What's In A Name - Part the Second: Lawyer Up!

Before going any further, I want to thank Brendan Cunningham for sharing an article from his excellent site - Horolonomics that provides a very well researched bit of background on the latest chapter in what has rapidly evolved into a true Watch Town "Shit Show".

As I had theorized in my post of exactly one week ago, it seemed that the intellectual property dispute that had thrown a bucket of cold cat pee on the Argon kickstarter project was most likely down to similarity of naming conventions between what some of my colleagues in the Fourth and Fifth Estates identify as the Protagonist (Argon) and the Antagonist (Aragon).

For those of you unfamiliar, the Protagonist is meant to be the "good guy" or "white hat" in the story. The Antagonist is, well, the opposite. But as we all have learned by now, life is not exactly black and white. I would propose that the roles in this little mini-drama have been confused by my colleagues (and many of their readers / listeners / viewers) and I will elaborate on that shortly.

But first, I draw your attention to Brendan Cunningham's article on the dispute which has now become a legal one -

https://www.horolonomics.com/2023/06/argon-trademark-dispute-goes-to-court.html

And this is where I feel that the roles of Antagonist and Protagonist have been incorrectly assigned. Put yourself in the shoes of the Aragon owner. You own a brand, you've put in time and money, you might not be the sexiest beast out there, but you've had successful Kickstarter campaigns. You may not be a household name in Watch Town, but you've pretty much played by the rules. In my book? You are the Protagonist.

Across the great expanse of the Atlantic, a pair of young men are working on a new watch design. They pick a brand name, and for better or worse (and this is giving them the benefit of the doubt), because there was not an EXACT match in names registered in the US (I'm not going to wade into EU or global registrations), they decide to try to register the name as is. Again, we will assume that either they did not do a deep enough dive when they searched the directory to learn that there was an existing brand known as Aaragon, or they simply assumed that it would not be an issue. Again - this is giving them the benefit of the doubt. And it is also an assumption that maybe, just maybe, the ink had not completely dried on an approval of their name registration here in the lower 48. Per Mr. Cunningham's article, the owner/ operator of Aragon initially filed a complaint with the USPTO back in April. This is the organization that determines eligibility to register a trademark or trade name in the US.  But wait, it goes deeper. In addition to this, Aragon's lawyers sent not one, but two cease and desist letters to Argon's owner/s. According to the suit that was filed (more on that in a moment) Aragon's lawyers got back crickets. And yes, that is a "pun intended" which we will also get to in a moment. With no response to what at that point would be 4 warnings: Complaint to the USPTO, complaint to Kickstarter, and not one, but two cease and desist letters sent from genuine lawyers, the current understanding out there is that Argon opted to not reply. 

And so this past Tuesday - June 27, Aragon filed suit against the (on paper) owner of the nascent Argon - Theo Auffret. Curious to relate, on pretty much all of their promotional material, written communication, interviews, Kickstarter and even their website, Mr. Auffret and Mr. Laidet have shared equal billing. Mr. Laidet is by many accounts one of the owners of Nivada Grenchen, as well as Excelsior Park, as well as the owner of a white label assembler / contractor. Also worth noting is that Mr. Laidet has gone on record as referring to himself as the CEO of Vulcain during an interview with Wei Koh of Revolution - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR6eKmxacgg&t=173s

Needless to say, it's all a bit confusing. 

Courtesy of NBC

But back to the matter at hand. Despite two communications going to Argon HQ in Paris, no response came. Nor, as far as anyone knows, did Argon make any effort at mediating a solution with Aragon. And owing to this, I would place their role as the Antagonist.

And then this most recent twist in the tail - communication went out to some of their Kickstarter backers that Argon would now be known as SpaceOne. Long story too late to make short, Kickstarter completely shut down the initial project and refunded all of the backers. I was forwarded what I assume as an official "Brand formerly known as Argon" communication sent out to some of their backers which was forwarded on to me by a few different readers. Apparently Argon will now try to fund their launch via direct backing (i.e. pre-order through their website). And the brand will now be known as SpaceOne. Let's just hope that name hasn't already been registered somewhere else...

And this raises even more questions, and reinforces my feelings that if there is a bad actor here, it is Argon: 

1. Did they wait for final confirmation that they had indeed secured the name before launching their Kickstarter campaign.

2. If they did, why are they changing the name now?

3. Did they make any real or sincere effort to reach out to the owner of Aragon and try to resolve the dispute?

As I said the first go round, the real victims here are the Kickstarter backers. Whether or not Aragon is willing to accept a sincere apology and settle the dispute is up to them. And lastly? Let's hope the guys at Argon have, or at least will learn from the experience. The final (as of now) outcome could have been avoided at several points along the way.

A New Brand And A New Voice - A Few Minutes With Susan Galvin

Having lived in Finland for four years, I am always happy to find another Finnish watch maker putting their work out to the world - this way via Australia!  

Courtesy of Galvin Watch Company

And now, a few minutes with Susan Galvin, the woman behind the Galvin Watch Company

James Henderson - How did you get started in watch making?

Susan Galvin - I was 22 years old when I went backpacking around South East Asia and during this trip, I started to think about my future career. I did a one year art course after High School and I really liked designing and making jewellery. My Dad saw an article in the local newspaper about the Finnish School of Watchmaking and he suggested that I should consider becoming a watchmaker. Since I really liked doing things with my hands and I appreciated the complexity of the mechanical watches, I thought I might just give it a try! 

In the watchmaking school you learn how to repair the watches rather than making them. However, during my last year I designed and modified a skeleton watch using the ETA 6497 Calibre. This project was so enjoyable that I thought to myself that one day, I would like to establish my own watch brand. 


James Henderson - Prior to launching Galvin Watch Company, what were you doing?

Susan Galvin - After graduating from the watchmaking school, I was offered a job as a watchmaker with LVMH UK. I worked there for three years and from there I transferred to Sydney. From LVMH I moved to Swatch group and worked as a watchmaker with Omega. In March 2020, whilst on maternity leave I was made redundant. I worked in the field all together for 10 years, before I started my own brand in April 2020.


James Henderson - What took you from Finland to Australia?

Susan Galvin - Ever since travelling as a backpacker, I was dreaming of coming to Australia one day. When I came across the opportunity of transferring to Sydney, Australia from the LVMH UK, it was a no brainer for me! Initially I was offered a job from Hong Kong or Sydney, but I chose Sydney. 

James Henderson - You've now got your first collection (as Galvin Watch Company) under your belt. What has been your best seller?

Courtesy of Galvin Watch Company

Susan Galvin - That must have been the Alku White. It has been the most popular option from the day one! I call it a flagship design of Galvin Watch Company's Alku collection. 


James Henderson - What is your largest market?

Susan Galvin - I was lucky to get a lot of printed press attention in the beginning of my crowdfunding journey. From the publicity I received a lot of interest from Finland and Australia. So I'd say the biggest market audience comes from these two countries. 


James Henderson - I am assuming that the name of this collection - Alku, indicates that this is just the first, and that there's more to come?

Susan Galvin - Absolutely! I am currently finalising the new design, before ordering the samples. I am not sure yet if I should do it via Kickstarter or not - the future will tell. I am currently working on brand awareness. I currently have a relatively small but very loyal customer base who I appreciate immensely. It seems they love my story and background - so I suppose I just need to keep spreading the word.  


James Henderson - What were some of the challenges you encountered getting started?

Susan Galvin - At the beginning of the process I struggled finding a reliable manufacturer with good communication skills. After several weeks of work and research I found the right manufacturer for my business. Good communication skills are so important when concluding the design process and importing products from overseas. 


James Henderson - What was the most surprising thing you (hopefully positive) that you experienced in launching?

Susan Galvin - The support has been just amazing. I received so much heartwarming, positive feedback from all over the world before, during and after my crowdfunding journey. 


James Henderson- How has the reception amongst the watch fans of Australia been to the Alku collection?

Susan Galvin - It's important to have a brand story. My background and knowledge as a watchmaker has definitely helped me become noticed in Australia and elsewhere. It can be challenging to design something unique as there are so many microbrands out there, especially with the Alku design being based on classic vintage dress watch design. I added 3 new colours at the beginning of this year and they new have received a lot of interest, especially the Alku Peach.

Courtesy of Galvin Watch Company

Making American Watchmaking Great Again...in Switzerland.

Okay,  a little back story and some inside baseball.  Following Hamilton, Waltham is perhaps the best known of the "original" made in America watch companies. Hamilton was slowly diluted and ultimately acquired and moved lock, stock and mainspring to Switzerland and is now part of the SWATCH Group. Despite what their crack marketing team would have you believe  the brand today is about as American as Nutella - you can buy it here, but you'll most likely go for strawberry jam or peanut butter. 

Waltham has had a much bumpier passage. It has been traded back and forth like a slightly damaged (not in mint condition) Spiderman Amazing Fantasy #15. 

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Sure, it's interesting, it has historical "what's it", but because it has been neglected, it is not going to fetch "new/mint in mylar" prices. A few folks tried to take whatever goofball idea that they had and slap the name Waltham on it and hope it would sell. And this has proven that there is more to a successful watch brand than simply a well-known brand name.

One thing that is known is that the Waltham name has been registered in one form or another by a few different entities, but the word around the campfire is that the actual rights to use the name in the manufacture and sale of watches belongs to one unique owner based in New York, and according to the TESS search system, it is M. Z. BERGER & CO.

So when news popped into the Tempus Fugit mail box this Boxing Day morning that the Waltham Depollier (or the Field & Marine) watch will be coming back - like Return of the Jedi (props to Mohandas Dewese - that's Kool Moe Dee to you), I was curious.

Here is the info just as it arrived -

Courtesy of Watch Angeles

The forerunner of the Dive Watch is coming back!
 

All dive watches watches owe their existence to the Waltham Depollier Waterproof "Field & Marine" Watch, the watch that started the waterproof market. 

In February 2021 a new chapter of the biggest story in American Watchmaking - Waltham Watches - will be Crowdmanufactured by Watch Angels.

Follow the project on our social medial channels and sign-up to participate.

And this is where, gentle reader, I have to admit that I am a bit, well, scoobied. Does this mean that the "Angels" at Watch Angels have struck a deal? Does it mean that the watch will bear the Waltham name, or the Depollier label?

And truly confusing, why use both names?

They are currently operating out of a website labeled: https://waltham.ch

And good news for all of you out there who believe in pixies - a truly nationalistic tag line to appeal to real red-blooded Americans -

Making American watchmaking great again.

And then if you read the top menu language, that apparently means - Making American watchmaking great again...in Switzerland.

Well, we will wait, and we will see.

In the meantime, for those of you seeking some interesting background on a real Waltham Trench Watch from a trained historian and actual archeologist, I highly recommend Dr. Jack Carlson's entry in A Man & His Watch.  Just promise me you won't buy it from Hodinkee ; )

Circular Watches

From ID Genève -

Courtesy of ID Genève

Every watch fan and most watch journalists get excited about the construction aspects.  But anyone who has toured the factory floors can tell you, there is a shit-ton of waste.

Courtesy of ID Genève

Now a little inside baseball for you, the majority of watch cases start life thousands of miles away from where they claim to originate. They typically start out as "blanks". Essentially cases that are the first step in case production. They arrive after a long boat ride, or via cargo plane but the point being is that 9 times out of 10, your stainless steel watch case did not spring to life within the cantons of Switzerland. Now as these cases start out as rough forms, there will always be a fair amount of excess that accumulates as they are shaped and formed.

Courtesy of ID Genève

So what if you collected all that waste, and re-purposed it? Well, that is what the people behind ID Genève are proposing to do.

The case is 98% recycled 4441 stainless steel collected in the Jura region.

The movements are re-furbished ETA 2824s.

Courtesy of ID Genève

Now regular readers will note that at Tempus Fugit we do not promote crowd-funding projects, and to be clear, that is still the case.  But this idea is a pretty interesting one, and once it has cleared its crowd funding phase.

Stay tuned!

Introducing Akrone

Now regular readers of Tempus Fugit will know that I am, at heart, somewhat romantic when it comes to watches from France.  I have only been to France twice - a 3 day get-away to Paris with Wendy back in 1999, and a day and 2 nights in Besançon back in 2015 -
Turning Right Again

And this past BaselWorld, I got a chance to finally meet some folks face to face from another up-and-coming French brand, Akrone.

Akrone is (at its heart) a modest effort by a small, committed group to offer something interesting and outside of the mainstream, but at a very competitive price.

As many brands coming up these days, Kickstarter was the catalyst to launch, with the K-01 in 2015 (if I have my chronology correct), which was delivered early the next year (2016).

Courtesy of Akrone

A ceramic case that measures 40 mm, it came with a Miyota self-winding (automatic) movement.

The second salvo was the K-02, a titanium dive watch -

Courtesy of Akrone

This one was 41 mm in diameter, made of (you guessed it) titanium, and powered by ETA's 2892.

Next up was the K-04, and if I am brutally honest?  I am kicking myself for missing this one -

Courtesy of Akrone

The case is of stainless steel, and measures a very sane 38 mm in diameter, but with a twist - the lug width is 20 mm.  The green dial just speaks to me.  The movement, once again, ETA's 2892.

Shamelessly borrowed from the world-wide info-web

As I said, I regret that I missed this one, but as is often the case, I was at the tail end of the conga-line on this one.  Needless to say, I have my eyes locked on Chrono 24 to see if one will ever shake loose ; )

Which brings us to today.  Moving on from the Kickstarter platform, Akrone is now up and moving on their own steam, and will be delivering a truly striking group of chronographs in the coming weeks, these are the K-05 chronographs -

Courtesy of Akrone

It is available in three dial variations with the blue with silver sub-dial (the Steve) being one.

Another option being the Old Timer (with a name that probably speaks to me a little too directly), and is one of the two that I would personally pick.

Courtesy of Akrone

Courtesy of Akrone

The other that gets the Henki seal of approval is the Outlaw Dark Side -

Courtesy of Akrone

Courtesy of Akrone

It is also available with a non-DLC coated case -

Courtesy of Akrone

And last, but not least?  

Courtesy of Akrone

A Panda.

The basic pertinents include a case size of 41 mm in diameter, that is made of stainless steel.  Hours, minutes, seconds and a bi-compax chronograph.  The movement is ETA's 2894-2 automatic with blued screws.

And for the poor sad souls like myself who missed the K-04, there is still an option out there, the K-04 Romantic Black -

Courtesy of Akrone

This is the SHIT THAT KILLED ELVIS!

As with the previous Kickstarter version, 38 mm stainless steel case  with a gold DLC finish.  The dial is what Akrone describes as a "black smoke finish", and it is DEAD COOL!  The movement is ETA's 2892.

This past March, Akrone could be found (by those with a map, compass and rescue search dog), in the somewhat ill-fated Incubator.  Let's hope that the brands that displayed there will get some real assistance and support from the BaselWorld organizers next year.  Having said that, I suspect we will all be seeing and hearing quite a bit more from the now Nantes based brand.  

Stay tuned!

The New Klokers

I am generally not one to wax on about a current Kickstarter.  But in all honesty the latest from Klokers is pretty beguiling. 

It is not every plucky little start-up that can have the type of response the second time around that Klokers has, but this is a pretty impressive launch, and clearly sends the message that Klokers is not a one hit wonder.  With 28 days to go the Kloker's Kickstarter has already raised just over $425,000. 

Courtesy of Klokers

Two additional versions have been added as stretch goals -

*  Warm Gray and Peacock Blue dial with a 3N gold plated 316L stainless steel case
*  Dove Gray and Warm Gray dial with 316L stainless steel case

I personally still have my eye on the black -

Courtesy of Klokers

And the red -

Courtesy of Klokers

Counting the minutes till next September ; )

You can, if you are so inclined, access the Kloker's Kickstarter 
here -

Kloker's Kickstarter
 

Enjoy your watches!

A Subscription Watch

from Czapek. 

Courtesy of Czapek

As they move onwards from a successful round of crowd funding, Czapek will be offering a subscription opportunity for their first series of watches from the Quai des Bergs collection.  It is available in gold versions as above, as well as in titanium and in stainless steel.  

At first blush that might seem, or appear like your opportunity to get a really great watch at a really great price.  That is until you examine what the suggested retail prices are.

For a gold piece the suggested retail price is north of $25,000.  Now I know what you're thinking - that's a gold watch.  Fair enough.  But then we get to the suggested price points for steel and titanium which is, well, a wee bit steep -

Courtesy of Czapek

A steel version like the one pictured above is listed at just south of 10,000.  My presumption is that these totals are based on Swiss Francs.  Now for those who participated in the earlier funding rounds, my hunch is that you will save some money, but when we start talking about ten grand for a stainless steel watch, it is a hard price point to swallow even with a proprietary movement.  And it is at this point where we really need to start considering just what it means when we say proprietary movement.  There are no shortage of firms that can make a proprietary movement.  Is it as inexpensive as an ETA 2824-2? Of course not, but it is several thousand apiece?  Again, no.

The idea behind Czapek is a fun one - something from the past brought back today.  But there is a time of reckoning that everyone is having to embrace now.  I think it is safe to assume that we'd all love to see this brand succeed, let's just hope that they haven't priced themselves out.

Help Create the Next Techné Watch

With a growing series of successful crowd funding projects, Techné  has launched their latest project on Rocket Hub and this is your chance to get in on the "ground floor"!

Here are all the details, straight from the source!

Courtesy of Techne

After successfully crowfunding a diving watch in 2011 and a chronograph in 2014, Techné is opening pre-orders on a Dual-Time Swiss Concept Aviator Watch.

Overseeing development of the brand Techné (www.technewatches.com), Swiss studio VANTGARD is hoping to bring this unique, three-year battery, Swiss Concept watch to production through crowdfunding. Available from USD 125 to USD 135 on RocketHub.com, the timepiece was designed to combine great looks with a Swiss-engineered mechanism. Funders can choose between 3 different straps, and each watch will be delivered in a nice military-style kraft box and will be covered by a 24 months Limited Warranty.

Sized at 39.5 mm (15½"), the case is forged in 316L surgical steel and receives a brushed finishing. Its diameter is perfect for men and not too big for women. Designed for water-resistance to 5 bar (static depth of 50 metre), it uses a hardened mineral crystal with a domed shape, reminiscent of the acrylic crystals of early 20th century military watches. All components of the quartz mechanism are engineered and produced in Switzerland by ISASWISS PLC before assembly in Asian Swiss-grade factories.

The development process spans over 12 months, and VANTGARD chose to work through the first 10 months before launching the crowdfunding, which only leaves 2 months before planned mass production. Design has been finalized, blueprints submitted by suppliers have been approved and production moulds developed. Leaning on the experience of their last RocketHub project, VANTGARD planned ahead of time to avoid any unexpected delays, so they are confident that they will meet the deadline. An updated time-line of this project is made available on Tiki-Toki.com.

If the funding is successful, mass production will be launched on the 1st or April 2015, and items will start shipping to funders by the 15th of April.

About Techné

Techné represents a return to the fundamental virtues of a watch: reliable accuracy, legibility under extreme conditions and rugged protection from the elements. The word techné is Ancient Greek for “manufacturing know-how”.

All Techné watches are characterised by a contrasting dial that is especially easy to read under extreme conditions and are manufactured to Swiss standards with high-grade materials such as surgical stainless steel, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal or tempered glass.

Available in cities such as Brooklyn, Huntington Station, Nashville, Hong Kong, Seoul, Brussels and Lausanne, Techné watches are designed by VANTGARD, a family-owned company based in Grandson, in the Swiss Watch Valley that stretches across Geneva, the Jura mountains and Basel. The watches are assembled in Asia with Japan and Swiss parts to maintain competitive retail prices.

Wednesday - Anything Can Happen Day

Okay, I realize that not all of you had the benefit of sitting in a Northern Ohio living room in the dead of winter watching 20 year old, black and white re-runs of the Mickey Mouse Club.  Moreover, probably not realizing they were re-runs because you had a black and white television!  But every day had a theme - and Wednesday was (and for me still is) "Anything Can Happen Day".

So in the spirit of that, ask yourself this question -
How would you like to own a watch company... or at least a stake in one?

Courtesy of DuBois et Fils

Then allow me to introduce you to the man who could help make your dream a reality!  This is Thomas Steinemann who recently took the reins at DuBois et Fils.

And this is not any old watch company - these are some folks with some historical "bona fidas" - DuBois et Fils has what is reputed to be the oldest watch factories - and a very long tradition of making watches as well, going back as far as 1751!

Don't believe me?  Check this out -

http://duboisfils.ch/en/crowd-funding/movie-dubois-house

Okay, so that's the old.  So what?  There are plenty of old watch houses out there.  

Well, in 2010 Thomas Steinemann became the owner of DuBois et Fils.  But instead of just going on as before, he and his team decided to take the time to really study the situation, and they temporarily ceased production and distribution.  And now they are preparing to re-launch in 2013 with a whole new approach.  There will be a somewhat new look and feel to DuBois et Fils including a new logo, a new marketing and distribution strategy and of course - new watches.

Courtesy of DuBois et Fils

This is not going to be mass production - these will be limited edition models only, fewer than 100 pieces per model.

So what?  What's this got to do with me?  I'm glad you asked!  

Through a "Crowd Funding" project, DuBois et Fils is offering different levels of share purchase options.  

The one clear benefit is the opportunity to purchase DuBois et Fils watches directly from the factory at a minimum discount of 50% off of the retail price.  So it would seem that membership does have its privileges.

Courtesy of DuBois et Fils

 Want to know more?  Read all of the details here -

http://duboisfils.ch/en/crowd-funding