A new Swiss-made watch brand from a London-based design studio will launch with Dezeen Watch Store in November.
Objest watches is the brainchild of Objest Studios founder and director Jared Mankelow and focuses on ‘beautiful designs and premium quality’. He has been working on the concept with a Swiss watch manufacturer since last year.
“It was challenging finding good manufacturers that were prepared to work with a new brand,” said Mankelow. “But we now have a great little family-run business on board. It’s been refreshing working with a company that is excited about producing our watches. Having produced many permutations of watches over the years, we feel this is a great sign.”
The brand’s launch models feature pebble-shaped rounded stainless steel cases in a number of different DLC colours and metallic tones and acid-etched geometric patterns on the dials. The watches will be offered with a two-year warranty.
The organic case shape and matte finishing combine to create a calming, minimalist aesthetic while strap, dial and hand colours serve to differentiate the various models.
Mankelow’s Objest Studios works with a number of clients, providing design work for Panasonic and Cambridge Audio among others. The former production team manager at Conran told WatchPro that his watch designs were inspired by working with Japanese clients.
“The pen hit paper and not long after we were producing accurate line drawings,” added Mankelow. “Being from a design and build background we understood the importance of getting ideas physical quickly. Within 6-8 weeks we were producing simple 3D printed form studies to understand the relation of case size to strap and how it might feel on the wrist. This process helped to define a specific set of parameters so talking with watchmakers became a little easier and meant the process has been a lot more inclusive.”
Design-focused online watch retailer Dezeen Watch Store will have a two-week exclusive period with Objest when the brand launches in mid to late November. The brand will also be selling directly online.
Ronda-based quartz pieces (RRP £295) will be available at launch with mechanical automatic models (RRP £495) using ETA movements set for release in 2016. The watches use K1 mineral glass and are water resistant to 100m.
Objest watches will be the first part of Mankelow’s strategy to create his own brand with audio products planned as well.
