Bruvik Fine Timepieces, which claims to be the Norway’s only home-grown watch brand, is looking to expand internationally from its base at the northern edge of Europe.
Bruvik makes a major virtue of its Norwegian roots; incorporating water drawn from the country’s famous fjords into one of its watch ranges, and taking inspiration from its historic polar explorers.
At BaselWorld 2014, the brand launched the Arctic Ocean I and Arctic Ocean II automatics, which pay homage to Norway’s Fridjof Nansen, who won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°14′ during his North Pole expedition of 1893–96. A classic compass design appears on the watch face to reinforce the connection.
Per Sigurd Velde, chairman of the board for Bruvik, has steered the brand into challenging waters at this year’s Baselworld, by moving the company upmarket from the ceramic watches that he launched with five years ago, and into mechanical, Swiss-made watches that retail for around EUR 2000 in Norway.
Bruvik is expanding internationally, and already has distribution agreements in more than one European country. The UK is high on his list of markets that the company wants to conquer, and Velde believes that the Norwegian heritage of the brand makes it a powerful story for distributors and retailers to sell to their customers. “We need partners that buy into the story, and put their heart into the brand,” Velde told WatchPro.
“This is the right time for us to look at the UK. We are ready to support a distributor and retailers with all the tools they need: POS merchandise, the story, the pictures, the history. We also have the volumes necessary to serve the UK,” Velde said.
Bruvik’s expedition to foreign markets will also see it introduce the Fjord and Lady Fjord quartz range, and its ceramic collection.
