A Fever Dream

Paging @varioeveryday ... what, why doesn't this work?

DM this guy https://www.watchcrunch.com/varioeveryday

The genie is out of the bottle. 🤣 My journey started when I wanted to switch career and choosing the watch industry was to rekindle that spark I had when I was a teen but I guess my story is secondary and to answer Melvin's question, if you have a burning desire to make something, go for it. Very often many of us will have a great idea and wondered what will happen if we pursued it. Will we fail or will we thrive? Nobody knows but if you've never tried, you won't have the chance to find out. Moreover most MB owners started their journey as a sideline and transiting to full time only when they feel it will work out. If you have the aptitute, dexterity and financial means to make it through medical school, I think you're off to a good start.

Think of the best case worse case scenario and decide for yourself. If you're not making a highly complicated watch and will be using a crowdfunding approach... U're looking at losing a couple of thousands (depending on how much you're willing to spend) and your time, but hey.. you still have a prototype 1 of a kind watch (great conversation starter) and you're still a doctor.

Everyone's journey is different. Some make a hit first product and score big. Some like myself, learn from simple watch project and build up the brand slowly with each watch model, always ready to do things abit differently and offer something you don't see often in the stores. Some fade out after their 1st watch. I think chances are, you might realise making watches might not bring in as much $ as a doctors would, unless you belong to the 1st group where they strike it big on their 1st project? Maybe you're doing this for side income and it may not be a bad gig? It really depends on what you want to get out of this new venture.

It's a beautiful journey for me with my ups and downs. When I was in my teens, I studied engineering but found arts & design interest me more and told myself I would rather be a known designer than a mediocre engineer that dreads going to work. I am fortunate to be able to lead a fulfilling life as a designer and bring food to the table for my family. Am I driving a Ferrari? No. Am I happy to be making watches? Hell.. yeah! Good luck with your venture and feel free to reach out to me.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Honestly, I live by the mantra: “Don’t turn your hobbies into a job… otherwise, your hobby becomes a job!”

I mean, people pay me to do things I hate (every soul sucking job I’ve ever had). Meanwhile I pay other people so that I can do the things I love (comic books, video games, drinking).

Don’t do it, man! Don’t kill your love of watches!

I would love to have a chat with you about your brand and the industry if you’re happy! Unfortunately my messaging service isn’t up yet being a new account

This is way cooler than the fever dream I had the other night. In that one, we were rolling out a new mobile device management platform at work, and I kept having to push number-coded apps to LeBron James’ iPhone.

I’d rather have been making watches.

In all seriousness, though, good luck!

I understand what you mean and partially agree. There are 2 sides of the coin and yes, for some folks turning their hobby into job will kill their love. Some folks solve the issue with partners. A takes care of design, B takes care of business. Or some folks will just farm out the part that they don't like to do.

“If you build it, they will come.” Good Luck! 😇

Go for it! When and if you grow be extremely wary of hiring family, friends or current colleagues. Develop a business plan that is flexible enough for the reality that opportunity can take you places you never intended to go. Under promise, over deliver, pay your taxes and have fun! Eventually someone may come along and offer to cash you out and if you're having trouble deciding between your hard earned profession snd your passion project well that's a good problem to have. I took the money, continued my career and then retired early. Cheers to waking up everyday and doing what I want.

Welcome to WC and good luck!

It feels like the proverbial 'every man and his dog' has started a microbrand these days; all with similar dreams and goals. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have a crack - of course you should, everyone has a right to do whatever they like - but I think it's a cautionary tale that it's a tough market. Hardly anyone wears a watch these days (relatively speaking), and of those who do, a percentage won't even look at a microbrand to begin with. So your potential audience is a percentage, of a percentage, of a percentage.

To cut through to that percentage, of a percentage, of a percentage, and actually have them interested in giving you their hard-earned $$$, you need to have something out of the box. If you've just done your own spin on a 300m diver, or a nice dress watch with a Seiko-esque paper dial, I'd jog on. Everyone's doing that. But if you have some really different idea - one example off the top of my head would be the kind of stuff Studio Underdog is pumping out - you might be onto something. Good luck to a fellow Sydneysider.

Singapore has a decent watch community, so I'm sure you'd get some local support and we can be part of your testing grounds. My unsolicited advice is to have a clear differentiation, not just an incremental tweak. Retro is done to death, please no more. Who is your target customer? What's the price point?

I agree with a comment above that were in a microbrand and independent renaissance right now which is great.

Good luck!

Fellow Singaporean and watch lover here. Not sure if this is the right place to ask the following question:

“What would be your brand’s unique selling point, and why would people stop and pay attention?”

We live in a world bloated with choice and options. Thought I would ask a key on-the-ground question that would likely come up in a VC pitch meeting.

Hey 👋,

I am new as well. So first I am just welcoming you and hope have lot of fun and good input.

Second … how cool is that idea but it’s even cool to be brave enough to start at one point with such huge project. From my side I can’t share any inside’s so I just wish you all the best 💪

If you like to catch up one day for a coffee or so I plan to travel next year to Australia again 🇦🇺🙂

For me turning my hobby into a job has been pretty great. I spend all day talking about, writing about, and handling watches. I work with a bunch of other watch nerds who feel the same way. But this is not how things always work out.

I'm not going to be rosey about this.

Sounds like a good way to lose money. To get a micro brand going not only needs a unique design to attract attention but also dedication to make it successful. Meaning that you'll need to spend years working at it, sacrificing much monetarily (for at least a few years before breaking even), spending all your time at it (forget vacations) and even then it could still fail.

The world is littered with dreams broken by trying to establish a company. I'm not saying it is impossible just the odds are against you and it will be immensly difficult, unless you are an overnight sensation like the B-52s to use an example from the music business.

If you are willing to take the risk, good luck.

Couldn't disagree more - I've been fortunate enough in life to mainly have jobs that started as a hobby. I've worked as a tattooist, motorcycle mechanic and currently run a vape shop.

As the old saying goes " a man who loves his job never works a day in his life"

@JaeBust @FlatteryCamp @DavetheFave @complication @Beanhead @errikwong @wrist.journey @MarkHackman @StevieC54 @Inkitatus A huge thank you to everyone for their valuable and honest input, you have definitely given me a lot more to think about!