Please tell me a little about yourself. Where do you come from, where do you live, what are you doing a single day, your hobbies?
I worked for Ray-ban sunglasses for many years. That is where I met Loek and Jannieke. We were part of the sales-team. Loek and I both start working in the luxury watch industry later. He worked at Cartier, and I at Omega.
I later worked for Swatch, Timex and was part of the design-team that designed the watches for Caterpillar. In 2000 I left the watch industry and started my own company in the financial advisory sector. I sold that company in 2014 and moved with my family to Italy.
When did the idea for your own watch brand come up? What was the trigger?!
It was always my dream to create my own watch brand. When I was a young boy, I often was in the workshop of the local jewellery. My passion for watches was always a part of me. That never changed. When I met Loek again during a diving-trip in Liguria in Italy, we talked hours about watches. Loek has been working all his life in the luxury watch industry for a lot of Swiss watch brands. Rob van Herpt, the fourth friend was there in Portofino and joined us. Rob is the owner of Monsterwatches a very famous Seiko-Mods specialist. Sitting there, the four of us in the spring sun of the harbour on a table, we decided… we are going to make our own watch!
Tell me some specifications about the watch!
Rob has modified thousands of Seiko watches and he knows it all. So he was our guide in the process of creating our ‘ultimate diver’. Saphhire doomed glass, sapphire bezel insert, Swiss X1-Luminox, Swiss Sellita movement… we wanted to create the best watch. We designed our own watch case. With an ergonomic shape. The straps are amazing! Inspired by the shoes of Cristian Louboutin we wanted something that is unique for our watch. So we made the inside of the strap red. A strap of Italian made vulcanised rubber, not silicon. That would be too easy.
How was the name and the logo created and what exactly does it mean?
Our logo is the symbol of the PADI-flag. When divers are going below sea level to dive, the flag tells that there is a ‘diver below’ the flag. Wearing our watch with the logo feels like there is a ‘diver below’ Ligure is the name of the Italian riviera where we met again and decided to start this project
How did you come up with this design?
Jannieke is our designer. She is an artist and a famous graphic designer. She is one owner of the Dutch Card House Company and created some amazing designs. She asked us: ‘Show my your favorite diver’ So Loek, Rob and I send her pictures of what we like the most. She started drawing and she is responsible for our first series: The Tartaruga series. And you know what… tartaruga is the Italian word for ‘Turtle’ the shape of our case is inspired by that. You can find turtles in de Mediterranean sea at the coast of Liguria
Are you making the watches or you hired a professional watchmaker?
No, we did it all ourself. Rob was the technical captain of this ship.
Are you planning to make other types of watches as well or only dive watches?
We have some great ideas for upcoming projects. But first things first.
What do I or my readers have to do to get a watch from you as soon as possible?
We are at Indiegogo now with the Tartaruga series and let us find out how that goes. Initially we had planned to be on Kickstarter. But the last month we have seen that a lot of cheap Chinese watches are being sold far to expensive. Indiegogo has much more luxurious environment with design and luxury products being featured. This suits Ligure watches much better
And what do you want for the future?
I want to share my passion for watchmaking with people around the world. Out there, so many people want to do the same we did: creating their own watch. We want to share our experience and create a creative-playground for that. Let us together create your watch, just like we did. We will help you.
Thank you for your interview and for the unbelievable story! I hope you will succeed and your beautiful watch will be known everywhere in the world!
I am really happy that I could be the first one making an interview with you!
They are live now on Indiegogo, a few moments ago they started the campaign!
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