In the recent weeks I have come to focus more of my articles on Kickstarter brands that are launching new model lines. Many Kickstarter watches are very similar, in a sense. The designs are different, but there is nothing revolutionary about them. Yes Man's first watch, while the case (and everything inside) is nothing special, the strap is very different. In fact, they have a patent pending design that will prevent the leather on a watch strap from wearing out. You can check out their website, beayesman.com, for more information on their products. InterviewIAAW: As you and I both know, there are thousands of watch manufacturers that each offer a number of watches allowing many people to find a watch that they enjoy wearing. With that being said, what prompted you to start your own company?
NR: I had the vision for Yes Man my freshman year of college. My friends and I would be doing so much with our day that we realized everything starts by saying yes. While working a monotonous summer internship last year, I was motivated to do more with my life and entrepreneurship was my outlet. At the time I realized every leather watch strap on the market had holes—this would damage the leather and restrict the wearer to a certain number of sizing options. We’ve developed the first holeless leather watch strap. Our straps don’t have holes! Our patent-pending buckle allows for twice as many sizing options and keeps the leather on your watch strap fresh. IAAW: How did you end up with the design that you did? NR: To design our first line of watches, my team and I literally looked at thousands of watches, saw what we liked in each one, and then applied those aspects to create our very own. One distinct design feature is our logo placement at the 5 O’clock mark. When starting Yes Man we were working 9-5 jobs and wanted something to remind us that at 5 O’clock, it’s our time. Your 9-5 job is only 1/3 of your day. Our logo is also neat in that it was originally designed as a Yes Man but a lot of people see it as a martini glass. We say it’s what you make of it, just how time is what you make of it. IAAW: Why did you choose to completely change the design of the leather strap when you knew that many people were satisfied with the current design? NR: My team and I knew we could make it better. We couldn’t stand rocking worn out leather straps so we wanted to create a buckle that wouldn’t wear out our strap. It was also hard to find the perfect size on current leather straps—holes would either make the strap too big or too small. IAAW: What is your goal for Yes Man in the future? NR: We’re striving to become a world renowned brand that empowers people to consider their use of time. We believe time is invaluable and everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, yet so few acknowledge their allocation of time. Be a Yes Man by living your life as you please. We continue to learn and hope you’re willing to learn with us. We’ve also just expanded our product line to sunglasses. We partnered with a supplier who we met while traveling China this summer. Our sunnies are made from organically grown bamboo and are completely handcrafted. Check them out here—beayesman.com/sunnies
Comments
|
Jake Fogarty is the founder of It's All About Watches and writer for most of what you will read here. If you want to contact me you can visit the contact and advertising page.
This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of Cookies |