult - it was like climbing Everest. After that I knew what I could do, so the new watch is much more adventurous." Indeed, it represents a huge leap forward from the first model. Firstly, it is much smaller - the figures are less spread out and integrated much more closely with the movement, it is also more complex, with the figurines involved in a narrative suggested by the very structure of the movement itself.     In contrast to the little men of the K1, this watch is filled with young girls and birds in flight. The main spring sits in a chariot pulled by a swan, supporting the lower jewels while the uppers are attached to smaller birds in flight. Girls run along either side of the movement, completing the bridges and holding the flying birds; at the top of the movement two more girls reveal the escapement from beneath a gilded cloth. The overall effect is magical. In contrast to the K1, whose movement had been at pains to hold itself together, this is a watch that is running away with itself: "it is as if the figures had picked up all the moving parts and are about to disappear with them", comments Knight. The cast figures are all of gilded brass, the swan standing out because of its reddish colouring; blued steel hands come in a spade-shaped design of Knight's own devising, and the chapter-ring is marked with large Arabic numerals.