Bespoke watches for the e-commerce age
Urban legends: You can design your own watch on the Undone website — like the Urban models shown above — and have it delivered from Hong Kong in days. Photos by WALTER BOLLOZOS
If you think of personal style as a journey — one without a fixed endpoint because our tastes are always evolving — then maybe that’s one reason Michael Young named his watch company Undone. Because style is never really “done.”
On the company’s website, you order up your watch, mixing designs that evoke classic and vintage luxury pieces, for a fraction of the price. Better yet, the watches are assembled part by part — and you get to choose the parts. You choose the dial, the caseback, the straps and colors, and even add personal messages or images. Best part: it can be delivered to your doorstep within days.
Welcome to the age of the bespoke watch.
Young, the Hong Kong CEO of this smart e-commerce venture, likens it to Nike’s Bespoke iD sneakers, where you select all the details, stitching and materials online, even adding your own initials. “Our business is very internet-centric,” Young says. “Every watch is custom-built to your expectations.”
The brand comes from a different business perspective than the brick and mortar retail model: “You buy a lot of watches in a shop, you don’t get what you really wanted; you buy a Rolex but you wanted a red back; you’re limited to what you see. I’m saying, let’s turn this around. Now with the technology, we allow you to select online. We build it, we ship it, all within a few days.”
And the styles, offered at very comfortable price points (P14,800 to P17,800 for starters), are such that even serious collectors are having a look — and sometimes ordering three or
