Liam Payne finds time for new tattoo

One Direction star Liam Payne is covering his forearm with a huge watch tattoo.

The British singer, 22, has developed a love of skin art in recent years and already boasts images of a feather, a flying eagle, skull and roses, chevron marks, and Egyptian hieroglyphs along his arms, while he also has a screw inked on each of his ankles, and the number '4' on his left ring finger.

Now Liam is inching ever closer to getting a full arm sleeve after making time to visit Hesperia, California tattoo artist Nikko Hurtado at his Black Anchor Collective parlor earlier this week (begs14Mar16).

Nikko has showed off images of Liam's still-unfinished design, spanning the area between his elbow and wrist, on his Instagram page. The side-by-side snaps reveal a large watch face, with the time set to 11.56, and a number of cogs underneath.

In the caption, the tattoo artist admits he had no idea who the singer was, but he was impressed by Liam's pain threshold.

"Hey sometimes I don't know who my clients are until after my daughter flips out about it," he wrote. "Was an honor tattooing @fakeliampayne from #onedirection the last few days. Did a rework on his hand and started something new on his forearm. Tough dude sat like a champ."

Liam has yet to comment on the meaning of his new in-progress design, but one of his more recent inkings, of three roses on the back of his left hand, appeared to be a nod to his new girlfriend, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, who has a similar large design across her lower back. He was first spotted with the flowery art in January (16), a month before his relationship with the British singer was revealed.