We have talked a lot about new brands and labels but one thing we have not done much is to talk to the founders. So the New Labels Only team got together and came up with ‘A Moment’. This is where we interview the founder/s of these amazing and innovative brands and find out a bit more about make them tick and how they started their journey. To kick off our new segment, we are going to give the honours to Aggregate Watches founders.

Aggregate Watches

Before we start, let’s talk a bit about Aggregate Watches.

They were founded in 2017 by three co-founders; Hendson Lin, Jonathan Thai and Michael Yim. What makes Aggregate Watches unique is that case dial is made out of concrete! The Masonic watch collection re-imagines concrete through meticulous design and advanced engineering.

The founders took Aggregates Watches to Kickstarter and it was a great success. Their campaign was backed by 365 people globally and raised over $63,000! Since their successful campaign, Aggregate Watches have gone from strength to strength and are now taking orders through their website.

Now let’s go straight to the questions!

Who is aggregate watch?

Aggregate was born out of a shared passion for thoughtful design and well-crafted products. Unenthused by indistinguishable, generic, rebranded microbrand watches out there, we set out to create a unique and stylish alternative for the fashion conscious individual. By combining unconventional materials, meaningful design, and crafted details, Aggregate creates products with personality, that compliment the way you express yourself.

What was the motivation behind creating Aggregate Watches?

As designers, we felt confined in our day-to-day job roles in terms of creativity. So, we decided to create a company where we had the freedom to put out what we thought was interesting, unique, and exercised our design potential. Also, looking at the landscape of many watch brands popping up now, it was apparent that ingenuity, and originality was lacking.

What made you think to create a watch made out of concrete?

We had this idea while brainstorming and walking around the city. An idea of “paving our own path” while staring at concrete sidewalks and structures has a way of creatively inspiring one to experiment with the material. Also, having an understanding of fashion trends in the watch game, we knew no one was really looking at the problem of original style for watches the way we were.

Why call the brand ‘Aggregate Watches’?

Aggregate’s definition is the sum of disaparate parts. Not only does that represent the fusion of Mike and myself as co founders Him being engineering, and me being design, it represents our philosophy for the vision of our brand as well. We are experimenting with materials, and bringing them together to have people look at watches in a new way. Thus, by aggregating cement/concrete with stainless steel, we are creating a new category of watch, no one has really seen before. Also, it doesn’t hurt that the ingredient in concrete is “aggregate”. It’s a multiple meaning, aggregation of concepts, fused into one brand name.

What was the biggest challenge to get aggregate watches off the ground?

Getting a manufacturer to build the watch the way we wanted and the way we designed was the largest challenge by far. Also, being that we were funding this ourselves, we had constraints in funding also.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to share his/her own watch brand?

BE ORIGINAL, and do it because you actually believe in the idea, not just because you want to make money from starting a product. Oh, and hire good designers, if you aren’t designers yourselves =)

 What can we expect for aggregate watches in the future?

You can expect more watches, more straps, and potentially products other than watches as well. But most importantly, you can expect that everything you see from us will be original.

BE ORIGINAL

Jonathan Thai

So that it! It was really cool and also an honour to interview the founders of Aggregate Watches. Also we really appreciate it that they were really open and did not hold anything back.

We are not done with Aggregate Watches, we also have a review of one of their Masonic Watches coming soon and also an unboxing video. Stay tune for that!

We really hope that you’ve enjoyed the post and gave you a bit more insight on how to start a brand and the journey the founder/s has to go through.

We would love to know if our latest segment is something worth doing or if it’s not worth the time. Do let us know in the comment below!

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