I hate late night meetings

 Last night was no different. As much as both Josh and myself avoid discussing touchy issues at midnight, this one could not have been avoided. And quite frankly I didn't see it coming.

"Why are you spending so much time promoting Seiko? You should promote our own watches. One day, in maybe 5 years or even sooner, Seiko will get rid of you and you will end up like any other discarded Swiss 'authorised dealer' out there."

Make no mistake - Josh is a fantastic maker, and without him there would be no NH watches. But our project is much more complex than just NH watch. In order to grow, we need locally trained, clever, enthusiastic young watchmakers. And my role is not to promote our watches. My role is strictly defined: to create an environment that will allow us to grow. From building a workshop and importing machinery and tools, to the training of new apprentices. Growth takes time. Growth takes patience. Growth needs money.

To blame a salesman for being enthusiastic about Seiko is like blaming a terrier for being enthusiastic about chasing rabbits. I've spent decades spruiking second hand Omegas, Rolex, and Breitling. I got nothing in return. Not even a lousy Christmas card. And while Swiss brands were doing their best to prevent me repairing their watches and providing an honest service to their customers, I have nothing against the watches themselves. 

Unlike the Swiss, Seiko does respect us - and always has. Most importantly, many of our customers absolutely love Seiko watches. At this stage, Seiko does not restrict supply of spare parts to independent watchmakers. If they ever decide to follow the path of Swiss megabrands, or to close our dealership - then I will re-evaluate my stance. But Seiko was always good to us. My grandfather sold Seiko, and my dad still sells Seiko. So will I - and so should Josh.

Seiko simply makes sense. There are only so many Omega buyers out there, and even fewer people who can afford a $20,000 sports Rolex. Yet every person you see on the street, in the food court, or on the bus to work, is a potential Seiko customer. Millions of people in this town alone could easily afford a brand new, retro looking, robust Seiko watch. Selling just two Seiko watches per week would provide wages for one full time employee. It's as simple as that.

Seiko is no longer a $250 watch. Surely there is plenty of room for improvement (better bracelets, expansion into ladies' range, better timekeeping) but as the prices of new watches are going up, Seiko will have more room to make even better watches.

Our watch - the NH2.1 - is no longer a watch. It is a mechanical piece of art. And art is extremely difficult to sell. Artists have no choice but to do what they do. They don't chase customers. They don't scream 'buy my art'. They don't beg. Most of them struggle until death and die anonymous and poor. That's art for you. But that piece of art which will outlive the artist, bearing the maker's name, will provide enjoyment and pleasure for generations to come. 

Our customers understand what our project is all about. Many of them are great supporters and will continue to support us, and help us grow. We are blessed because at the end of the day, it's the journey that matters, not the destination.                         

NH2.1 assembled last night

 

What can we say? We are glad it's completed, assembled, adjusted and ready to go on display. One thing is certain: J20/25 was NOT a labour of love. It was purely hard work, day after day, month after month. A project which squeezed out all of our enthusiasm, the last micron of our machining capabilities, and one which tested our ability to work together and not to bite off each others heads. Trust me, we were close. Why? Because we set our goals high: NH2.1 is our most complex mechanism yet. It features a dozen newly 'manufactured in Australia' components in timascus, titanium, bronze and steel. It features both watch parts and machining processes which have not been made or developed in Australia in the past. Most importantly, each and every component in J20/25 has been finished to the absolute best of our ability; form  hardening, particle blasting, polishing, anodizing to 'black mirror finishes'.  As you may know the NH series movement architecture has been based on the ETA oscillation unit and gear train. The NH1 kicked us off with the development of our main plate and bridges, the fundamental building blocks of the movement architecture. We then moved to the NH2, where we started innovating with material choice for these main plates and bridges, using Timascus, a 3- part titanium, patterned alloy. We also innovated from a technical standpoint, with introducing slight improvements to the escapement with the addition of banking pins, which the watchmaker can adjust manually to set the beat error of the oscillator.  The NH2.1 is a natural progression in the improvement of our calibre, with the development of an updated winding gear train. A new crown wheel, ratchet wheel, click and click spring, gave us the ability to finely tune the winding feel of the movement. Furthermore, the new crown wheel mounting design gave us the community to add some more Timascus to the movement! From an aesthetic standpoint, a major innovation was the development of titanium screws. These screws are completely made in-house, using Grade 5 titanium, commonly used in the medical field. Anodization allows us to experiment with different colours, outside of the regular ferritic oxide layer colours (straw, maroon, blue)- we can now develop extremely deep blues, yellows, greens and purples. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first and only time anyone has ever used titanium screws in watch movement architecture. Beyond all this, developing the NH2.1 pushed us even further - we developed our own unique tooth profile for the crown wheel to ensure smooth running of the winding system. We also focused heavily on hand finishing extremely delicate components like the click and click spring. For that reason, NH2.1 is much more than a watch. It is a "one of a kind" watch that a new owner can take to ANY watch boutique anywhere in the world - from Lange to Patek, from JLC to IWC, and the boutique staff will be impressed because the magic of timascus, the finishes, anodized titanium and overall design, is something they have not seen before. Yes, there are countless more complex, more expensive, more exciting watches out there - yet NH2.1 is simply a special one: proudly and unashamedly designed, manufactured, hand finished, assembled and adjusted in Australia, by Australians. Price $14,800

17/25 Manufactured in Australia

The assembly of the first batch of NH watches containing Australian manufactured parts has been completed and the watches have been delivered to their owners.  All except number 17.  Lucky last!   If you missed out on placing your order then here is your last chance.  45mm, titanium case, fitted on Trevor Jones' hand made Queensland alligator strap.

$6,900.  Inspection in person most welcome.

We will be commencing production of the next 25 pieces in a couple of months from now, with delivery anticipated somewhere in September.  If you wish to place your order and pay up front then the pre-order price is $5,500.

My apologies for really average quality images.