Since Nadine Ghosn received a Rolex President for her 21st birthday, the jewelry designer and watch collector has enjoyed personalizing the watch.
She has replaced the original dial with a rose-colored one accented with diamond hour markers and frequently changed its straps. Last year, she fitted it with hands inspired by her Too Cool For School jewelry collection: a ruler for the hours, a squiggly line for the minutes and a pencil for the seconds.
This personal project sparked the idea of making her designs available to a wider audience, and Ms. Ghosn partnered with Austen Chu, the founder and chief executive of the online marketplace Wristcheck, to do so. Since late November, when the collection became available, prospective buyers have been asked to indicate their interest on a Wristcheck website page. It says the collection is “coming soon,” but the site says a concierge service follows up on inquiries to complete orders.
Offered in 18-karat yellow or white gold, the set is $6,800, including installation, for Rolex watches and vintage Audemars Piguet timepieces. Other brands may be customized, too, but there would be an additional fee for adjustments.
“The reason I focused on personalizing the hands is that it’s different and challenges what is usually done when customizing a watch,” Ms. Ghosn said.
Also, the designs align with messages she wants to convey: “The pencil symbolizes the idea that we are constantly writing our own story with every decision we make. The ruler is a playful nod to breaking rules.”
Wristcheck said the collaboration was the first time it had been involved in customizing components rather than entire timepieces and was the first time it had partnered with someone outside the traditional watchmaking world.
“Typically, customization is frowned upon,” Mr. Chu said, “because it’s often not done tastefully, with the right craftsmanship, and the watch simply doesn’t end up looking good. With this project, we aimed to flip that stigma and show it can be done right.”
Wristcheck sends a watch’s original hands back to the customer, so they can be reinstalled before any resale. “This way, buyers can enjoy the personalization without compromising the watch’s value,” he said.
Mr. Chu would not disclose sales results, but said he had been pleased with the demand and might offer a new design in 2026. “I just think this is something very refreshing in the watch world,” he said, “something truly unique and not often seen.”
The post A Designer Turns From Jewelry to Watch Hands appeared first on New York Times.
