Cedric Bellon, a freelance watch designer in Nantes, France, had a vision for a highly sustainable Swiss timepiece that reflected his deep concern for the environment.
Rather than set up his own brand or commission a watchmaker to produce a prototype, he turned to Watch Angels, an operation based in Mendrisio, Switzerland, that specializes in what it terms “meaningful” and “unconventional” limited-edition projects it carries out under one roof, from design and manufacturing to sales and distribution.
But what most distinguishes the company from a typical manufacturer, according to its founder and chief executive, Guido Benedini, is its 80,000-strong community of enthusiasts and collectors, who are invited to weigh in on the design and development of its timepieces through social media and other interactions with the company.
Those community members who commit to buying a watch once a prototype is produced become what the company describes as Angels, a status granting them further access to the design process and a special pre-sale price. The purchases cover production costs, a system the company refers to as crowd-manufacturing.
The business model is sustained, Mr. Benedini said, by confining production to its facility, which houses around 150 employees and the machines and tools used in modern watchmaking. (Confidentiality agreements that some of the makers have with other brands prevented him from sharing details about the facility or allowing it to be photographed.)
“We can offer much more watchmaking and intrinsic value for the dollar” than by, for example, outsourcing production, importing parts and investing in expensive advertising campaigns, he said. (Most of the 30 to 40 watches in each of its 15 projects since beginning in 2020 have sold for between roughly 700 and 3,600 Swiss francs, or $900 to $4,600 each.)
The idea for Watch Angels arose in part, Mr. Benedini said, from the popularity of online forums, where enthusiasts share opinions and observations about watches, often discussing the smallest design details. This digital aspect of watch culture, he said, boomed during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Watches are becoming a real passion for people,” he said, “and they want to be much, much more involved.”
The company works with independent designers like Mr. Bellon, but also revives defunct brands — the reintroduction of the heritage Swiss brand A. Manzoni & Fils among them — and collaborates with existing labels on watches those brands might not typically produce themselves.
Watch Angels is now working on a dive watch with the Swiss producers of the Bühlmann decompression calculator. Past projects included collaborations with the Swiss watchmaker Frederique Constant and the American brand Waltham Watch Company.
A Strong Story
Mr. Bellon wanted sustainability to inform each step of his watch’s production, from the initial design concept to how parts were machined. And he wanted the finished product to be as Swiss-made and Swiss-origin as possible.
His vision for a tool watch (the industry term for durable timepieces designed for specific purposes, such as diving) aligned with what Watch Angels was seeking in a project.
“We have to say, ‘Yes, this is innovative; this has a strong story,’” said Mr. Benedini, whose past roles include chief executive of Alpina Watches and several corporate positions at Swatch Group. “The designer also has to be very committed.”
This means, he said, letting Watch Angels “test concepts and development directions” with its community, whose members react to design notes and drawings, and answer questionnaires sent on WhatsApp, Facebook and in newsletters.
Mr. Benedini said the company never asks its community outright what a designer should do, if an item should be, for example, red or green or whether they would buy it.
For Mr. Bellon, who also works as a freelance designer for the French brand Bell & Ross, Watch Angels offered a chance to test ideas related to sustainability in watchmaking, such as how to produce cases and dials in more energy-efficient ways, and how to make surfaces attractive without using toxic chemicals.
“It was like a laboratory; a laboratory in which to see what I could do,” he said of working with Watch Angels to produce the CB01, his first watch in 2020.
In keeping with what he called a sailor mind-set, the watch design was influenced heavily by the tools and machines on hand at the facility: “Like when you’re on a ship, you have to deal with what you have on board.”
Mr. Bellon said he was encouraged when members of the Watch Angels community embraced his ideas and the company agreed to adapt its production to his sustainability standards. “It is not easy to move that mind-set in the industry,” he said.
For example, Watch Angels machinists had to adapt to his insistence that the watches have dials made from locally purchased, 100 percent recycled and certified stainless steel — the material would bend during the machining process. (The result was a dial cut from two layers of the material to increase its durability.)
The finished product included the specially machined dial; a 44 millimeter brushed case; a repurposed Swiss-made Soprod P024 mechanical self-winding movement; and a naturally tanned leather strap.
Mr. Bellon has since released three series through Watch Angels, including one of his timepieces with repurposed titanium. His models, which have specially textured surfaces instead of the chemical treatments often used to impart a sheen, are prized by owners for their luxurious-yet-raw and almost naked appearance.
“I fell in love with the raw dial and the beautiful watch case,” said Tamas Miklos, a collector from Hungary who said he owned two Bellon models, “and especially how the light dances across the various steel components of the watch.”
A More Personal Connection
Mr. Benedini said he had seen shifting attitudes in the watchmaking world about luxury, with growing numbers of enthusiasts seeking a more personal connection to their timepieces.
While “luxury very much still exists in the industry,” he said, “there is now a whole segment in the market that is really looking for something else, something more meaningful. And I think that is the interesting umbrella under which we exist.”
Lorenzo Ferrazzini, a collector who has bought six watches from Watch Angels, wrote in an email that there “is something meaningful about wearing a watch that was created collaboratively, in limited numbers.”
As well as completing questionnaires about technical specifications and engaging in Facebook chats about dial colors and finishes, he has attended Watch Angels events where designers answered questions about their designs.
“That sense of community, co-creation and exclusivity,” he wrote, “gives these watches a unique value that goes far beyond specifications alone.”
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