It almost goes without saying, but Kickstarter is a mixed bag when it comes to watches. For every ten brands that look like they’re working from a Daniel Wellington parts catalog, there are one or two startups trying to do something different, and these are the projects we try to highlight here on worn&wound. Today, we’re taking a look at Tate Wade, a young brand launching their inaugural line of watches–dubbed the Bokeh Collection–on Kickstarter.
Tate Wade is a two-man company based out of Bienne, Switzerland. The duo has spent the last two years working on the photography-inspired Bokeh series. In setting out to create the watch, the Tate Wade team had three goals in mind: first, to create a unique, bespoke design; second, to keep it Swiss; and third, to make a watch that they themselves would want to wear every day.
Working with Studio Divine–a firm that is perhaps now best known for its work with REC and SEVENFRIDAY–Tate Wade settled on a design that hinted at the aforementioned inspiration. The 42mm case and multi-layered dial captures some of that via subtle nods to things like the focus ring, the lens aperture, and the red dot often found on a lens mount.