The Wilbur 2020 Automatic, in black steel with a gray back.
Inside beats a workhorse Seiko NH35 automatic winding
mechanical movement with a customized rotor.
Exploded view
WE ENTHUSIASTS ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING A MOMENT IN watch-
making culture that has rabidly embraced the past. What was old is new
again with the next nod to an historical archetype only a microbrand’s
crowdfunding success away.
Case designs from iconic types are “emulated,” hands circling over dials
are cloned, and even the dials themselves are blatant and unrepentant
copies of previous types by established brands. In some instances these
“homage” types don’t even wait for the passage of time and blatantly copy
current Tudor, Rolex, Omega, or even Seiko models. Often, the major brands
themselves are dipping into the past and revisiting previous incarnations in
a somewhat more palatable redux of their own precedents, finding kitsch
value in what might otherwise be deemed an outdated look.
Don’t get me wrong, some of these are great entrees into a style or a
type at a fraction of the price of the authentic original. However, if mimetic
mementos are your taste in timepieces, you may want to go ahead and skip
100 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SPRING 2020
the next few pages.
ENTER WILBUR
Jason Wilbur is an award-winning designer with futuristic and
functional iterations in a variety of métiers. He’s designed products like
flying quadcopters, speedboats, acrylic guitars, underwater drones and
even aluminum shoes. Companies came to him to design these things be-
cause they knew he’d push the limits and throw convention to the wind.
This attitude is at the very core of the new Wilbur watches.
You may have seen his previous work as his horological muse first came
to life in partnership when Devon Motorworks launched the futuristic Tread
1. At the time, not only was Wilbur ahead of the curve with regard to the
bold façade, the Tread 1 also incorporated technology that was new to
watchmaking for tracking and displaying the time, as well as being almost
entirely made in the U.S.