My sustainable tool watch project is pragmatic and evolutive one.
I have to accept that today it is objectively impossible to manufacture a 100% sustainable watch at a price which is accessible to most and by respecting the necessary aesthetic, functionality and usability imperatives for a Tool Watch to be a real Tool Watch.
Producing a 100% sustainable product would be so expensive that it would defeat the purpose itself. My aim is to make sure that more people can buy a very sustainable product instead of buying non sustainable ones.
What is however possible, is to design watches that, from the start, factor in solutions that foresee sustainable manufacturing solutions and sourcing strategies. This is how I work.
My watch is a first, but significant, step towards designing watches in function of sustainable production methods. It is a humble and personal incitement for the watch industry to innovate in this direction.
My watch has been designed to be made according to 3 precise sustainability principles.
1.Sustainable manufacturing
The way my watch is manufactured has to be sustainable. This means it has to be produced in a country where labour laws, salary levels and social conditions for workers are the best; and where ecological rules for companies are advanced. Industrially it means that machines have to be the latest generation and the most efficient (work quickly and use less energy), that production is fast and generates low yield loss.
The highest level of in-house production is also necessary to avoid components travelling in between production plants and suppliers.
In terms of sourcing it means that wherever reasonably possible- meaning this criteria should not negatively impact the aesthetics, fuctionality and usability of the watch- sourcing has to be local or national and that production is done on sales so as to avoid the waste of stocks.
For what regards the conception and design of the watch it means that I have designed the watch in the most simple but efficacious way, for efficient and fast production.
2. Material cycles
Materials used should wherever reasonably possible originate from recycling or repurposing. Equally important is that such materials themselves are recyclable in a sustainable cycle.
For what regards the specific materials the principle is no plastic and no chemicals in the finishing and treatment of components.
3. Minimization of CO2
One of the biggest problems of the global watch supply chain is that it creates mind boggling transport distances.
The number of KM that a watch has “travelled”before it lands on the wrist of the owner is absolutely astronomical. Just multiply the number of components by the number of KM each one has travelled and you get to an astronomical number.
KM travelled represent CO2 released in the atmosphere this is maybe the most important area where the sustainability of watch production can be improved.
