CROFT Watches is a new independent watch brand, designing and producing high quality affordable watches. Dually based out of Melbourne, Australia, and London, England, they have created watches that are versatile for the beach, yet formal enough to be in a boardroom.

For the founders of CROFT, it was essential to have a product that is as much at home outdoors, as it is for formal occasions. Therefore the watches are produced with a scratch-resistant, highly durable, sapphire crystal glass with anti-reflective coating, as well as quick-release interchangeable leather watch straps, to make sure you always keep the watch looking fresh.

The team sought to ensure the watches were affordable after seeing the brand inflation and retail markup many popular brands pass on to consumers. We know the cost to these popular brands is a fraction of what they cost to buy in store due to the many intermediaries in the sales chain. We have streamlined the entire process and deliver directly to the consumer, bypassing all of the intermediaries along the way.

No detail has been left untouched with our watches. Every aspect has been considered, from the small detail of the logo lightly engraved onto the crown, through to running a production run of 100 watches to ensure that our watches look as beautiful as they do on paper.

To streamline the sales process we have moved away from the traditional sales channels of selling products to wholesalers, sales agents, distributors and traditional marketing techniques.

Skills - We have picked a strong team, and built a diverse network of contacts in all industries. The CROFT team has a wide range of skills, ranging from automotive manufacturing, custom automotive design and engineering, sports marketing, brand management, business management and investments. Collectively they can design, engineer, crunch numbers, and run a strong business.

Design - The product designers within our team have a huge amount of experience in taking new and exciting ideas and turning them into reality. With talents ranging from drawing, through to graphic design and computer aided design, they are able to rapidly iterate and develop new ideas, whilst pushing the boundaries of what the manufacturers can produce. So much so they already have the next two models designed!

Materials - Designing and engineering the Richmond from the ground up allowed the team to be selective in what materials to use. The materials used were selected for their balance between aesthetics and their underlying properties.

Supply chain - We have spent over a year working with our manufacturers and suppliers. We have been to their factories, developed multiple prototypes and even run a small production of 100 watches (#THEFIRSTBATCH) to ensure we can deliver the product we say we can. We have dived into each and every detail, to not only ensure you will be happy but so that we can also proudly wear the watches.

The initial Richmond collection comes in 8 different colour combinations.

Case: Polished stainless steel or Matt black PVD coated

Dial: Brilliant white or Jet black

Leather strap: Black or Mahogany

Buckle: Colour matched to the watch case

Hands: Colour matched to the watch case

Our First Collection, the Richmond, has a sapphire crystal lense and a surgical grade stainless steel case that measures 43mm in diameter and 9.3mm in thickness. These watches are powered by an accurate Japanese Miyota quartz movement, including a day/date (English/French) function and are water resistant up to 50 meters.

The Richmond comes in four initial designs; the matt black case and the steel case, each with either a black or mahogany leather strap. Each style has it's own unique benefits but all are stylish for any occasion, and sturdy enough to cope with most adventures.

Sapphire Crystal

Sapphire crystal is the name given to the glass on the watch. For our watches to stand up to the challenges of an active life, we have put sapphire crystal on all our watches as standard. It is the most common part of an expensive luxury watch, particularly due to its scratch resistance (the only material tougher than sapphire is diamond) and high durability. We have also added anti-reflective coating to reduce the appearance of reflections, but also to improve the colour of the dial by influencing the light passing through the lens.

Watch Case

Our cases and steel bands are made from surgical grade stainless steel (316L stainless steel). This means it has stronger resistance to corrosion than many other metal alloys, so can handle the rigours of changing environments much better. Along with that, it has better hardness and scratch resistance compared to other alloy metals.

Movement

At the heart of every CROFT Watch is a Japanese made Miyota movement - the same movement many luxury watchmakers use. It's an excellent quartz movement, has amazing shock resistance and a long battery life.

Case-Back

The case of a CROFT Watch doesn’t just stop there, we have also specially engraved each watch with LDN-MEL to represent London and Melbourne - the joint birthplace of CROFT Watches.

The "Super Early Bird", "Early Kickstarter" and "Early Bird Double" rewards each come with a specially engraved with "FOUNDER'S EDITION" and "1 of 300". Why these rewards you ask? To really benefit from economies of scale with our manufacturers we need to place an order for 300 pieces with them. We wanted to remind you that the watch you purchased got CROFT Watches off the ground and into production.

In the “First Batch” reward (reward No.3), we have engraved it specifically with “THE FIRST BATCH" and "1 of 100” to give you that unique product that you treasure forever.

Dial

The dial is the most important part of the watch - how else will you tell the time?! At CROFT Watches, we want to invite eyes to take a closer look and be excited by the stylish, minimalist design.

The dial itself is made up of a thin metal plate, and then coated to provide the finish. The dial is then assembled with the colour matched steel markers, which requires precision tooling to place them accurately in their correct positions.

 Straps

Every watch needs a strap and the quality of this is essential because an uncomfortable strap, is an uncomfortable watch.

Every CROFT Watch uses 100% genuine cowhide leather straps that provide amazing comfort and longevity. Along with this, we have specially designed the buckle to be exactly the right size for the watch and have made them from 316L stainless steel, colour matched with the watch case and subtly branded with our CROFT crest.

Our leather watch straps come with quick-release pins, allowing you to change the strap colour in less than 5 seconds, giving the watch a whole new character.

Reward 1 - Extra Leather Strap

Order an extra genuine leather strap for your new watch. All leather straps have a quick-release pin which allows you to change the style of your watch in seconds. Saving up to 33% off the retail price!

Reward 2 - Super Early Bird (Limited to only 100 watches)

Our cheapest watch reward! As a thank you for getting onboard and supporting us so early into the campaign, we are offering 100 watches with almost 40% off retail price. Comes with the unique "FOUNDER'S EDITION" "1 OF 300" engraved casebacks. With this reward you can choose any one of our Richmond watches, in any colour combination you would like. 

Reward 3 - The First Batch (Limited to only 50 watches)

With this reward you get one Richmond matt black watch, with white dial and shiny black leather band. What makes this reward unique is that it is one of 100 pre-production watches we had commissioned to ensure the production watch had the same quality as the prototypes. However after rigorous testing, tweaking and modifications, we only have 50 left to give to you.

There are a few differences with this watch compared to the production watch; a shiny leather rather than a matt leather, the date wheel is in English/Chinese rather than English/French, and the crystal does not have anti-reflective coating. To mark the importance of this watch in our development and achieving the final design we have today, each watch is engraved on the back with "THE FIRST BATCH" and "1 OF 100".

Reward 4 - Early Kickstarter (Limited to only 100 watches)

With this reward you can choose any one of our Richmond watches, in any colour combination you would like. Comes with the unique "FOUNDER'S EDITION" "1 OF 300" engraved casebacks. This reward is limited to only 250 watches and is almost 27% off rrp.

Reward 5 - Kickstarter Single

With this reward you can choose any one of our Richmond watches, in any colour combination you would like.

Reward 6 - Early Bird Double (Limited to 125 orders)

With this reward you can choose any two of our Richmond watches, in any colour combinations you would like. Comes with the unique "FOUNDER'S EDITION" "1 OF 300" engraved casebacks. This reward is limited to only 125 orders and is almost 29% off rrp.

Reward 7 - Kickstarter Double

With this reward you can choose any two of our Richmond watches, in any colour combinations you would like. This reward is limited to only 125 orders and a saving of 23% off rrp.

Reward 8 - The Collection

With this reward you get all four Richmond watches at a huge 31% off rrp. If we hit any of our stretch goals, you'll have the option to change the colour combinations to any new colours that may become available. 

The full retail price for the Richmond will be £95/$130. We will not be selling the Richmond at retail until all Kickstarter rewards have been shipped.

Upon the conclusion of the Kickstarter campaign we will be sending out a survey, where you can confirm your colour choices, as well as confirm your shipping address and any other relevant details.

Stretch Goals

If we are successful in raising our funding goal we will announce the first of our stretch goals at the top of our campaign page.

International Shipping

CROFT Watches ships worldwide, with the exception of Argentina, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Myanmar/Burma, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

Please note you may be responsible for duties, fees and taxes applicable to your region.

Estimated Delivery

We will be fulfilling "The First Batch" rewards as early as the end of May! All other rewards we expect to deliver in September, whilst we do not expect this deadline to move, it is possible that the estimated shipment month may shift.

Warranty

We stand firmly behind our products. All CROFT Watches include a 1 year limited warranty. For more information, please see https://www.croftwatches.com/pages/warranty.

Anything else

If at anytime you would like an update, please either check the ‘Updates’ section of our Kickstarter campaign, or feel free to email: info@croftwatches.com.

The company was formed by Shaun and Tord who crossed paths at university way back in 2007!

Shaun studied Product Design Engineering at university; he previously worked in automotive manufacturing and now works as an Investment Consultant, so designing, engineering and crunching the financials was a perfect challenge for him.

Tord currently heads up his own sports marketing agency that specialises in athlete management, content creation and marketing consulting within action sports, which placed him perfectly for forging CROFT Watches' marketing efforts outside the traditional techniques.

In addition to Shaun and Tord there is:

John @ TribeFirst - Crowdfunding consultant

Jamie and Sam - Product designers

Video Production - MotionFish Media Project

With our diverse backgrounds and experience, combined with our enthusiasm for watches, fashion and pushing the boundaries, we truly believe you'll love the Richmond.