Story
The story of this brand began about 10 years ago. I was living in Florida and I was working as a watchmaker for Honeywell. No, Honeywell doesn't make watches. I'll let you figure that one out. To be honest, I didn't know much about watchmaking and I didn't really know many watch brands. My boss at the time was a watch guy and he wore a Longines Comet into work one day and that watch really captured my attention. The use of discs instead of hands was fascinating to me. Having gone to school for design, my immediate reaction was to design my own. During this time I was introduced to brands such as Ikepod, Ressence, Leica, and Braun. All of these brands played a huge role in shaping the brand I would later start.
It wasn't just brands that helped cultivate this design idea. Architecture and industrial design played a very important role in learning about materials and structure. I'm not an architect or an industrial designer, but I thought there is a space where all of these ideas and materials can be combined to create something beautiful.
Thus, Alterum was born.
The Alterum story starts with a lesson in simplicity — designing less, cutting away the chaos, to simplify. Simplicity is beautiful. It is brutal, it is harsh, but when nothing else can be added or removed, it becomes truth. And the truth endures.
Our logo which is three ribbons flowing together in a triangle, looks very similar to the recycle logo, but it represents a continuous improvement through time. Constantly improving your craft.
At the core of Alterum lies a philosophy that values clarity over complexity, where every detail serves a purpose. Inspired by the clean lines and understated beauty found in modern architecture and early examples of industrial design, Alterum is a testament to the belief that less can be more.
With this premise, we set out to create a hybrid American-Swiss watch brand that expresses the beautiful, brutal simplicity of American design and the expertise of Swiss watchmaking.
Inspiration
The images below are icons in design and art. Each one of these pieces of design revolutionized the way people interact within the world. They changed people's understanding of how objects can change us. These icons made us dream. They made the world interesting, and they made the world better. These designs stood out not only because they were interesting and different, but because they were beautifully simple in their execution. The beauty of these objects, buildings and designs, lies with the simplicity of form.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York opened in 1959.
Norman Fosters Apple Park / Steve Jobs Theater.
Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings. 1950’s.
The Leica M3 designed in 1954 by Heinrich Janke revolutionized the way cameras were designed. He brought the camera into the modern era.
1952 the first Rayban Wayfarer prototype was designed by Raymond Stegeman and produced by Luxottica.
Steve Mcqueen’s classic, effortless style. The definition of cool.
Marcel Breuer’s B3 chair aka the Wassily chair debuted in 1925.
1966 Paul and James Van Doren open the Van Doren Rubber company in Anaheim California and sold shoes directly to the public. Sold 12 pairs on the first day!
These are the inspirations behind this brand. These are the products and designs that make us want to design differently and make us want to try to simplify design to make watches more beautiful and interesting.
