As a long-standing member of this forum, I thought I'd share with you a new watch I have made, called 'Atom.' and provide some background information on myself to newer members. ( Eddie permitted me to do this - Many thanks!).
First, some background on myself...
For those who don't know me, I've been a member of this forum since 2008, being at the time an avid collector - of mostly Panerai, Bell&Ross, and Bremont and some others. As I am a professional designer ( I owned a digital agency in Henley) My passion for mechanical watches lead me to work independently with Bell&Ross in Paris and later with Bremont who are just down the road.
With Bremont I shot the majority of photos which they used officially for two years ( From P-51 to Codebreaker) produced some digital work and set up and ran the 'Alt1tude' forum. It was via the forum that we created an LE watch, I worked with their designer which I then retailed to the forum members ( It practically sold out in 24 hours).
Like many people, I'd always dreamed of making my own watch, but it was working on the LE for Bremont that was the catalyst for me deciding to start making something for myself.
During mid-2013, I started to work on a single watch (Axis) which I designed over the course of 2-3 weeks, then got a small run into production, using two manufacturers I had sourced ( dial-maker, case maker - who also supplied crown and hands). The startings were very small and mostly funded by myself and a watch friend. I named the company 'Pinion' as I didn't want my name, but something connected with mechanical watches and designed the branding that would be used on all timepieces.
During the Summer of 2013, a proposed change in the direction of the agency ( I co-founded with two school friends) resulted in me making the decision to exit the company, providing me with some funds to put into my new venture. It was around this time I also separated any connection with Bremont, handing over the control of the forum for them. This was hard, as I really enjoyed working with them, but I knew it would cause a conflict of interest if I was also doing my own stuff.
I launched at SalonQP in 2013 (approx 6 months after starting the project) with three Axis watches which were received well, although I received a lot of backlash via blog comments and forum folk "It'll never work... will go bust in a year etc etc" but carried on regardless and managed to sell most of the short run of watches reasonably quickly over the course of 12-18 months.
(Axis Steel)
While doing this, I still contracted independently as a digital consultant, meaning that the majority of income generated by watch sales went back into more manufacturing and movement stock.
In 2014, I followed up the Axis with hand-wound models, Pure (Unitas 6498) and the Revival 1969 - which contained new-old-stock Valjoux 7734 movements. After that, I made an upgraded follow-up with the Axis II and more variations added to the Pure line over 2015.
(Pure steel and Bronze)
(Revival 1969 )
(Pure GG)
(Axis II SL)
(Axis II SL - decorated rotor)
Onto present day. So, currently my watches start at around £2,000 - I always wanted to produce a more affordable watch that would attract a new base of customers, so designed and developed the Atom.
(Atom)
Unlike the rest of the range, the Atom uses a Miyota 9015 automatic movement which I'm pretty impressed by the quality of build and beautiful winding - despite not being Swiss ETA the accessibility and price of these movements make it a great lower cost alternative. It's been incredibly tough, but with some tricks and techniques, I managed to get manufacturing costs down to enable me to come in at around £650 plus VAT for the price.
The rest of my watches are 42-43mm in size, with the Atom - I went with 41mm, 11mm height which works nicely. What I've done with all of my collection, is to produce a continuity in design, so the graphic language is present in every watch. For the first time, I used Guilloche for the centre circle which is slightly raised providing some texture.
Nowadays, I use four manufacturers who are Swiss or German based ( case, dials, crowns, hands ) and I only produce small quantities of parts ( between 50 and 100 at a time ) meaning manufacture costs more per unit, but it is a quality and authenticity I am satisfied with. Small details like manufacturing a unqiue crown and printing your date wheel / rotors add to the cost, but it's those kind details that I want to input into my models. I'm sure if I was doing 500+ models via a Chinese manufacturer and assembling / importing in Switzerland I could reduce the costs, but that isn't something I want to do.
(Atom crown)
All assembly/testing work is undertaken in the UK - and the Atom is water resistant to 100M. My straps are made by hand by an artisan strap maker, and any case finishing or coating is done here as well.
To make the atom different from the rest of the collection, I blasted the cases, which provides a unique look from the others, but it still retains some DNA in overall design of the watch.
My ethos with Pinion is to provide an honest and direct approach to the brand. No elaborate backstory or 'bought' heritage - which probably makes it less interesting to some but ultimately this makes it less of a draw for press who always like a story to write about.
I strive to make the design of the watches reference previous models, whilst introducing subtle new touches. With this evolving design and that Pinion will be five next year, I feel that it's staring to make it's own history.
I tend to try and avoid the whole 'English watchmaking' subject; I don't like cliché 'Britishness' however I realise that to attract customers, being a British watch company is something people seek out.
I also tend to avoid typical watch related tie-ins, especially sports-related sponsorship ( I couldn't afford it anyway - so instead, have started looking at Film and TV: Pinion is worn by the lead cast in TV series TAKEN and will be worn by a character in upcoming BBC show 'McMafia' as well as in feature film 'Nasty Women' which is currently in production.
Currently, I'm still doing contract design work so only focus on Pinion part-time. All the actual design / 3D / dial artwork, photography, website, marketing and selling are done by myself, resulting in many long days and weekends, fitting in alongside consultancy work.
I'm also following up the Atom early next year with a Titanium cased GMT ( rendering below). My plan is to produce both higher and lower cost watches as I move forward.
(Pinion TT - Titanium GMT rendering)
Hope you enjoyed reading my post, thanks again to Eddie for letting me share with you. Doing this is the most challenging project I've ever focused on, but it does allow me to indulge in my passion for watches more than I ever expected!
Piers
https://pinionwatches.com
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