Please introduce yourself and your team
We, Nicolas and Fabian, are German engineering students. We first met when we started studying in Darmstadt in 2010. Since then we shared our passion for sustainability, nature and design.
How did you personally get into watches?
For a good look, we think, accessories are very important. However, there are not many accessories a man can wear. So watches are an essential part of a modern man’s outfit. A good friend of mine told me once that for a good style the shoes, the belt, the glasses and the watch of a man should be a good match. Though, in most cases watches are more a status symbol than an accessory. That’s not why we were looking for a watch, actually we did not care about a status symbol. For us a watch is important to complete the style of its owner and hence is an important accessory for every man.
What lead you to starting your own watch company?
When you are looking for watches on the market you get overwhelmed by the wide range of different designs. However, if you look for a watch that is not only stylish, but also produced sustainable and affordable, you find nothing but wooden watches. That was something we could not believe. In a world where sustainability and a good treatment of the nature becomes more and more important, how can it be possible that there are no sustainable produced watches? That was the moment when we decided to found Styrman & Crew!
What makes a great watch in your eyes?
The basis for a good watch are the components. A good watch should have high quality components as sapphire glass and a swiss movement and should be water proof so that you can enjoy the watch for a long time. A great watch should moreover be produced in an environmental friendly way. Take our watches for instance. The leather we use for our straps is certified according to ECARF, IVN and Biokreis. That means that a sustainable and environmental friendly treatment of the nature is guaranteed in every step of the production chain. Starting with the animal-friendly treatment of the cows and the toxic and chrome free tanning of the leather to the careful handling of the used water.
Where do you take inspiration from?
Some years ago, I was looking for a new watch. I had a huge problem to find a watch that fits to every occasion. That’s why we tried to design a watch that’s just simple and fitting to every occasion.
What distinguishes your watches?
The idea of sustainability is one of the most important aspects in our todays life. This is what all successful brands should do. Take a look at the existing brands and products on the market. Did you know that Chromium is used in about 90% (estimates range to over 95%) of leather tanning operations worldwide? In contrast, we use bark and fruits for the tanning process – instead of toxic chemicals! We are the first watch brand that focuses on sustainability. We think that respect for the environment is the key for a sustainable society and therefore essential in every part of our lives. Another example is the box in which we store and ship our watches. We try to protect the environment by using recycled wood from old Balinese fishing boats instead of newly produced paper boxes. Most important for us was that our customers do not have to make compromises concerning the aspects of sustainability, high quality components and the price. Watches with this specs usually are much more expensive. Our passion was to make the aspect of sustainability and quality available for everyone.
What materials, movements are you using and why?
The choice of the materials was one of the most important steps of our journey. Each component and material has some advantages but on the other side disadvantages as well. Hence, we spent a lot of time by making our product simply perfect. The case is made of stainless steel and is 5 ATM water resistant. To ensure a case thickness of only 7mm, we use a Swiss Made quartz movement (36mm: Ronda Normtech Kaliber 784, 40mm: Ronda Normtech Kaliber 704) for our timepieces. Both movements have 5 jewels and are gold plated. The battery sends electricity to the quartz crystal through an electronic circuit. The quartz crystal oscillates at a precise frequency of exactly 32768 times each second. For long lasting pleasure, the watch is protected by a scratch resistant sapphire glass. Customers can select from 10 colors of our sustainable, perfectly formed, leather, with prefect seams and well considered details. Our watches come with a unique box that is made of recycled wood from old Balinese fishing boats – perfect to reuse it for accessories and no need to trash it.
How would you describe your customers?
Our customers are environmentally conscious and have a preference for simple designs and high quality and perfection down to the finest detail.
Visit the Kickstarter campaign of Styrman & Crew
