My journey into watches and horology started in high school when I was really into snowboarding. Nixon Watches was making waves in the extreme sports scene around 1998, and that's when I got my first watch from them. Over the years, I collected a few more without fully realizing the depth of the watchmaking world. It was by chance that I saw Nixon was hiring "watchmakers," which piqued my curiosity about this career path.

 

This curiosity led me to explore horology in Switzerland and Europe, and I discovered WOSTEP, known for its excellent watchmaking education. I applied and was accepted into their two-year course starting in 2009 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland--the heart of the watchmaking world.

 

During the WOSTEP course I quickly realized that my passion was in the manufacturing and making part of watchmaking, as opposed to the service side. With the guidance of my teacher Andrea and the school's support, I embarked on making my own wristwatch. I crafted everything from the mainplate, bridges, dial, hands, springs, a moon phase, power reserve, and fitting a custom case. This process taught me many invaluable skills needed to build a watch.  I recorded a lot of the process so please click here to learn more about my school watch project.

 

Towards the end of my schooling, I had the good fortune of meeting John McGonigle at an Irish pub. We got chatting over some beers, and he offered me a job. In 2012, I headed to Ireland to work with John. He's an exceptional watchmaker, and working under his guidance really helped me refine my skills as an independent watchmaker.

 

During my time there, I had the opportunity to work on finishing and assembling his Tourbillon, Tuscar, and Banu models. We also took on restoration projects, and assembled Christophe Claret minute repeaters. I played a key role in building the Maitres du Temps Chapter 3 pieces a collaboration watch conceived by Kari Voutilainen and Andreas Strehler. It was a rewarding experience being involved in the intricate assembly of these pieces, and was able to fine-tune some of the mechanisms with Andreas himself.

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After gaining experience with John and working independently for a few years, I sought positions at Armin Strom, Ressence, and Gronefeld. Unfortunately, due to strict EU visa laws, those opportunities didn't pan out. It was then that I realized if I wanted to advance my career as a watchmaker, I needed to forge my own path.

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So, in 2020, I made the decision to develop and build my own wristwatch completely from scratch.