We are back with another edition of ‘A Moment with’ and this time we are interviewing the founder of Jack Turner Watches. If you have missed our previous edition where we interviewed the founder of Vintro Watches, you can read it here.

The founder of the brand is Jose “Manolo” Martinez and the name comes from his two biggest influencers; Jack Patrukio and Winston B. Turner.

What is Jack Turner as a brand?

Jack Turner is a small micro watch brand that aims to cater to people that share a common passion for what watches represent in their daily lives.  The allure of a watch is mystical in a way because it reminds us of certain milestones reached, special memories but more importantly, serves as a reminder that our time on earth is  limited and that the time we spend  with the people in our lives should be precious.

What does it stand for? The Jack Turner Brand stands for those that enjoy the bespoke approach to watch collecting at affordable price points.

What is your vision for Jack Turner Watches?

The 4 billion dollar watch industry is dominated by 10 or so large corporations. Our vision is to be the dominant player in the $299 to $1000 price range. We want to introduce what many luxury brands offer but at a lower price point.  We also want to change the way that new watch models are showcased to the masses. I won’t go into more detail on this at this time but just know that we hope to  be the leader in this initiative so stay tuned.

What makes Jack Turner watches different?

We are a small shop that makes a limited number of pieces so once it’s sold out, chances are that we will not make that particular watch again. This ensures that the purchaser enjoys a unique Swiss made timepiece at an affordable price point and the chances of them bumping into another person wearing the same watch is very low.

Because we produce a small batch of watches, we get to inspect each piece before it is shipped out so we are hands on with our quality control.

We are one of the few watch manufacturers based in the USA.

Which is your favourite Jack Turner watch and why?

My current favorite is a new watch that we plan on rolling out soon called the “Tsunami”. This is going to be a dive watch on a rubber band. The reason that this one is my favorite is because it’s powered by Swiss automatic movement and I designed this watch all on my own from start to finish. We will be creating 50 to 60 pieces of this watch through a kickstarter campaign.

What has been your best day at Jack Turner watches so far?

The best day was when we officially launched our watch brand a few years ago. Thanks to the great efforts of our marketing team, we were able to reach a lot of people all over the world and increased our brands visibility in a great way. Because of this, a large portion of our daily visitors and customers are located all over the world.

What challenges did you face when creating Jack Turner watches?

I’ve been a watch enthusiast since the age of 10 and it really surprised my how many limited resources there are about starting a watch brand. We were fortunate to leverage the little bit of information we found online and in books but are thankful that we had great suppliers that hand held us through the process and continue to teach us the ins and outs of watch manufacturing.

Are you a creator, inventor or entrepreneur?

I would consider myself a combination of all three. I created  this company for a couple of different reasons.  The first was to cherish the great memories of my father before he was diagnosed with dementia. My father was an avid watch collector when I was growing up, he had a lot of great watches in his collection. I remember him having Longines, Bulova, Elgin, Gruen just to name a few. One day he caught me playing around with his watches and he told me that one day all of the Watches would be passed down to me. It was at this moment that I realized how important a watch is in establishing a connection from one generation to the next.

I invented the Jack Turner brand to pay tribute to two of the most influential people that helped me get my career started on Wall Street back in the early 90’s.

When you do something that you love and you have a passion for it, any monetary compensation received is just gravy. This is where the entrepreneurial part kicks in.

What is the future for Jack Turner Watches?

We plan on rolling out a brand new watch line in 2021.

We plan on doing collaborations with some of the top watch strap manufacturers like @47ronin_watchstraps and companies that specialize in making the best watch boxes for fellow watch enthusiast.

We plan on creating our own DNA in 2021. When you see a Jack Turner time piece, you will know what it is by it’s unique attributes.

We are exploring the prospects of incorporating smart technologies into our watches.

What advice do you have for people wanting to start their own watch brand?

Do it because you have a passion for watches and not for the money. When you put your heart into what you do, the efforts will transcend and resonate with your audience.

Work with suppliers that are patient and can cater to a small brand. If you build a strong relationship, they will take the time to teach you the ropes.

Use a crowdfunding platform to do your initial launch. If you don’t have proof of concept then chances are that you will fail.

Start small, be humble and spend your resources wisely. Once you go down this rabbit hole, you can wind up investing a lot of money if you’re not careful so spend wisely.

Use a crowdfunding platform to do your initial launch. If you don’t have proof of concept then chances are that you will fail.

What are your views on upcoming micro watch brand?

There are a lot of great watch brands coming out. With the emergence of smart technology in watches, it’s opened up the door for traditional watches to leverage smart technology so consumers can now have the best of luxury and technology. If upcoming brands can make this a focus then they will have a strong presence in  the industry.

This was our interview with the founder and one advise which stood out for us is; to use a crowdfunding platform before launching. It is definitely a great idea! With finance being very limited to new brands, you do not want to pour a lot of money into an idea which may not work and cause you to lose a lot of money.

We do have a review of one of Jack Turner’s watches coming soon, so do stay tune for that!

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