STEEL WHEELS
Jordy Cobelens, cofounder of the hugely successful Dutch watch brand TW Steel, is the first to admit that people technically don’t need watches anymore — to tell time, that is.
“You have a clock on your phone, on your computer, in your car,” he concedes during our one-on-one rap at Manila House in BGC. “So it becomes that people
want to wear a watch — not because they want to know the time, but they like it because it becomes a design element.”
Sitting in the Anahaw Room — with its combination of overhead fans and nostalgic Filipiniana mixed with exposed industrial ceiling details — you kind of know what Cobelens means. We’re steampunks by nature, not replicants: we want a bit of the old mixed with the new.
The young CEO of TW Steel points out this evolution of the watch’s original purpose in the 21st century is a great opportunity for watchmakers, because it means people look at timepieces differently. “Obviously that makes it more challenging, because you need to be very creative in your designs; but it also means people are now wearing watches for different occasions: they wear a suit with this watch, for a casual look they wear this one. So they do more matching to their outfits.”
The latest collection is Volante, a follow-up to the TW Steel Pilot watches and 10th anniversary Dakar Collection, with tachometer dials and textile straps suggesting an off-road driving adventure. With 22 models in either 45mm or 48mm size, the Volante Collection continues TW Steel’s fixation on all things automotive.
Three separate designs suggest a love and passion for driving: there’s a 3-Hand version with a Miyota 2425 movement; a Chrono in either 45mm sporting a 0S10 Miyota movement or a chunkier 48mm with a big-calibre 6S10 movement; and finally the Dual Time with a Seiko VD31 movement. In handsome and sleek steel-rimmed black, they come in green, blue, gray or black textile straps.
They’re also sporty, more minimal than earlier Canteen pieces. “Minimalistic design is a big trend right now,” Cobelens says. “What we’re seeing is that people like a big watch, but it needs to look sophisticated on the wrist. So now it needs to look slightly smaller. And I think that’s what the new Volante collection brings: it sits very nicely on the wrist.”
Though slimmer in design, the Volante retains the full-bodied statement of classic TW Steel pieces. The ads feature performance cars, in line with the motorsports platforms the company has sponsored in recent years — from the F1 sponsorship a few years back, to V8 Supercars in Australia and the Dakar Rally, and now motorbike events like Daytona DMAX Championship in 2014 and Yamaha Factory Racing for MotoGP last year. I asked Cobelen about his most memorable driving experience: being behind the wheel of an F1 racing car, obviously. “You think you’ve been in fast cars before, but there’s nothing you can compare to it. You get so much more respect for F1 drivers for how they need to handle such a machine, because it’s intense.”
This need for speed ties in with Cobelen’s relative youth. Now in his early 30s, he started selling watches at age 14 and he and his father, chief designer Ton Cobelens, began TW Steel in 2005. The company now sells hundreds of thousands of pieces yearly in 100 countries. At the time, Jordy’s other passion was DJ-ing. “From a professional perspective it was selling watches, but from a personal perspective, it was music.” Like spinning cutting-edge vinyl to crowds, “watches also make a personal connection — an extension of what you’re trying to express. A watch always makes a personal statement.”
That music side has even come back with TW Entertainment — the DJ company Cobelens runs with his best friend, which might pay a visit to Manila for an event next year.
Cobelens’ youth — in an industry of legacy brands — has been an asset. The active CEO has been to Manila a number of times, but has yet to dive (we suggested locations); he enjoys snowboarding, wants to skydive someday, and once signed up for a three-month Antarctica trek (which was cancelled). On the business side, he and father Ton sit down regularly and select designs for each collection (“We’re very like-minded”), reflecting his passions and interests.
“TW Steel is an extension of my personality. I could never do a real ladies’ fashion watch; that’s not who I am,” he admits, though the big watches have caught on big-time with women wanting to make a statement. “It is about making a statement, but in a classy way. You want to stand out.”
When TW Steel entered the “big watch” market in 2005, they wanted to create a more affordable version of the bold statement piece. The watches were an instant hit in the Philippines, and TW Steel opened its first Southeast Asian boutique here in 2008. Part of that enduring success comes from having the right partner here in the Lucerne Group (under Ivan and Emerson Yao), as well as the marketing savvy of TW Steel Asia Ltd managing director Alan Dacanay. And much of it was because of their bold, very eyecatching watches. “Twelve years ago, I would never imagine we’d have such commercial success,” reflects Cobelens. “Our intention was just to create some really strong, goodlooking watches at good price points for a select group of people — it was not something for everyone, perhaps. Fortunately, that select group became much bigger than we anticipated.” Go big or go home, as they say.
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TW Steel watches are available in TW Steel Boutiques at Alabang Town Center, Century City Mall, The Podium, Shangri-La Plaza, SM Makati, SM Megamall, SM North EDSA and SM Seaside Cebu.
TW Steel understands that we’re steampunks by nature, not replicants: we want our watches to have a bit of the old mixed with the new.