In his barn turned design lab deep in the woods of southern Vermont, Jason Wilbur sketches his next watch concepts — futuristic creations inspired by machinery, concept cars and aerospace style.
The designer, who moved from Los Angeles to Vermont in 2024, said he often drew on the quiet of nature to help him shape his ideas into reality. “When I dreamed of one of my top watch collections, LEO, I went up to the mountains and hung out in the Sierras to design it,” he said. “I always say you can’t see the stars from the city, and going to the woods or the mountains, I can see more clearly.”
A graphic designer, musician and former concept car designer for Porsche and Honda, Mr. Wilbur, 50, acknowledged that he had always been a restless spirit. He said he knew he would build what he called “works of art” under his own name one day; he just didn’t realize those items would be watches. Until he got the watch bug.
“I was fascinated by the gears, the wheels, the things that brought a car or a watch to life,” he said. “I’ve always been addicted to motorcycles, cars, spaceships and stuff that makes you feel like a superhero. That’s why I wanted to build Supermachines” — the label he now uses for his watches.
Adam Craniotes, the co-founder and president of the watch enthusiast community RedBar Group, said Mr. Wilbur’s industrial aesthetic was a key part of his approach to watch design: “His pieces are as much a statement as they are instruments for marking the passage of time. Indeed, that Jason Wilbur refers to his creations as ‘Supermachines’ speaks to the larger-than-life aspirations he has for his young brand.”
Mr. Wilbur’s first foray into watches began in 2005, when he designed a watch that indicated time using a patented system of belts and micro-rotors instead of traditional hands. In 2010, Mr. Wilbur sold the design to Scott Devon of Devon Works, who called the watch the Devon Tread 1.
After that, Mr. Wilbur began thinking about making watches under his own brand name. “When I first started Wilbur, it was about building really difficult things and bringing them to reality as art, or in this case, as an emotional jetpack for the wrist,” he said. “I knew that meant my art was never going to be for everybody, but I didn’t set out to make watches for everybody. I didn’t build Wilbur to blend in.”
In 2019, he and his wife, Michelle Christensen Wilbur, established the Wilbur brand.
“We took all of our savings, our 401(k)s, everything we own and put it into manufacturing a few hundred watches to get our name out there and get the brand started,” he said. “It was 100 percent about passion and authenticity, about giving people an escape from the mundane.”
The brand’s first watch, a 46-millimeter piece in steel, titanium or carbon fiber called Launch Edition, was released in 2020. “It was a starting point, what we could afford to do at the time, and it sold out quickly, but I had bigger plans,” Mr. Wilbur said.
During the pandemic, he designed two new models. The first, unveiled in late 2021, was the 41.5-millimeter steel EXP design, featuring a case back revealing its modified Sellita automatic movement. (The initial collections sold out, but limited editions in new colorways and materials have been issued.)
The second was what Mr. Wilbur has called the true start of his brand: the LEO, introduced in 2023. The acronym name stands for Low Earth Orbit, and the space-age design with constantly moving discs and bold colors stems from Mr. Wilbur’s fascination with stories about extraterrestrial life tied to Roswell, N.M., and Area 51 in Nevada.
During two years of research and development, Mr. Wilbur designed the watch, patenting its display and movement architecture, and his first caliber, a jumping hour movement called the Wilbur Engine One that powers its timekeeping. In his creation, the hour number is displayed in the center of the dial, and on each hour, the numerals jump to the next hour. He turned to the Swiss manufacturer Concepto in La Chaux-de-Fonds to build the movement.
The LEO has been available in several 50-piece limited edition versions, its eight-part modular case made of materials such as carbon fiber, titanium or black D.L.C. (Diamond-Like Carbon) and retailing for $32,400 to $39,995. (In response to the U.S. imposition of tariffs on Swiss goods, Mr. Wilbur recently reduced the prices of all LEO models to $17,500-$19,500, an offer he said would expire at the end of the year.)
Ice-T, the American actor and rapper, has a LEO JW1.5 in black D.L.C. titanium (and a Devon Tread 1, too) in his watch collection. “Out of all the watches I’ve had, these get the most attention because they are so different,” he said. “Jason is an artist first, and he thinks on an unusual design plain, and as we are moving into the future, we need designers who think differently. I think he is the watchmaker of the future.”
Mr. Wilbur now is taking orders for the Flat-Six, his newest design, priced at $125,000 and expected to begin delivery in 24 months.
He said the Flat-Six was the impetus for his move to Vermont, where he continues his one-man operation. “I am a little bit of a creative nomad; it’s all part of the process,” he said, noting that he had more space in Vermont but still was in the process of deciding where the brand’s headquarters ultimately would be.
The Flat-Six, which has its roots in a 12-cylinder engine concept that Mr. Wilbur worked on almost 15 years ago, has a movement shaped like an engine block. As its six pistons pump, they also jump (or turn) with each hour — displaying the single- and double-digit numerals printed on their sides. Minutes are indicated by a slide gauge positioned in the middle of the movement. And at the end of the block, a tourbillon, the element that counteracts the effects of gravity on timekeeping accuracy, constantly whirls. The entire display and mechanism, which is patent pending, was designed by Mr. Wilbur.
While Wilbur is represented by Watchmakers United in Geneva, About Timepieces in Edinburgh and two Burdeen’s Jewelry locations in Illinois, Mr. Wilbur sells most of his watches through the brand’s website, uploading short videos and emailing newsletters.
“I always wanted to invite other people into what I was building,” he said, adding that the brand now had customers in 30 countries. “I didn’t want this to just be about me. I wanted it to be about other people who refuse the default path in life, people who want to ride this crazy ride with me.”
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