From Sketchbook to Wrist with Andrea of Furlan Marri

Embark with us on a riveting adventure as we sit down with Andrea from Furlan Marri, a mind that transformed a sketchbook filled with grand dreams into the pulse of a unique watch brand. Through candid moments, Blake paints a narrative of his personal evolution, from revering his grandfather's Rolex to charting his own path in the world of horology. This episode is an intricate look at the birth of an idea, the hurdles of industry entry, and the kind of perseverance that turns challenges into triumphs.

Step behind the scenes of the tireless journey from concept to reality with a watch brand that marries the romance of vintage design with the ingenuity of modern technology. We share our trials and victories alike in launching a Kickstarter campaign that resonated with hearts and wrists around the globe. It's a conversation that winds through the corridors of creativity and community, where every detail counts and collector feedback shapes the future.

As we extend our gratitude to Andrea for carving time out of his bustling schedule, we can't help but feel the buzz of excitement for what's next. The episode leaves a lasting impression, like the hands of a well-crafted watch, and invites you to become part of the ongoing dialogue. Share your own stories, engage with the passion, and keep your eyes peeled for what the hands of time bring to the table in our future episodes.

Transcript

Blake Rea: 0:01

So welcome everybody to another episode of the lonely wrist. Today we have one half of Ferlin Mari, please introduce yourself.

Andrea Furlan: 0:12

Blake, how are you Good?

Blake Rea: 0:14

Good Thanks for coming on. We've been going back and forth for a while trying to get you on, you guys. You're a busy guy, so thank you for taking the time.

Andrea Furlan: 0:22

Yeah, especially at the end of the year, was crazy. So now it's a little bit Okay, but it will be more busy and busy, but that's good.

Blake Rea: 0:33

Watches are a busy business so obviously you're a few months out from releases and you always have to worry with your working with your suppliers or working with your manufacturing team. I mean, obviously, being in the industry, I mean I see how busy watch guys are.

Andrea Furlan: 0:49

So, yeah, the December is the Vacation holiday days for supplier holidays, and then you have other supplier holiday days in January, february, so it's a little bit busy in term. You need to validate everything for the also the year, so in December, november. So I.

Blake Rea: 1:10

I've noticed so. So obviously you and I have been communicating and I'm gonna be in Geneva in about eight days. Hopefully I'll be able to stop by and see you if you're not in Australia, but but yeah. So I I submitted clearance to get filming at all these different manufacturers, these maizans, and Everybody was like, oh, I submitted it during the holiday period, so I was waiting for people to come back from holiday, while sitting at the edge of my seat like, okay, where am I gonna film? You know, because we're coming out, we're doing some, some content with some some brands out there.

Blake Rea: 1:48

Obviously, we're missing my half of the team here. Justin is an emergency and so it's just gonna be me and you're rocking it out. Justin, obviously, is our head of the mic. I mean, he's the micro brand guy and I am kind of the the big box brand. You know, I work with the Vashron and Langa and Panerai and JLC and I think I will be able to hopefully fill the shoes. But so let's kick it off. Tell us about Ferlin Mar, I know as you and in your, your best buddy, you guys started up the, the project and Tell us about the humble beginnings. You know, tell us how you guys came up with the idea and tell us where, where the passion started from.

Andrea Furlan: 2:37

So basically it's been. It's the third year now this year. Nice Adventure. Since the beginning that there was, there were many, many Reliefs extra, so we are quite really happy with what, what, where it goes. So Two years ago we were alone in the To begin the journey together with Hamad, and now we are six people and a little bit more of a consultant as well, here in Geneva. So it grows like three months ago were two and now we are six people, because there is many things to do in terms of content, design as well, but Logistic, that there is much more involved wants to do and to the work to do.

Andrea Furlan: 3:29

But the beginning, if I need to start from the beginning. So look, I am passionate from watches since 15 years old almost. I wanted to be a Car designer the beginning, for you drew a lot of cars etc. I even did some German school to go to Fort Seim in Germany to maybe the possibility to do a design school in Germany, car design school. But also it was really I appreciate a lot to my grandfather watch which was a Rolex. He never took it off. He didn't want to to take it off, except for when I was there to eat them, the, the pasta with my, my grandmother from Italy and him, and he took it off and I designed and I sketch his watch. So I started to see the details etc. It was, oh yeah, I was 15 years old. So since that I really fall in love with them, the watchers at all. I think I was like 12 years old even.

Andrea Furlan: 4:34

But at 15 I wanted to do some I Search in Geneva to do some internship. We started that like summer vacation. I did some internship with you blow. It was the beginning. You blow and also HD3 complication. It was with the York is a great designer who did the break a marine and HD3 complication. It was an easy question as well. It was. There were also Fabrice gonaire designer, watch designer and the Valerie, which now lead the Geneva design school of Of watches, the cold, the head in Geneva and it was great to to be in this kind of world and because it's really like Difficult to enter in this world, it was difficult also.

Andrea Furlan: 5:33

I remember in the Basel world I was sitting there in front of them, the booth, waiting for people, for the CEO etc to go out to From the booth with my you know CV, with my paper, with my sketch etc. To ask for internship and it was quite difficult, I remember, but I I get some like about 10 internship in the watch industry. So it was great to be able to, to sketch etc and to meet great people like people who don't say just the Go to see in another place, etc. I think they were really kind etc and they gave a chance since the beginning. So I remember Major Claude Biver as well. I was like 15 years old and I remember I Really small brand called Sarkar with Christian Karnashas is the lead designer there, really, really and nice guy who just gave the chance to a young, young student the beginning.

Andrea Furlan: 6:46

So it has, it has opened my mind to this world and it was really great to, to, to, to go further in this and this path in this way, you know, to to, to be able to sketch again and again and to try to do my, my, my job, you know. And after the, the general school, because I didn't, I didn't do a General design school at the beginning, just general school, and then at it was at 15 years, at 15 or 18 years old, not 18 years old I did called et al, which is Design, industrial design school in in a Switzerland, in Los Angeles, which is great for product design, industrial design. So we did some internship, we had the chance to work with big brands and the designer, like really famous designer, actor as well, etc. To you know, this kind of fun, not only design but also photography, graphic designer, typography. It was really to dive into this.

Andrea Furlan: 7:59

Yeah, to this new world for me and in my head I was. I always had this kind of music, you know, the watch industry music In my head, and so it was a great experience also to open my mind to another world which is the industrial design, which help now to to design and differently, to like more details, more maybe, to not focus in the product but also think about what is, you know, around the product. So we come out with we, we design a lot, so we sketch by hand it's not just a computer Sketch but really by hand first, then 2d, 3d and Photography at one and to think about around the product, packaging, experience, etc. Everything around. So I think it helped me a lot to to start this, this brand, almost alone In terms of of the team you know, no, no design agency or photography agency at the beginning. So, yeah, it was great to to be more open, you know, in terms of not focusing to the watch world first, but to be more open in the beginning.

Blake Rea: 9:22

So it started with the concept and then it started with translating that concept into something visual and Then, if I understood you correctly, it sounds like you essentially were kind of bringing that around to get like hey, here's what I've designed, right? Is that the accurate? Okay, here's the design I want to bring into into life is.

Andrea Furlan: 9:46

Yeah, we are always with our mom. We have like those are not projects, and then just we think we speak a lot and then we we put that on the paper and we say, okay, I'm not this year for, for example, this product we have, we have a sketch, a lot of Project for the years to come, like almost three to four years to come as project with. But I know we are, we want to do Things really fast, so that's why they've been three, less than three years. We, we did this kind of thing. We could do that because we can do many things internally, for example the Photography, the graphic to validate things, even the some 3d, 2d prototyping, extra rendering. We can do that here. So it's really fast for us to to validate a project.

Andrea Furlan: 10:38

But then it was difficult to to make it real because we were me alone, the Geneva Amade in the Middle East. It was kind of difficult to make know each step. There is also the logistic behind. It's huge. There is them after sales service. We need to to to bring something strong. So it's and it's really important, but only the product, but to think about but is yeah, around the the customer, and then just not that, but to be able to, to tell a story and to, to, to write and to take care of the community, to build this kind of brand culture. It's really really nice, when almost more important than and the first idea. So, and it was a nice adventure and yeah, but basically the first, we had a project with Ahmad before our Kickstarter. It was a perpetual calendar, very complicated Things. We were also thinking about just complication, like chronographs, mechanical, etc. But we were a little bit dreaming because it was really expensive with the development and so, no, as a student, design students, you, you, then you, you don't know this, this, this kind of stuff, and the kind of what, what is what, what is what? What is the cost, the real cost of things. So, and it was covered, because I, I lived in Asia, in China, for a few months. I came back and when I came back, covered, he took everyone. So we decided with a map because we couldn't see each other. We were blocked, like in our countries. I was in my parents house and in my bedroom I'm at also there and we were thinking like what we do? Because it's a really yeah, it's, it's really difficult, and so we, we wrote, read a lot of book. I read a lot of book about digital etc. I heard about Kickstarter solution, so I dive, dive, dive into that Months and months and to think about this and to be able to let's start something digital. So it was the beginning of the, the first step. What was this? And the reflection around this, and Obviously, I was super passionate also about vintage watches.

Andrea Furlan: 13:20

I think there is something in the vintage that's and it's totally different. Yeah, it's really strong. There is stories behind there that you can. It's much more stronger, like the story with my grandfather is, yes, I vintage Rolex and and for me, there is an and a relation, you know, between the product and the, the people and what's what the product and you know Going through. Maybe there is the wars, etc. There is some.

Andrea Furlan: 13:54

Memories going to the ocean memories so you can, you can, you can dive into this with just a product. So it was much more stronger for us and, yeah, we and we were, we've fallen up with the work of François Borgel case maker because of François Borgel. Borgel case are really interesting because there is this kind of strong Design and, yes, from between between ship, like organic shape, but also frustration between organic shape and more straight shape. And it was really interesting to to to, to go into this kind of World and François Borgel Made case for Patrick. Philippe Novado made case for other Great, great brands by the past because, yeah, by the past, and there was like watchmaker etc. Who and the supplier who proposed some of their work like case dies, exeter, hands to to to other brand. They were like Showing their work and the brands took sometimes the same diet, same case, same elements that they were. There were this kind of sharing, you know, this kind of components between people and it was really interesting to to to, to say to ourselves what if we could meet this case maker or hands maker from the past, 50 years ago, 40 years ago, and where we would be today? We would be forgotten, we would be and not there anymore or bit or next to the, the big brand.

Andrea Furlan: 15:35

So this was the first dream, you know, and I'm a denmeer had and, and then we went into this Kickstarter, kickstarter journey like the, the crowdfunding, crowdfunding experience, and and it was. We didn't expect that. This amount of her, of, of orders, it was crazy Support and good support it was. We had really like a good Feedback from, from collectors. So we we sent our prototype to the press, the media, the collector, we collected and we said to them just give us an honest feedback, we just want this. And they started to write and they started to to to love the product, the, the quality also of the, the, the, the shape and and the proportion, the proportion and especially the details.

Andrea Furlan: 16:36

We want to put into our watch, as we really are mad about Proportion and mad about details to give really the, the, the people, and to explain those Kind of details like, for example, you see here and you see here, there is the little lines here from the here and there is here a little anger here and here and here, because by the past then the people who made the diet, they Stem the diet and the ink was was, you know, going like this, so it was this kind of defaults we wanted to replicate. People maybe will never see that in their life, but I think the the brain will learn. I don't know, the the brain will maybe see that and there is something to tell about the watch, to dive into the diet, dive into the detail. We can see also here the, the teeth of the crown. They are not polished. They are like really like past watches, past Crown. They were like this, like sharp, harsh. Yeah, it's not so in a machine to put the crown and turns and polished by itself. Now it's better for us, like in picture, it's really nice. So we are really into this kind of little detail that sometimes we don't, we don't mention, but we basically begin with that and we had to fulfill all the orders first and we started the brand in April 2021.

Andrea Furlan: 18:22

Yeah, and the first year and we were, we won the, the GPHT, and it was done. Then watch or logical revelation. So for me it was really important this price, because it's not. People said to us yeah, why, and this brown can win that so fast, etc. Maybe there is something behind, but I Wanted to explain to the people also and to to prove to the community and people that it's not just a price, it's something that is really important for us. That's why in shoe shoe, the same year and two years after, we came out, also with them, our first idea of Complication.

Andrea Furlan: 19:06

So we did this kind of crazy development of this only watch piece auction. So it was a perpetual calendar and basically it's a super huge development for us as a young run. So to show also the people that we, we care about that and we can, we can go from a make a quartz line, mechanical line, or we can go into, dive, into the technical line which is this kind of affordable configuration and they can see we can also, we, we we protected the module, we made patterns. We have another pattern spending for another Complication. So people, I they, yeah, it was an important price for us. And to prove the other, yeah, it's not just a price like this, it's, it means something for us.

Blake Rea: 19:59

Yeah, I, um, I'll tell you my furlin Marry story. So I, I literally was, I sold luxury brands. I sold, I Mean, we had Rolex, patek, we had Vashom, we had, long ago, we had Cartier with JLC, we had Twitter, we had, you know, mega, we had Blancpain, we had Brigade, like I mean, we had every, nearly every brand that you'd want to sell. And so, like I had a weekend off and it was my birthday and you know, I took my wife to to San Francisco and there was wind up, right because I wanted to get some exposure, some of these smaller brands, you know, brands like you.

Blake Rea: 20:43

That's all. I was walking around, you know, of course you see a lot of the same stuff from table to table, like obviously coming from Hirology, you know, and handling these crazy expensive watches every day. There's something that just doesn't do it for me within the micro brand space, you know. And then I stumbled into your, your, your, your table and there was this, this young lady working there and she was she. You could tell she was like very passionate about, like, about the brand, and she was just, I mean, she was just so excited, like it's it you would think, like I'm Doing these road shows and doing these conventions, like in events, would just get tiring for people, like talking to the same people telling the same story and trying, you know, to present the same information. But so you, at some point, you can tell right, like there's, there's people that have been doing this for a long time and and you could tell by, by how passionate she was Just about this.

Blake Rea: 21:52

And then, of course, you guys had just one of your watch cases on the table and of course it had Decoration, like it had the pearl eyes, like literally from head to toe on the inside of the case and I was like, holy shit, like If they're polishing me, like there's not too many people that polish the inside of the case like that, you know.

Andrea Furlan: 22:18

So that's why we are a little bit more than to put these kind of things People will never see, even if I know if they do a service, maybe they will see it. But yeah, we, we put pearlage inside every part of our watches. And then also, I came from the high-end watch industry, coming as well, the young lady she came from the mbnf and all the brand like this, and that's why I think she also has this kind of Knowledge about things. And then then how do you say them, how to speak also to from collectors to young, passionate people, and we, we have the same language, the same, yeah, language, and we just talk about this by patient. And then these kind of things, you can see that Kind of things from the iron watch industry, the people who work there, they are really on the on two details into detail. So we try to get to be like If we were with Collectors in front of us or, yeah, people for our passion, and so we try to just be ourselves in front of people.

Blake Rea: 23:33

That's something that like, obviously, like we have a YouTube channel and so obviously people love to voice their opinions on the internet and that's that's something that you know, you can't, you can't show, like you can't. You like, once you put a watch in your hand and like, put it on your wrist, like so way different experience. You know, that's never translated across the internet, across YouTube or whatever I Mean, and immediately, immediately, I Felt like I was holding an, an insanely expensive watch. You know and I'm sorry, you know, I have to say it out here loud, but you know, for for what I feel a lot of people look at, they have this weird sense of like, okay, like you're using lejeune a purée movements, and then here's how much your watch is, here's how much your movement costs and here's how much your watch is. And then people have this weird kind of like oh well, it's a 3000 euro watch or whatever and it's using a $200 movement, like why? And then you get people that are just like, like, you know, I mean, you know how it is, but I Will say that I was highly impressed with what I put my hands on. I mean, especially considering, like I said, I hand, I handle, I Mean hundreds of watch. I was handling hundreds of watches of day a day. You know, patek, I mean everything right and that's how you guys stood out.

Blake Rea: 25:11

You know, like most micro brands, they just look at here's the design. How can we get that, this design, this look into the cheapest possible package so that way we can sell a shit ton of them? You know you're, if it seems like your process is a lot different, you're like here's, here's the design, how, how can we not cut any corners? Like you're taking the opposite Spectrum can push, how can we here here's how much we think it's gonna cost? Probably Like here's, how can we pack as much as much punch into this price point? You know, and I don't think a lot of other brands think that like and I personally I Want to get my hands on a salmon sector like that is gonna be a watch that I'm gonna get at some point in the future. Fortunately, my wife won't let me buy watches right now, so, um, but yeah, I applaud you. You guys are doing a great job. I'm very impressed.

Andrea Furlan: 26:20

You want to. We want to push the limits of yeah, just to give more to people. Me Maybe I'm like I want to give even more. If I could do like to give a watch for everyone, I would do it because it's my I'm maybe too much kind kindness, but I really want to to work and to to yeah, to to share that kind of Patience for everyone. So that's why also, we we put much more in terms of production costs. We put much more of, for example, the hands are curved, they are domed. It's not so like we don't choose from supplier catalogue, we design, sketch and we do this kind of Hands with CNC machine. The hands mirror, polished the index as well. Double or triple print the dial.

Andrea Furlan: 27:12

The stamping on this salmon sector is not just painted like this, it's a laser tooling and then we stamped the dials. It's much more complicated. There is a sapphire crystal. Like we don't put one layer, we put five layers of anti reflection with this kind of things that we we want to, yeah, to to. It cost a lot this kind of things. So, of course, and to to there's, there are case, and there are case there really, if you want to go into the into the details. Yes, there is a cost, but I think we, yeah, we. That's why we're also digital, because we can propose these kind of things. That nice cost for For us or for people, but what? So it's difficult to go into the retail sometimes Because of the margin.

Blake Rea: 28:05

Yeah, I mean, as as a smaller brand like yourself, like you, you don't have a lot of distribution, like the distribution takes nearly 10 times, 20 times, decades of of that. I mean you're just not gonna get distribution right.

Andrea Furlan: 28:22

So we begin now Because we feel that people needs to see in the watch as well. So we, we are getting in touch with key people and and we will have some a lot, not not much more, not more, not much retail place, but some of them, yes, for people to see. And also in the future, like we are a showroom Geneva, we'll open also other showroom. But yeah, we are young, we, we also. So it's been two years now, so it's only the third year. We need to also step down a little bit sometimes and the team also tell me a Slowdown and it's a bit and yeah too.

Andrea Furlan: 29:06

Yeah, because I want to do many things in the short period of time. This is me and I'm not as well. Once, too, he came with ideas. Every day I say, okay, let's put here, let's focus on that, because, yeah, but see, I think we, it's great what we did in three years for honest perspective, my personal point but, yeah, I think there is much more to do and much more to prove to and to give to To the community and and people what?

Blake Rea: 29:39

what's your favorite Timepiece that you guys have produced so far? I know it's a hard question, but I'm maybe.

Andrea Furlan: 29:48

I really I love them. The neuro, sabia, the one counter, make a quartz, but it's as this kind of retro elegance but also a little bit of adventure inside and I like this because I'm I really like also to, to, to go out in the mountains with some to to run, to do these kind of things, but also to I I like that, the frustration you can have between Choose, to choose things. So there is this kind of adventures, port things feel and this kind of elegant shape. So this this is interesting for me and I really love the salmon sector because this salmon color takes really good the light and it's my favorite.

Andrea Furlan: 30:35

I love all the watches, for sure, but if I wanted to choose two of them would be this kind of yeah.

Andrea Furlan: 30:44

And the next one, we will come, the next one to come In about a few months now and really Excited to present this project and also the, the only watch piece. We we have done so the module of, we will do the perpetual calendar module for the public as well. So this is yeah. So we, we are a lot, we work a lot on this because it's it's very difficult to simplify Something, it's a very complex to simplify, so that's why there is only 20 components in the perpetual calendar module. Nobody, there is hundreds of components. So we, we are, we are making some tests Currently and we have some prototypes as well. Prototype, we have machine, the prototype and we will Be able to propose this for the public as well.

Blake Rea: 31:39

Wow, this this year, this year when I come to Geneva next week, you're gonna show me some right. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Andrea Furlan: 31:45

Come and I will show you some of the next project as well. And around the coffee.

Blake Rea: 31:52

Yeah, yeah, amazing. Um we, so our podcast, is really unique in the sense that we're we're not a watch podcast, and here we are talking about watches, but a lot of our customers, or a lot Sorry, a lot of our listeners um Kind of come back and kind of spun this on me. So we get really, really, really a lot of great feedback from our listeners, because not only are they watch nerds, but they're they're, they're created like designers, uh, they're entrepreneurs, um, and we talk a lot about design In our podcast. Like we talk about like design elements and in concepts and and and planning. So what, what does that look like for furlin marie? Like, what is the design process? You know, obviously an idea starts Right and then how does it go from there? Like, how does it that idea end up in a watch? Like what, what is that for you guys?

Andrea Furlan: 32:56

so first as um, it's like, uh, my student Time, um, you first kept up. Now it's more, more and more difficult because then the school, the modern school of design, they don't teach how to sketch. It's not? Um, this kind of things Tends to to, to, to be a little bit concerned. There is not, no, not not so much people who who learn how to sketch by hand. And it's a little bit sad because when I was at school I could see also people who sketch on me, on the computer and for for me. I didn't, I, I couldn't do it. It was my father sketches a lot. He was a engine sketch. How do you say? I'm technical designer, so he's, yeah, he sketches a lot by hand and this kind of process is really really nice for and really interesting for us. I'm at as well, sketch more on the iPad, sketch, sketch really well, and I mean it's more with the, the, the pen, like this, and and then we, we put that on the computer like 2d and on the, like illustrator, on this kind of software, and I like after that to, to make it in 3d and to see in 3d on the, on the, with the 3d rendering cgi software, how it works, how it looks like and then in the environment environment, you know, digital, but you can see how the, the light will go, etc. Around.

Andrea Furlan: 34:37

On the shape, you can test a lot of things. And before going to into the, the Production, the prototype stage. So after that we, we say to our supplier if they can do some, yeah, prototype. So we first do prototype of dives. So it's our first test, to see them, the, the details, to see them, the finish, to just validate the, the. The next step, so after that we do um, um, another dives, for other dives we order penton color, for example, with different finish but more in-depth. You know, first it was the test to validate them, the shape, the proportion, and then we do another test. It's more a test of finish, a prototype, finishing prototype, to see if, um, if we agree on the, on the finish, and then we do the same with the case. So first we do some case and um, and now the supplier, they know our standard as well. So they, they really Know how to, to, to do them and to, they make beautiful case as well. But it's hard because it's not only them. Then we need also to.

Andrea Furlan: 35:55

We go into this. How do you say, and when we receive some prototypes and the case prototype, we, we change everything and we change a lot of things with amad. We, we go into the, with the loop, etc. We, we validate all the things and we go further and further, each, each, every time. So it's not basically the, sometimes the supplier results, it's also our work here with the team to go and to push some limits as well, to go even further.

Andrea Furlan: 36:27

And after that we, we make about, we make some prototypes like a cold, um, it's um, it's a finished prototype, if you want, so ready to be sold, if you want. And we give those prototypes, we give, we we shipped those prototypes to some photograph, the press, the media and also Collectors. And we we receive the feedback, honest feedback, really critical, and to to see if, um, I'm the, the first impression you know. And then we, in the meantime, um, we do some picture shooting etc of details of the, the process, because it's really important to to shoot the whole process. It can give like free marketing Stuff, because you can then Tell a story with with that kind of of things it's really important for, for us. And then after that, we, we we like to to give a name to its watch, for example, as a reference, and also we like to to write like a scenario for, for example, a movie, and we try to to to say to ourselves, okay, if this watch was in the 50s, in the 40s, in the 60s, um, what will be her story? And then we we've read this down and Then and we try to do some other video, shooting, movie, etc.

Andrea Furlan: 37:57

And then we make a pre-order. We like to do pre-order session on the website. It was really interesting to do this and in the beginning of the journey, because if you can take the temperature and For a brand, for a product, and you can feel if the product is um, is approved or not approved, etc. You can also feel the, the excitation of the people. And it's very important for a young brand because you don't overstock, overproduced. So we don't like to do this and there is no waiting list. We hate that. So I am also on waiting list since five years other brands.

Andrea Furlan: 38:39

So what I wanted to do is like a pre-order and you make 10 days pre-order. On those 10 days you can, you can accept all the other you, you, you want. So we can have 100, 2000, 5000. We had the 5700, even more orders in 10 days and then we stop the order session and people have to wait, but for a good reason. They know they will have a watch. We try now to because with a little bit of cash flow we can now produce In advance the case and the glass. So we produce some case and glass to lower the Waiting time of the of the watch, because the case and the glass takes a lot of time. That's why we we try to do this now If we can.

Blake Rea: 39:32

So obviously you guys are, let's step back. I mean, the process is amazing. Thank you for sharing that. That's the type of information that you know. People see a watch on the internet and then they're just like, oh okay, you know, they look immediately at, like we talked about, the movement and then the cost, and those are the two things they look at. So I think it's really important to understand that there is time, there is energy, there is care, there is detail, there is love that goes into these watches, and people don't ever give you money for those things, right.

Andrea Furlan: 40:03

They don't.

Blake Rea: 40:04

it's a shame, but obviously you guys are three years old, you're a baby in the watch industry, but you've already won the GPHG, which is amazing congratulations. Obviously, when you go back and you tell your story to my listeners like, it sounds almost like a dream story right, you know, almost like it's unexpected yeah.

Andrea Furlan: 40:28

Really unexpected too. From the beginning we had zero. The marketing budget was zero. We started with nothing In the Kickstarter. A lot of people told us you will not be able to do it, it will not work because you need money for the marketing. You need almost 100K to reach this kind of amount on Kickstarter. And we just said, okay, let's do it, maybe with a nice story, with a nice attention to detail, because this is our core sentence, it's our DNA, it's crafted with care, designed for details, and this is our true, our forward and for us, we will stick to that for the future.

Andrea Furlan: 41:14

No matter the type of collection, the make-up works have the same finish. The make-up works line has the same finish as the mechanical line and the technical line. Obviously, the development and the movement are really different, but they share the same element. It's consistent. There is no, okay, we want to do volume, so we lower down the cost here. This we no. It's the same and we try also to use like a circular mind. So, for example, with the movement, we use the same movement in the mechanical line as the technical line. The module of the perpetual calendar is developed for the La Joupez movement. That's why we can also order, more volume, or we can play, if we want to do more on the mechanical line this year and then the next year a little bit, we keep those movements for the technical line. We change some finish et cetera. But it's this kind of thinking process we want to have and this kind of things.

Blake Rea: 42:24

Tell us about some of the. Obviously, starting a watch brand is not easy, right? I mean, your story, like I said, is like a dream, fairy tale story, you know, but something that nobody really talks about and our viewers love to hear our listeners and viewers, whatever is, obviously you guys have faced probably a ton of challenges that you never talk about. They don't make it to your marketing, they don't make it to your website.

Blake Rea: 42:53

Tell us about some of the setbacks you guys have had, some of the challenges you've had, and tell us how you worked through them.

Andrea Furlan: 43:02

So, the first thing, honestly, we had some chance because we choose the right supplier, the right logistic supplier and also for the after-sale service I was into. I searched in Facebook, I searched like your after-sale service group, and I asked my question and the feeling was better with this kind of company. So we went with them and they're actually the same company we worked with since the beginning same, we didn't change. So we had some chance. But, yes, the problem and the issue we had it's that in Switzerland, not so much people made a Kickstarter for into the watch brand. There is a lot of big brands et cetera, and they don't really knew how it works online. So I had to learn a lot about Shopify website, about I had to read a lot of books to how to do this, how to do that podcast about Kickstarter and the journey people experience, and this is something you are right. We have to share also this for the young people. I sometimes go to the design school in Geneva and I share that with the students. The students came here all the class. They came and they asked the question. I told them. I tell them what is the issue we faced.

Andrea Furlan: 44:37

For example, the logistics is really important. People think that it's a nice idea, nice story, it will save by itself, and then you have to ship it. So how do you ship it with all the custom and online custom? You need a DHL FedEx account, you need to call them, you need to do all these kind of things and to calculate those costs before you do the Kickstarter. A lot of people they don't make this kind of process, so that's why they face a financial issue.

Andrea Furlan: 45:10

After the Kickstarter. I discussed with some of the people they didn't think they could do it because of the logistic issue, the extra cost you can have after you have your campaign succeed, for example, the packaging. It's nice to have a box, but then you have to do another box to secure, to do the DHL box as well. This has a cost. It's okay, it's one Swiss francs, et cetera, but there is a cost that adds and especially the custom tax and duties, because online now more and more people they are aware of that. But if you don't mention that to the website or the terms in the website or in the Kickstarter page, you can have some problems because people they don't know how it works, especially in Europe.

Andrea Furlan: 46:09

When I was in China or USA these kind of things. It's now inside the mind of people, but it's tricky and, yes, it's a surprise when you receive a watch and you have to pay extra cost of duties, but we try to also find solutions about that. But yes, for example, India, it's a 48% or 60% tax, so super, super huge Mexico, brazil, I don't know, but it's huge. So, yeah, these kind of things I try also to share with people. I'm open to any discussion. If people want to come to us to ask questions about the issue, or if they are a new project to share and to launch, they want to discuss with us about anything, we are really open to answer.

Blake Rea: 47:09

That's what the watch community is about. Like our last podcast, we had the founder of a watch club in Atlanta, the Atlanta Watch Society, and we talked about there. The future of watch brands will be through clubs. You'll approach a club and say, hey, here's what I want to do, and then the discussions will happen among the members of the clubs and then they'll kick you like it's like, obviously now to get feedback you have to dispatch a watch to somebody like me or somebody like another YouTuber or whatever. Then they give you one set of feedback Like, hey, here's what I would think about this watch. But if you go to a watch club when they have 200 members, 300 members, they will literally go to a meeting with all you know all their members and say, look, hey, here's one watch, right, and you got feedback from 300 people With just one watch.

Blake Rea: 48:11

So we talked a lot about that in the last podcast and and so we think the future of the industry is changing. Because you know, when you're supporting the community, at the end of the day, like it's a transaction right, like we, we recognize what you're doing.

Andrea Furlan: 48:28

You know, we see that you're supportive of our hobby, of the community, and then that translates back to to sales, to growth right and people are more aware of of these kind of things now and then, since now years, but they are more educated about finish, about Movement, about everything about watching the street, people in the watching this. She needs to be transparent, needs to to to not I would not say lie, but they need to say the truth about things and to also need to say certain, to to be serious in their approach and to to give right information. And, yeah, people from the community, the, the groups, they are way more aware and Than sometimes the seller, some sellers you know, yeah.

Blake Rea: 49:22

Well, we talked about that too, because they're, at the end of the day, when, when you're in a sales role right, like I was there's certain times where you just have to sell a watch. Like you know, I've been in situations where, like it's been a week or two weeks or three weeks when I haven't sold a single watch. So I'm just like, what do I do? Like you know, obviously I had, you know, expensive, expensive watch to sell. But you've you come to that decision where it's like, do I Do the right thing or do I just say what I need to say to sell a watch? And and yeah, it was.

Blake Rea: 50:01

It was a really conflicted time for me because I was probably the most honest person where, when somebody would come in and say, hey, I want to buy this watch, I'd be like, dude, you don't want to buy that watch. Like don't do that. Like I'm sorry, like you shouldn't spend your money on that. Like if you, if you say, hey, look, here's how much money I have to spend on a watch, I will show you the best value that you can get for your money, you know, in terms of decoration, technical accomplishment, heritage, prestige, whatever, right. And so I was the worst at that, but I also was a pretty decent salesperson. But yeah, transparency is something that you don't necessarily see, like when you put yourself in the situation to say, hey, look, here's the watch, here's the product. Right, here's the timepiece. Yeah, just let us know what you think. Like People respect that so much, instead of saying hey, like just give me your money. Like hey, like you know, I'm not gonna send you any watches, so you send me money or you know what.

Blake Rea: 50:57

I mean, like, is this weird dynamic that that that needs to disappear? You know, and there's, there's brands now like Before you even see a watch, you have to put a deposit down, you know, and Obviously it's just a weird, a weird industry. But I know we're running out of time here, so I've got a few more things I want to check off with you. Something that's really interesting to me Is the furlin marie assembly experience. I'm very interested in you.

Andrea Furlan: 51:34

You tell about that. You asked me about that. I did some of my homework.

Blake Rea: 51:37

Right, that's been very important as a podcaster, to do some homework. So tell us about this concept and tell us about this, you know. Tell us about this experience that you guys are are doing.

Andrea Furlan: 51:52

We are already Doing we are always them and I wanted to to get to the people knows more and more about our internal finish and how it looks like, etc. Even the make-up works is finished like this, with a spellage inside, but you cannot assemble your make-up works. So we tried to do this only with the technical line and mechanical line and it was super important for us to propose this kind of new experience that I think didn't exist before. I didn't see that you can go into a boutique and say I want to assemble this, so I want to assemble this longine. Can I assemble this Vacheon de Saint-Peters? It's a little bit weird but super interesting in terms of it's very powerful because you can you make this kind of souvenir with the watch, with the product, and then you don't really want to sell. You don't really want to sell a watch that you are selling with your grandfather or your father or you know this kind of relation between the products and we have always this in mind because three years ago we wanted to do this kind of experience in the future. So that's why we always finish this kind of, we put this kind of finish inside our watches, because then people will be able to see that and to talk about this with their friends into our collector's dinner, I don't know. And we have now more and more people who ask for this experience. So we launched this experience last year in Geneva and if someone wants to assemble their watch, we have on the website. Now we have a page we explain the process. It's not so much more expensive than a watch, it's a little bit more.

Andrea Furlan: 53:50

We work with a partner that do this kind of assembling experience called Initium in Geneva. They are located next to Rechepe and Acrevia and Acrevia company in the old town of Geneva and they are a great team of. Also, they are open minded. This was super important because I asked that with these other people. They said no, it's not interesting, etc. And those kind of people. They are really like an open minded. They want to develop this with us.

Andrea Furlan: 54:27

So we'll develop that in New York, in Paris, tokyo, seoul, etc. In the future. It's a little bit difficult in terms of logistic because you need to ship a lot of things, but we will work with after-sales service companies and after-sales service studio in town in cities to be able to use the space as well. So it's interesting for me to open this kind of their space because it was only for service. And now they think about oh, it can be interesting to even welcome clients, welcome customers in our spaces, and then in the future they can even yeah, we can even do their service, etc. So it's interesting for us to develop that and we will do more and more projects with this kind of idea.

Blake Rea: 55:36

It's a great concept because most people, when you buy your watch, you have no emotional connection to it.

Blake Rea: 55:43

To a degree right, you love the design, you know you feel like it complements your collection, the price is right, whatever right, whatever the reason these people have. But then, after you get to watch on your wrist is where you start to build memories like, hey, I had gotten married with this watch, or, you know, I wore it to. You know, my first whatever, like my, my daughter's wedding or whatever right, insert you know memorable time here. But the fact is, you're giving people these important moments and memories with the watch before it even leaves the door of the factory.

Andrea Furlan: 56:22

Yeah, which is an insane thing to think about and what is it super touching is that, like yesterday I had a message on Instagram a couple wants to, a young lady wants to offer his future, her future husband, and this experience. It's the wedding, a wedding gift.

Andrea Furlan: 56:45

It's super touching for us you know, and then they can just do that. It's three hours. It's not like a day of into a company, into a manufacturer, which is super interesting, but you have three hours and you left with the watch on your wrist and you have like a mini, mini course classroom with the watchmaker that worked actually with Audemars Piguet and, like IneCiem team is really great about that and they make some pictures, they make memories and at the end of the day or the morning, you have the croissant the morning, or a little wine, etc. In the afternoon. It's nice, it's. You can do that in other place, other city. You can use we will do that in a museum in Qatar as well the future interesting to merge this kind of experience, moments sharing, but also you can use the different space to make connection between, for example, arts or culture with the watch. There there is many parallel bridge you can you can, you can think about.

Blake Rea: 57:57

I love that. I'm so glad that you're doing something like that. This is this is what we need the watch as a watch industry nerd so tell me I mean, we briefly talked before the recording and obviously you know you don't have to answer this question but tell us what you guys are working on and you know if you can give us a taste of what to expect from the brand within the next few months, like here's. Here's your floor to do so so we will continue them.

Andrea Furlan: 58:32

We will have now and it was it was important for us to make to develop three clear lines in the brand. So it's lines, it's our collection. You have the make a quartz line, you have the mechanical line and you have the technical line. People are aware of that now they can see clearly where they want to go and then they can see there is no um, no, um. How do you say the same finish around the lines? And then it's interesting because it's like a 30, 60, 30, 60 degree brand um, young, passionate people can have a make a quartz, but they can also have a technical or perpetual calendar if they want. So we can, we go into it's. It's a brand where you can have this kind of um choice. You know, in terms of um, the complication. That's also more affordable watches. And what's interesting is that we have as customer, like very um important collectors. They have also make a quartz when they travel, etc. They are really happy with their watch um. But we are also a young customer, very young people, and they just want to enjoy a nice watch um. So this was the first thing that's important to say, and next next thing is that um, we um, we had our um, our first retailer, which is a time tide in australia. So last week we were in australia and and um we, we introduced with them our new it's it's called the frulan marry editions, which is uh, you would see on the dial of them it's not, it's um. It's interesting because the editions will be um here to not frustrate the community. That's um. That means those editions will be available only on our own retailer space. For example, if we have a return in france, we have the frulan marry france editions, uh, frulan marry us edition, or australian editions, and once a year or twice a year, there will be all the. The frulan marry editions will be available on the website for everyone. So the people will not uh go and travel and or you know all the struggle with them, the supplier, the, the retailer to ask them for a piece, etc. We will have a batch available of um like one week a year or one week twice a year, and it's interesting because it will be shipped from us uh directly to the customer um, but over the year, all over the year, it will be available um from our retailers. So it's this kind of thing we wanted to introduce because we have the comment also on instagram.

Andrea Furlan: 1:01:30

Like we, we did um piece for our glass watches of switzerland and singapore, a bronze case and um. A lot of people were frustrated to not be able to to have this watch online. It was like a limited edition to a retailer. The retailer was really nice because he he shipped also them, the watches, worldwide. It was nice and we had some customers who fly, who fly from tel dia redia to singapore just for a six hundred dollar watch, so just to to have this limited edition and they just. We had some comments like this on online and feedback, so we had this idea of, uh, introducing the frulan marry editions. I think it's interesting because you can yeah, you can, have this kind of here. Imagine the frulan marry editions week where you can have access to the retailer um editions and once or twice a year and available for everyone and in some batch this was um uh concept we introduced as well. We will continue the frulan marry experience assembly, experience worldwide.

Andrea Furlan: 1:02:42

We will try to do one or two more cities in um in 2024 and we have like the perpetual calendar for the public to to develop as well.

Andrea Furlan: 1:02:55

We have already the prototype but we need to test a lot and to make sure everything is perfect, and this is a huge step for us to to go, because it's really this kind of we are surrounded by, by passionate people and technical people as well, friends watchmaker dominique ronoh as well, and julien tixier, who developed this idea.

Andrea Furlan: 1:03:19

I worked with the winnie chrono four years on a very complicated watch um four years with him. That's why we have this kind of friendship connection, close connection now. So we, we came up with this and perpetual calendar as well, and and we have many more projects, like on the permanent collection too, for more, more choice for the people, and I know it's uh, it's been three years. So, yes, it's um, it's, it's very, it's um, how do you say? It's very short period to to make more a new choice for people. But we, we will do it as well. We like now I sketch with amad's new uh prototype, so it will be right about this year of foodie and um and a few more surprise, a few more surprise, yeah we I am excited.

Blake Rea: 1:04:14

Three years and you guys are getting ready to drop a perpetual calendar crazy um and so the final question how do you see furlin marie in the next decade? Like, where do you envision the brand going?

Andrea Furlan: 1:04:35

um in um in good shape and helps because, uh, it's difficult to, you know, like almost 12 hours a day I'm like now I need some, some sleep, but uh, and obviously this kind of to, to, to to engage with more with people, to more with the community, to, to be able to be the the same, to be close to people, even if we have a digital presence, we need to, to work on this um and um to develop the three lines, the three clear lines we have with interesting project collaboration, um, but also not so much choice.

Andrea Furlan: 1:05:19

It's like in our, in our restaurants, for, for us don't need that kind of thick menu, you know, you just need a one or two page and then changing over the season, etc. Like some signature plates etc. We are real like this. So we will not, we will stick to that and we'll try to stick really to to this kind of um, yeah, past vision and um and yeah, to develop the team as well and and and to make interesting project for where we want to, in the education, more and more, more into the education um field, but also the, yeah, this kind of thing amazing.

Blake Rea: 1:06:07

Look forward to seeing it. Um, that's all I really had for today. Is there anything that you wanted to to speak about that we didn't cover during this podcast? I think it was pretty general and yeah very, I really liked it I just wanted to give you the opportunity to to say something, because sometimes people come on here and they have something they want to talk about and they're like hey, like is there's like are you gonna let me say something that I want to say? So I I like.

Andrea Furlan: 1:06:42

I like that you talk about the design process as well, and also the, the issue people can face, the, the brands, etc. I can, the brands, the issue that brands can face.

Blake Rea: 1:06:54

This needs to be more and more, you know, discussed important that those are the most important aspects of purchasing watches as a watch collector. Like we are obsessed with the details, like if I didn't care about a quality watch, I I wouldn't buy a watch at all. Like I would just go buy a time max or whatever. I may not even have a watch, I may just have an apple watch. But if we don't care about the details and the assembly and the creative aspects of watches, like why are in this hobby for the first place? You know, and that that's my, my take on it so well, anyways, let's, let's wrap it up. Thank you so much for coming on. I'm so glad to take to take some time to talk to you. Um, we were going back and forth for a while.

Andrea Furlan: 1:07:46

Scheduling was hard and thank you so much and I look for the cake. Come to your.

Blake Rea: 1:07:53

More than welcome to come to jenior I will be there in eight days, at your doorstep. So thanks for coming on. Thanks for listening. Drop a comment, let us know how you think and we'll see you on the next one. Thank you, guys.