The kickstarter adventures of Sólás - solaswatches.com

That isn't a million miles off actually - though I would say that my design thoughts were more influenced by the possession of my Beijing Beihai 3.0 (which itself was heavily influenced by Patek's Gondolo 5111G):


I personally particularly like how the case lugs had an extra "playful" twist to them rather than ending straight into the case and that's why I carried this element from the Beihai (and I'm sure that was inspired by another design at another point in time) into the Starlight.

The actual design reasoning I chose the triangular indices over rectangular was that the triangular indices represent a fada better than rectangles - at least in the context of the script used for the Sólás logo.

I think with classic dress watches - there's only so many ways you can present the hands/indices etc. and remain "classical" - hand on heart I hadn't seen that JLC (at least consciously had it in mind when designing the starlight). There definitely was no intention to homage anyone's design - but just to consider what would fit best within my vision of what the watch should represent.

https://www.watchfinder.ie/Jaeger-LeCoultre/Master%20Ultra-Thin/1288420/31800/item/152201?searchId=9362f748-0bab-4886-8906-a76d186a94ba&rank=3

Looking at the JLC stats - the date version comes in at a super nice thin 7.45mm with auto-winding - add in 1-2mm for an aventurine dial upgrade and you get to about the same as the Starlight - slightly dearer with a retail price of E7730 :P (I kid - that JLC looks beautiful - though I couldn't justify spending 7k on a 3 hander date watch to my family!)

As for production - the factories in Guangzhou are currently still closed - my partners have said to me that it's unlikely anything will be sent out this side of February now sadly. Good news is that everyone over there appears to be in good health and *fingers crossed* the quarantine measures appear to be working with a drop in cases (despite the big rise today due to a recategorisation of how they calculate infections). If all things remain stable/improve they expect factories to open around next week and start going through the backlog then.

893bet wrote: »

Really looking forward to this.

Might leave the stickers on and be on the antique road show in 30 years and be told the watch is with 2 million!!

(In thirty years time the price of a pint will prob be 100 quid!)

Ha - well you could always buy two - one for the safe and one for the wrist :P

Make no guarantees that it'll be go up in value - but I will be trying my very best to keep the brand alive and well going into the future (as long as I continue to have ideas for watches that make might cater to people's wants/desires).

Who knows - maybe one day there'll be a Sólás Sonata - an affordable minute repeater :pac:

Deleted User wrote: »

Any chance of a whiteface (at the risk of sounding racist.is that the correct term):o
Just purchased a blackface recently so wouldn’t mind something a little different- also what choice in straps?
In terms of the website, as someone new to watches, I did find myself getting sucked into the marketing blurb that went into the watch design- don’t underestimate how powerful that can be to a newbie (aka sucker :P ) like me
Watch looks lovely- well wear and best wishes with rollout

Hey there - thanks for the words of encouragement.

Answering your questions in turn:

1. With the dial material that was chosen (aventurine) there pretty much is just that one colour option - I have to say that it isn't pure black, but rather a deep navy/blue that if you shine a bright light directly at it (think sun at noon or your phone's torch) becomes a much more striking blue. Day to day on the wrist people will see it as black/navy though. Each dial will be unique though as the manufacturing process results in slightly different metallic inflections in each one made.

2. Continuing on with the Model T trend - right now I've paired it with a leather black band - the quick release springbars will allow easy changing to other straps. A lot of people who really get into watches often have their own preference of straps so I'm keeping it simple for watch no.1.

3. Blurb - glad to hear that it reads well. The design did go through a few iterations so I'd like to think that I tried to make each piece fit within the theme. I've tried to concentrate on putting things that would be valuable to people (even if people just entering the world of watch collecting) - so no 200m water resistance on a leather strap dress watch - also tried to make it "Irish" without going over the top with leprechauns, green everything and shamrocks everywhere. Classy not kitsch I guess

Everyone has to start somewhere - if you have any questions about watches this forum is very helpful (say if you needed white dialled recommendations )

Not at all - there's a reason why I've put it in soft launch at the moment - it's to get feedback from the more close-knit community here on boards before it's promoted in front of the Reddits and WUS etc. forums.

Any thoughts are always appreciated - here on thread or via PM. Equally I do hope people aren't disappointed if certain suggestions are considered but not taken on board - I think when trying to get a project like this off the ground you unfortunately can't be all things to all people

I actually didn't think I put in a lot of marketing blurb - so even pointing out where you feel the marketing comes in would be helpful! I can have a look and see if I'm coming across as layering it on too thick or something .


edit: By the way - I've started getting in touch with watch review sites to see if they'd be interested in providing a non-paid review of the watch - so far have contacted these:
Wristwatchreview.co.uk
TheTimeBum.com – inactive – last video 1 year ago
Wornandwound.com –
Fratellowatches.com – not too active on youtube anymore
Ablogtowatch.com
Just One More Watch (Youtube channel)
Random Rob (YT channel) -
Watchitallabout.com -
Watchreport.com

Are there any other affordable watch review sites that people like watching on Youtube? I might give them a bell to see if they'd be interested in providing honest feedback on the watch too.

Interesting to see the amount of sites that want to go through the sponsored article route (understandably they are businesses too).

Would have thought an affordable micro-rotor microbrand would have piqued their interest for an honest to goodness review

Did get some positive responses from sites for actual reviews too

blue5000 wrote: »

What width are the lugs? Can't see it anywhere. I think I might have to make an exception about not buying watches with a sub-second dial this year.

I suppose the virus has slowed things down a bit in China, hope it all comes together for you. I know it's designed in Ireland, but it would be great if even the strap could be from Irish leather, but alas we have no leather industry anymore.

How many will be in the first batch?

Hey Blue - indeed - I was asking on boards for bit trying to find some leather suppliers - seems like the only ones that are there are either making sofas or very bespoke fashion items like clothing. If you do know of anyone who isn't going to be supplying bespoke leather straps that cost 300+ euro I'd love to hear from you. Obviously on a price point Ireland won't be competing against the large scale industries suppliers like in China or even the rest of Europe - but my problem was even finding someone who could potentially supply maybe 10-30 euro(?) wholescale price straps for a 300+ piece order at a time.

It'd be a nice add-on for the future at the very least...

Or Irish metal casters who could potentially make the deployant? I think that's an even greater longshot than the leather (which I would have thought at least some Irish people/companies might be involved in).

Do you know what happens to all the leather that results from the by-product of the beef industry in Ireland? Is it shipped out to other countries for processing?

The way I see it there could be two possibilities - using Irish sourced leather, or having the leather straps made in Ireland. Obviously my irregular orders by itself won't be enough to maintain an actual company but maybe an interested individual or an Irish company which already makes leather goods.

Back to the actual watch: lug width is 20mm and 300 is the minimum I need in order to get the project backed.

Interestingly as I am aware of my tax obligations from my legal background I can only sell 420ish max - otherwise I'll need to add 23% VAT onto the watch price and I'm very keen to avoid that for backers. First batch definitely won't reach 500 for tax reasons.

Thanks for asking about lugs - will put that info on the site too.

Lorddrakul wrote: »

@ThirdFox, what are you talking about in terms of retail price again?

Love the black starlight dial.

It's interesting you mention retail price - currently the plan is to offer a few at 329, a few at 349/359 (not entirely sure yet - leaning towards 349) and the majority at 379 euro. At these prices (per my calculations and gosh I hope I'm right on this) - I won't make a loss even with the inevitable number of returns, people backing out, repairs etc.

The RRP of €549 wasn't plucked out of thin air either - I think it was realistically what I personally would need to charge for the watch at a minimum for it to be commercially viable i.e. if my living was going to be based on this rather than it just being a "passion project" of mine that I can do on the side of my real job.

I don't think too many will be sold at RRP prices but who knows - I will certainly have a few extra stored afterwards over what can be sold tax efficiently.

Heh - all on the premise that this project is successful of course :pac:

banie01 wrote: »

I'll be quite honest, given the lack of commercial Irish Tannery and Leather production, when even sliotars are being imported (albeit we do still have local manufacturers), the price of "boutique" Irish leather would already be an issue.

The cachet of an Irish Leather strap wouldn't sway my buying decision.

I'd look at an Irish leather strap for @€;80 and immediately wonder what kind of handmade strap I can get from ZicZac in alligator or ostrich for lower cost.

That's just me, it'd be a choice informed by cost/quality for me rather than looking for an Irish strap.

Indeed - there are commercial forces at play here.

I didn't know about ZicZac - but have bought two straps from Vietnam before. I see he's offering calf leather for $42. I'm not sure the Irish handmade strap would be much more than that actually (at least this time round). edit: Like you I had assumed that "made in Ireland" would cost €70-80ish - but pleasantly surprised to see that's not the case.

Like I said it's not about profits for me - just want to deliver a good product and fly the flag for Ireland (and especially if I can support a local leather goods manufacturer).

The only concern I have is that even say (for example!) a 40-50 euro strap would be too expensive for the crowd of people who are interested in a bargain price micro-rotor. Am I right in thinking that the sort of person who wants to buy a 379 euro watch would probably baulk at a 50 euro strap (even though that would be close to cost price for me).

Some interesting business decisions to be made for sure

A very, very productive meeting with the Irish manufacturer over the weekend. We've talked a lot of shop and it was a pretty fascinating learning about leather and how someone else started their own businessl

Tentatively (lawyers never like to get tied down to a statement ) €399 - you get a Horween Irish made strap on the watch - I think that's a great deal however you look at it (and €349, €369 for early birds):

1. for the knowledgable strap fans - Horween leather is something I heard about even as a non-strap enthusiast;
2. for the "love me I'm Irish" fans - it's a handmade Irish leather strap;
3. for the bargain hunters - it's a Horween leather, handmade strap that only added 20 onto the final price - much cheaper than other market prices I believe; and
4. for me - it's supporting an Irish company - hopefully rising tides and all that for the future.

What a difference a month can make...

Definitely didin't expect to be posting an update from my home at this time. Well it's gone from helping out Irish/Chinese partners during a summer "lull" to trying to provide proper work for my Irish leather partner during this cliff drop of sales. Thankfully my Chinese factory partner is doing ok - I've heard that some of the guangdong watch factories who manufacture OEM products for some well-known brands had to close/lay people off as the orders from those brands have just stopped. Incidently I see my pension growth has been wiped out :pac: (But that's small biscuits in the context of things).

From all indications this will be a bigger recession/potential depression than 2008. Absolutely the best time to launch a new watch brand eh? - but I have confidence in the product and it's also about not leaving partners high and dry (the factory probably don't care about +-300-500 orders but for an independent leather maker 300 orders could be rather substantial when all business has stopped elsewhere...

Anyway - this isn't a doom and gloom update. Instead I think it's all rather positive on the actual brand front. We've gone back and reworked some elements to make sure we're 100% happy with the quality of what we'll be producing - with this different economic climate I think delivering quality for the price will be an even more key focus for the brand.

So with that - let's deliver some good news - a preview of the strap (and an interesting "Easter egg" of sorts:


Having discussed with my leather partner about how we can identify the strap as a Sólás (and Irish) one we settled on marking the outside of the horween leather with the Sólás circle...but this isn't intended to be a flashy "show our branding/F1 car" style of branding - instead with the deployant clasp chosen - the tip of the band should be hidden almost all of the time and the branding will only be seen if the owner ever fully removes the strap from the clasp. A little Easter egg for owners to know that the circle is there

Keep in mind the photo above is a camera phone shot - just a behind the scenes sneak preview - the commercial shots will be a lot more "wow" hopefully

Hope all are keeping safe.