Time flies – a not unfamiliar concept for watchmakers for many reasons. However, it still remains always a surprise to look back and realise how much time has passed since we started out on this journey.
2022 marks the day we officially incorporated as a business, turning a hobby into something much bigger. Today, we are selling our watchmaking starter kits all across the world and welcomed hundreds of watchmakers into our workshop to build their own watch with us.
The beginning of Watch Supply
Even before 2022, the concept of Watch Supply came along from a very simple problem. I liked watches and I thought how hard could it be to build something like this yourself, based on YouTube videos and freely available components.
So I set out without much knowledge, buying some components i liked, a movement that looked nice and some tools. Now, everyone who has gone down this path has probably had a somewhat similar experience: Components arrived, some in usable quality, some not - most didn't fit. Tools arrived – same outcome (to be honest, most of them were of bad quality). And on top of this, the instructions were not aligned to any components or available tools (and obviously there is no one to ask for help if you are stuck).
From this experience Watch Supply was born. Combine experienced watchmakers with higher quality components and tools to bring an enjoyable experience to everyone who wanted to build a watch. And off we go to start your watchmaking journey!
2022 - Our first kits were a start. A test to see if people would be excited enough to test out watchmaking kits at home. A cramped card box full of loose tools – while even then we focussed on delivering what you would need to build our kit, it was obviously a long way from today.
The early days - to be honest, not the best quality of tools (besides the Rodico). A good deal of the below has now been replaced.
2026 - Today we have one of the most comprehensive toolkits out there, including custom tools made for us such as our new unbendable steel watch hand levers, movement holders or the silicone case cushions with casing pillows. We are still using tools from other manufacturers if they fulfil our requirements (e.g., Rodico Putty, which can be found in any watchmaking workshop around the world).
Everything in our kits is now focussed on replicating our workshop – tool by tool, step by step. Ultimately, we want to have no noticeable difference between guests coming to our workshop or completing a kit at home.
Today our kits look slightly different – and what is inside is now so much better
Our workshop
As demand for our kits took off, we realised that we could make better use of our own workshop. Previously only used for our own watch assembly, it would be a great opportunity to allow guests into our world and build a watch with a helping hand around. So we set out to build our workshop into a guest friendly space, starting with 4 benches and a few models to choose from.
Now to no ones surprise – we improved on that over the years. As always we kept the parts that worked well and focussed on those that didn’t. Small Groups with experienced watchmakers to look over your shoulder and a range of components to pick from at the beginning of the seminar.
After just one year of seminars, we moved into a larger unit to allow us to expand and offer a greater experience.
2022 – The early days - 4 benches, a few shelves and a remarkable level of support from watch fans in the UK coming to our workshop!
2026 – a larger, open space with easier access between teachers and visitors and taking into account the ever growing number of components and designs available
And lastly – our watches
It may appear strange to leave the actual watches to the last part in this review of the past years. But reality is that we just had so many different designs over the years, there was never such a noticeable jump forward – just a continuous improvement over the last years.
Components and instructions always go hand in hand with the tools used, so it became a gradual alignment between all three over time. We found designs that worked well, so we found the right tools to assemble them and updated our instructions to explain how. From that point onwards, we just kept improving the quality of individual parts with every year.
Plenty of mistakes were made and in hindsight we could have avoided some scenarios where we ran into issues with suppliers – and we had a fair amount of parts being so terrible, we just had to write them off (makes great decoration though). Today our network of suppliers is spanning from France, Switzerland and Spain to market leading manufacturers in Asia to produce our components for us.
Our instructions are now comprising an introduction to watchmaking, a detailed textbook assembly instruction and step-by-step videos covering every aspect.
So what comes next?
We have plenty of plans for the next year – more designs to build at home, further improvement to our tool kits and of course special projects (explanation to follow!).
All the best from our workshop,
Felix
