ABOUT

Time is limited, yet moldable is it’s quality which Luamaa watch brand interprets as being present. We encourage to actually be there in moments. Not rush through life, but to TAKE TIME.

The Interchangeable collection is a combination of nordic estethics and raw use of materials on your wrist. We believe in consuming inspiration in a way that you get the final say. Luamaa shares this perspective through our debut watch collection. Your first watch is to inspire future designs, made by you, YOUR WAY.

LUAMAA – ‘’Take time, your way’’

STORY OF COINCIDENCES

Soon to become a product design graduate, I started to wonder what’s next. I decided to create something on my own. Naturally, I would design a product and build a brand around it. Doing every aspect of building a brand, was a goal I set for myself. But what would be the product?

A COINCIDENCE LEADING TO THE IDEA

It was an evening with random conversations between me, my brother and a girl I was trying to impress. The conversation changed to topics like design and future plans, after someone had come by to try on a pair of wooden frames my brother was crafting. I have this irreversible thing that just when I’m supposed to fall asleep, a lot of ideas and thoughts start coming in. As a result, I am contemplating of my future product that night. I’m thinking accessories and when I think wrist watches, I know it. I had this feeling of excitement.

Before finally falling asleep, I had designed the watch in my head, looking almost the same as it is today, six years later. Next thing you know, I am behind a lathe and the first prototype is ready, out of wood, aluminum and brass. I realised, that during that one night, I had found a passion, had a specific vision for my product and a goal of building my own watch brand. In the forthcoming years, I would graduate, get a job, become a father and build a watch brand on the go.

A COINCIDENCE THAT AVOIDED THE WORST

Right from the beginning, I wanted to make a different watch. The strap would be made of natural, flexible wood and stone. I didn’t even know if that was possible. You could also change the look of the watch more than just straps and it has to have a nice quality. It didn’t take too long to find the materials for the straps. In order to user-test, I was daily wearing an aluminum prototype with a flexible stone strap. I really thought that the product was ready for market.

Along comes winter. I pick my watch up from the night stand and the strap cracks broken as I put it on my wrist. I learned that even indoor temperatures in winter make the stone strap brittle. I was back at the beginning, but consistent in finding a solution. I kept ordering in material samples and failing test by test. I got my hands on another sample. I left it in the cold overnight and it didn’t break when I bent it. I had found the right material.

A NEXT LEVEL COINCIDENCE

My parents are going out in my small hometown. They arrive at a pub and throw their overalls at a random table where a stranger is sitting. Arriving back off the dancefloor, the stranger asks what they would like to drink. Next day, I am visiting home and the stranger is cooking pasta in our kitchen. Turned out he was an Italian, living in Switzerland, visiting Estonia. After I was asked to present my watch project, he invited me to his place, to visit Baselworld Watch Fair. ‘’It’s a 40-minute drive from my place and I know people,’’he said.

I visited Baselworld with a prototype, material samples, 3D renders and technical drawings of the watch. I arrive there and the ‘’not so stranger anymore’’ had organised a full day of meetings for me. I had the possibility to present my product and ideas to people starting from simple watchsmiths to luxury brand presidents. I got an overwhelming taste of the watch world. I was highly recommended a watch manufacture that I would later connect with and take product development to the next level. I had found a manufacture for my brand, from a local pub at my hometown.

COINCIDENCE FOR A FUTURE

I believe it was the hundreds of watch brands named by their founders that influenced my brand-name. I brainstormed with the letters of my name and showed the list to people who almost all noted a name LUMA. I applied for this trademark and nine months later, I learned that the name conflicts with a well-known sports brand and there is simply no hope for me to register it.

I tried for another name and by the time I got the trademark registered, I had my dream come true. I had become a father to a daughter. I remember my girlfriend suggesting that we would name her Luma. I would always disagree, because I did not want our daugther to be named after my watch brand. Today, me and the girl I was trying to impress, have named our daughter Luma. Partly, because of a well-known sports brand.

It has been a journey of building a watch brand. Besides all the ups of it, there have also been times when I lock everything up in a drawer and don’t touch it for months. Mainly because things didn’t seem to work out. But not once, have I ever given up on the idea of having my own watch brand. I have learned that watches are my true passion. As I am writing this, I am about to publish my brand for the first time and I still get this feeling of excitement that I had that night, years ago.

MARTIN