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Kobold ’ s new Carbon Diver Legend .

“ We expected some initial difficulties in producing our own cases but not the way things played out ,” says Kobold . “ We lost almost a year before production began . In the end , I took lessons in CNC machining and worked with my mentor to make the first few hundred cases myself .”
Having the founder running CNC machines isn ’ t necessarily a prudent use of time for Michael , yet Kobold credits the process with helping to perfect the Soarway case , which first entered production in 2002 . “ The first few hundred cases we made in-house were the most expensive we ever used for our watches , but the investment was well worth it in the long run ,” Kobold says today .
EARTHQUAKES In 2015 , three major events in Nepal cast a shadow over the small independent manufacturer . Two back-to-back earthquakes , the worst in Nepal ’ s history , destroyed over a million buildings and killed more than 10,000 people .
“ The earthquakes happened during lunch hour , so most people were able to flee the crumbling buildings , otherwise there would have been ten , twenty times as many casualties ,” says Kobold . These seismic events had a connection with Kobold far bigger than simply affecting its Nepal operations . In 2011 , Michael Kobold and James Gandolfini dreamed up a road trip from Europe to Nepal involving an old fire truck . The apparatus was to be donated to the Nepalese fire services .
Kobold and Gandolfini enlisted fellow brand ambassador Fiennes to join them on the expedition . When the U . S . ambassador to Nepal , Scott DeLisi , heard of this outlandish plan , he told Kobold that he could count on the support of the U . S . embassy to make the adventure a success .
“ Ambassador DeLisi asked if we could allow the embassy to use the fire truck expedition to alert the people of Nepal of a major earthquake that was predicted in the next ten year ,” explains Kobold . But another tragedy prevented the expedition from ever setting off for Nepal : In June 2013 , James Gandolfini died of a heart attack , less than two months before he and Kobold were set to leave for Nepal .
“ After James Gandolfini passed away , I went into depression for the first time in my life . I stopped taking meetings or calls with customers because each time the conversation would eventually steer towards Jim and I just couldn ’ t deal with it . I think that ’ s when certain employees sensed an opportunity to take advantage ,” says Kobold .
“ The one thing that got me back on my feet , a year and a half later , was to see the fire truck expedition through to fruition . But that gave the same employees an even bigger opportunity to take advantage . At first I was depressed , and then I was distracted .”
Kobold threw all of his energy into resurrecting the fire truck expedition , enlisting Hollywood star Malcolm McDowell (“ A Clockwork Orange ”) to accompany him and explorer Fiennes on the road trip .
The third major even in Nepal was a secret economic blockade that neighboring India unleashed just months after the earthquakes and exactly when Kobold arrived in Kathmandu to make final preparations for the fire truck expedition . Kobold has
40 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | FALL 2022