I wanted to do watches fifteen years ago . Seriously . But I knew we had to build really fine watches , with exceptional Swiss mechanisms in order to be correctly positioned in the market . And that is an expensive proposition , not something you can dabble in with a few pieces .
I did some design work back then , even did some 3D prints of the designs , but never had the resources to push play in a credible way for the William Henry brand . About two years ago , as we came out of the pandemic , it felt like the time was right , so I went back to those designs and did a lot of research to find the right partners to bring them to life . I ’ m very excited to finally see a WIlliam Henry watch collection , as I have been after it in my head for so long .
Can you discuss how the process of adapting the William Henry ethos into watches as compared to some of the other items your brand crafts ?
I think of William Henry as the best part of neutrality . Our designs are both masculine and elegant , and easy on the eyes and in the hand . So that informed the watches as well - robust enough without being overbuilt or too big , burly enough while retaining lovely curves and intersecting shapes .
My intention was to start with a watch that is simply beautiful and tough enough for nearly any application . A timepiece that was at once timeless by design , and then augmented by our signature materials that have almost never been seen in watchmaking . This is a very different process from adapting WH to other categories , as watches are perhaps the most important and most collected expression of self among men , so the bar is as high as it can be .
Watch dials need to be very thin , precisely manufactured , and robust enough to attach to a movement without breaking . Can you discuss the specific challenges these finite specifications created in using your own exotic materials ?
Nightmare . That is the truth . We scrap a lot of very expensive material doing this , and we searched the planet for partners capable of working with our crazy materials in specifications this exacting . We live in a precision production world at William Henry , but hitting the levels required for a fine timepiece challenged everything we understand .
Tell us about the various corners of the Earth you source the various component materials used to make your watches as well as where they are fabricated ?
Forged titanium from Ukraine , superconductor from an abandoned particle accelerator project in Texas , Wooly Mammoth Tooth from the sea floor in the North Sea , Atlantic Ocean , and other locations , dinosaur bone from Utah and the American Southwest , and meteorite from Africa – a piece of a meteor over 1 billion years old that survived the fall to earth .
Those are the materials we are starting with , and we have many ideas for additions to the collection over time . Watches are built in Los Angeles by master watchmakers , using Swiss movements , dials from William Henry , and other parts sourced where the work is done best .
Are you limiting or limited in production capacity for the timepieces ?
Yes and yes . Each edition we are offering is limited to 250 pieces , each numbered . And our capacity , realistically , will only get up to about 125 or maybe 150 pieces per month in the next twelve to eighteen months assuming demand is there .
These dials from our exotic materials take a long time to make , and building a luxury watch with these materials is a challenge for even the best watchmakers . It has taken us eighteen months to produce the first 500 , and we ’ ll count ourselves lucky to produce another 500 pieces in the ten to twelve months afterwards .
Can we expect to see even more variety of watches from William Henry in the future ?
Damn I hope so . This first design , and these first editions , are the beginning of a long and deep dive into watches for William Henry . Watches are beautiful works of functional art , right where WIlliam Henry lives , and our specific capabilities to find and deploy rare and exotic materials make us unique in the broader watch market .
There are great brands and great products out there , and our original DNA allows us to create timepieces , and stories , that belong in the watch pantheon .
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