![]() ![]() When we finally saw all the watches in their entirety, we knew that we had to keep it on the Laguna Sand and Black Sand. Sandpaper texture is one I’ve always loved because in some lighting conditions, it replicates the patina on many vintage pieces, but is still very much its own thing. However, without the texture, it felt a little bit “empty”. Wes: It was a tough decision for us, as we know that textured dials are pretty divisive. What brought you to this eye catching texture, and how did you achieve the stunning outcome? The dynamism of its dial and bezel spring to life as the day progresses.įWA: On your new release the Contrail, you decided to have a very interesting dial texture treatment on two “Sand” variants of the four. We really enjoy having a fully blank canvas when we design. Microbrands already get a bad rap for “putting a bunch of catalogue parts together” but that couldn’t be further from the truth with us. We stay away from catalogue parts due to the limitations that come with it, and frankly it feels kind of lazy. We’ve always been good at working autonomously and have divided up much of the day-to-day responsibilities pretty well, but the one aspect of running Nodus that we always insist on doing while physically together is the design process, simply because we go through hundreds of different possible iterations of the design, which can be pretty time-consuming. For example, the Contrail was heavily inspired by the Sinn 104, Seiko SARB, and Rolex Explorer, yet looks vastly different from all three. From there, we bring up a bunch of examples of watches that fit that criteria just to get some inspiration. Every design usually starts with a very general concept such as a “dressy dive watch,” or a “cushion case” or a “sport watch for travelers”. ![]() We each have our opinions and ideas and some of them work better than others, but having a history of working together has made it easier for us to challenge the each others’ ideas in a way that isn’t offensive and helps build a better overall product. The design process for our watches is actually not unlike our writing process for music. Cullen and I started playing music together pretty much within the first week of meeting each other, so while we definitely learned how to work better with each other over the years, there was something very natural and special about our friendship and eventual business-partnership right from the get-go. ![]() Wes: I’m glad you brought up our previous experience working together. Do both of you sit down together and work through brainstorming sessions, or does one of you specialize in a field in particular that allows you two to work autonomously in certain aspects of the design process? Both of you have a strong music background where teamwork and playing off of each others ideas is key. Below Wes answered some of my questions giving a greater insight into their work and where they see their exciting company heading in the near future.įWA: Speak about your design process and how it plays between you two. Seeing it in person for the second time confirmed my regret as to not knowing about Nodus when this amazing watch was still available.Īnd as you can see, not only do Wes and Cullen make fine watches, but they are good writers as well. I highly recommend that you bookmark their site and follow their blog for it is informative on a level that is rare when it comes to this industry and its inner workings. While at their brief stay in Toronto, the two gentlemen behind Nodus, Cullen Chen and Wesley Kwok, were kind enough to answer some questions regarding their watches and their approach. While on their east coast tour where they were to meet several enthusiasts and customers from Toronto, Ottawa, New York and Boston, Wes and Cullen carried themselves with a gravity and purpose that gave an impression of two young men that are much older. This gave me a sense of relief for when ever we meet people who are making their own way in an industry that we are passionate about, we tend to get behind their efforts and do our best to support them. As Cullen and Wes just showed, they had an attention to detail and vast industry knowledge which dwarfed that of regular watch enthusiasts. Starting a new watch company in a world where such mechanical devices are obsolete and in an industry as challenging as it is today is not an easy feat. The textured dial is simply something else and needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. A look at their new and stunning Contrail. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |