VPC WATCHES and HOW TO CREATE A WATCH BRAND.
Anyone else been following Thomas Van Straaten's journey into building a brand and the perfect GADA watch?
Thomas knows his watches - he's been writing for Fratello for some time and has written a book on the vintage Date-Just.
He's put his money where his key-tapping fingers are by trying to build the perfect GADA and use it to launch his brand, VPC watches.
And he's been writing about the process on Fratello over the last 12+ months.
Read those articles here:
https://www.fratellowatches.com/?s=Building+A+Watch+Brand
Whether the watch appeals to you or not the articles are fascinating.
He goes into a lot of detail about everything from hiring Max Resnick and the design process, to financing, to end-link and bracelet development, to prototyping, to movement choice - even the font and how it came about ... and more.
No watch is ever perfect and if like me, the decisions made by watch designers / manufacturers sometimes leave you scratching your head, you'll enjoy following along with someone as those decisions are laid out - often with surprising frankness.
It's really good reading.
There's a review of the watch on Monochrome. Read it here:
𝙰 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜.
I just started reading his articles. Very interesting so far, thanks for the suggestion! 🤝
I just started reading his articles. Very interesting so far, thanks for the suggestion! 🤝
I thought it was worth sharing. I started reading them a few months back, then forgot about them and was reminded when I saw a review of the watch.
It's interesting having a look behind the curtain, hey? - especially when it's done 'properly'.
I thought it was worth sharing. I started reading them a few months back, then forgot about them and was reminded when I saw a review of the watch.
It's interesting having a look behind the curtain, hey? - especially when it's done 'properly'.
Agreed, and how he conveys his ideas impresses me as much as the ideas themselves. He has a knack for economy of words and writing in natural language, which is pleasing.
(Sorry, one of my degrees is in Communications Studies, just geeking out.)
I have seen the watch but will need to read this at some point. I like the design but I am really curious what prompted them to make a manually wound (with average to low power reserve no less) watch with a screw down crown in 37mm and then attach a bracelet where most of the links aren't removable so it doesn't fit people who are actually looking forward to something "smaller" like this. Then also there is a small seconds SW216 which has a wonky implementation of said "complication" that makes it almost as thick as a SW200 which is probably one of the reasons why that watch is roughly as thick as my Tudor Prince Date that has an automatic with a date function... Seems like an awful lot of obviously strange choices and misses for a watch brand that prouds itself on attention to detail to the point where they even had the font designed from scratch.
Really wish it had a push pull crown or an auto movement (eg SW300 to keep the thickness down). Screw down crown with a manually wound movement is a strange combo.
Other than that it's a slam dunk imo
Really wish it had a push pull crown or an auto movement (eg SW300 to keep the thickness down). Screw down crown with a manually wound movement is a strange combo.
Other than that it's a slam dunk imo
Not really my cup of tea at tbh - but he's doing some interesting stuff.
Agreed, and how he conveys his ideas impresses me as much as the ideas themselves. He has a knack for economy of words and writing in natural language, which is pleasing.
(Sorry, one of my degrees is in Communications Studies, just geeking out.)
He's Dutch too - I assume he's writing in his second language.
He's an impressive guy, the watch isn't really for me but I respect what he's doing.
That '1000 true fans' concept is great!
I have seen the watch but will need to read this at some point. I like the design but I am really curious what prompted them to make a manually wound (with average to low power reserve no less) watch with a screw down crown in 37mm and then attach a bracelet where most of the links aren't removable so it doesn't fit people who are actually looking forward to something "smaller" like this. Then also there is a small seconds SW216 which has a wonky implementation of said "complication" that makes it almost as thick as a SW200 which is probably one of the reasons why that watch is roughly as thick as my Tudor Prince Date that has an automatic with a date function... Seems like an awful lot of obviously strange choices and misses for a watch brand that prouds itself on attention to detail to the point where they even had the font designed from scratch.
Well said.
Missed his article series on this, but caught YoureTerrifics video and now going to read it all
The font is _beautiful_, not sure about the name/logo though. I’m not sure I’ve seen a bezel overhang the bracelet in this fashion before - pretty interesting. The more I look at it, the more I like it but not sure that I love it. Hopefully I’ll see one in person at some point and I hope VPC all the success so they get to create more in the future
I saw the episode Evan made on them. But thanks for the link. Definitely will read
Missed his article series on this, but caught YoureTerrifics video and now going to read it all
The font is _beautiful_, not sure about the name/logo though. I’m not sure I’ve seen a bezel overhang the bracelet in this fashion before - pretty interesting. The more I look at it, the more I like it but not sure that I love it. Hopefully I’ll see one in person at some point and I hope VPC all the success so they get to create more in the future
I'll have to check out YT's review.
Yeah, the bezel and the end-links are really interesting. The name is a bit clumsy though.
It's a very nice looking watch, but I can't help thinking 3k might be a bit much for the brands first watch.
Looks decent, but I can't see why I'd pick this over the Formex Essence. Similar case sizes and aesthetics, automatic movement, a flat crystal (which goes better with the overall case design IMHO), all for $1k less. Only thing missing is the on-the-fly microadjust on the clasp, but the Essence does have that 4mm extension link.
I’ve read the 12 articles, and I can’t help but feel excited about the creation of VPC, I have a hunch that this is the beginning of something amazing and can’t wait to see what Thomas and Max build in the future.
Regarding the watch, aesthetically I find it beautiful; and after reading the whole How to Creat a Watch Brand series, I can understand and empathize on some of the decisions and compromises that have been made in the design and manufacturing. Actually, I like it even more for those “trade-offs”, because I feel a stronger connection to the story of the watch and the reason it ended up that way.
I will be cheering for VPC and have preordered a VPC Type 37HW Delft Blue.
Maybe in 10 years time it will be quite the conversation starter…
I’ve read the 12 articles, and I can’t help but feel excited about the creation of VPC, I have a hunch that this is the beginning of something amazing and can’t wait to see what Thomas and Max build in the future.
Regarding the watch, aesthetically I find it beautiful; and after reading the whole How to Creat a Watch Brand series, I can understand and empathize on some of the decisions and compromises that have been made in the design and manufacturing. Actually, I like it even more for those “trade-offs”, because I feel a stronger connection to the story of the watch and the reason it ended up that way.
I will be cheering for VPC and have preordered a VPC Type 37HW Delft Blue.
Maybe in 10 years time it will be quite the conversation starter…
That's very cool.
I can't wait to hear about / see it at the end of the year.
Re. your comment; I agree. It's hard not to be impressed and excited by the watch after reading the articles. I'm certainly hoping he does well.
There's elements of the watch I love like the 1800 Vickers coating, the lume, the hand-set, the bezel, the end-links and bracelet look great too. There's other elements that aren't for me - I'd prefer the sub-secs dial to be colour matched and I need a date on my daily (I don't love a date comp. necessarily but I've found I miss not having it) and none of the colours jump at my either.
I don't like it enough to buy, which sort of disappoints me - it's the type of project I'd like to get behind and I sort of get the impression that the watch will be brilliant for the money. Seems to me Van Straaten wouldn't settle for less!
Congrats Morgan.
I have seen the watch but will need to read this at some point. I like the design but I am really curious what prompted them to make a manually wound (with average to low power reserve no less) watch with a screw down crown in 37mm and then attach a bracelet where most of the links aren't removable so it doesn't fit people who are actually looking forward to something "smaller" like this. Then also there is a small seconds SW216 which has a wonky implementation of said "complication" that makes it almost as thick as a SW200 which is probably one of the reasons why that watch is roughly as thick as my Tudor Prince Date that has an automatic with a date function... Seems like an awful lot of obviously strange choices and misses for a watch brand that prouds itself on attention to detail to the point where they even had the font designed from scratch.
FWIW, I have vintage manually wound watches with screw down crowns and never have given a 2nd thought to them. Never wished they were not screw-down. But maybe they all just had particularly well designed threads that were super easy/intuitive to use without any fear of cross threading. Unlike many of my automatic watches
Edit: also, how thick is your Tudor?
FWIW, I have vintage manually wound watches with screw down crowns and never have given a 2nd thought to them. Never wished they were not screw-down. But maybe they all just had particularly well designed threads that were super easy/intuitive to use without any fear of cross threading. Unlike many of my automatic watches
Edit: also, how thick is your Tudor?
It is 9.5mm give or take and has a cross threaded crown/tube 😅. As I am not the original owner I don't know whether I did it or someone else (I am quite careful usually) but either way it's definitely a major problem. Now that's probably the same as the Rolex part so it will be easy enough to get this replaced eventually and parts will exist forever but for a Joe Random specialty case I wouldn't be so sure... But even if you ignore the threading issue, it's just annoying and unnecessary to unscrew the crown basically every day.
That said, I went on the website and it says on the order page that there will be more removable links in the production variant. So that's at least good.
I was mesmerised and very intrigued by the idea behind the design and the features that comes with it. I visited the website and pre-ordered the Forest Green dial model. I’m excited and I’m looking forward to that launch day! 😍☺️😎❤️