How did we arrive here?

We're industrial designers and we love a challenge. The ideation part of our brains go into overdrive. Often we'll buy a product or immediately think "how could this be better?" or think of some other way to improve, hack, modify, etc. these items, sometimes they don't even exist in the first place BUT we all have a innate desire to improve the things around us, designer or not. It's just innate human nature.

The journey of this watch-adjacent brand came with the purchase of a Horage Supersede, a brand I only came across in the comments section on Hodinkee. At that time the watch was just a concept and much like I would like to do here (albeit much simpler) the guys at Horage detailed virtually every step along the way of the development of the Supersede over the course of of 16-20 months. The watch was conceived to be an "All-Terrain GMT" with some killer specs; micro-rotor movement, 60-minute dive bezel, 40mm diameter, 10mm thick, one of the best bracelet clasps in the bidness and a 12-hour GMT hand that can hide behind the hour hand (think Sinn UTC). It was shaping up to be the perfect sports GMT. So we ordered one...

14 months later it arrived. It was exactly as described. The design is wholly original with hints subtle details nodding to great watches before it. It wears nice and flat like the 16570 Explorer II and its simple batton indices harken the Oyster Professional but with some great design chops as the sharp integrated lugs/bracelet evoke a modernist take on Gerald Genta designs. These exact lugs designed 2 years ago by an engineer in Biel/Bienne started this company...and they didn't even know it.

Problem is the watch shipped with 2 straps, an integrated bracelet and an FKM rubber which both fit tightly into the 16mm lug width. I'm a hardcore nato-strap fan so a 16mm Nato wasn't going to work, hence why we are all here now. How can we design a flexible nylon style strap for this watch? This watch kindled the idea search out modern materials and processes to do a few things that push the boundaries in an industry that can be reluctant to change. At this point we found a Cordura fabric that was exactly what we were looking for. Able to be laser cut with a high degree of accuracy and with a solid list of features that work swimmingly with a bunch of degenerate watch enthusiasts like ourselves. The above photos show our first Supersede concept, complete with scalpel cut adjustments to get the sizing correct and our first batch of tan prototypes.

Laser cutting means we're not reliant on a nylon manufacturer to supply rolls of material in specific widths. Our initial Supersede concept features tapering so users get the same feel that Horage offers with their OEM options. As a bonus, you can reuse your signed hardware. Stay tuned for future products taking advantage for all the details we can make with this cool new process and as we take you on the development of what we think are some cool straps.