THE ETHICS OF ETIENNE MALEC, FOUNDER OF BALTIC WATCHES

Baltic is the story of a watch brand. But it’s more than that. It’s about a father and a son who, in some ways, never knew each other. Etienne Malec, the founder of Baltic — the watch world’s hottest micro-brand — is to me one of horology’s most brilliant designers and future stars. He is also remarkable in that he is not motivated by money. Otherwise, he could have done thousands of collaborations or simply launched innumerable configurations of his salmon-dial HMS and Bicompax created with Worn & Wound. Instead, he’s kept his focus relentlessly on the watches themselves. And when it comes to watches, he scrutinises every detail.

The process of my collaboration with him on what I consider to be a pretty stunning salmon sector-dial chronograph with a 36.5mm case represents the longest gestation period of any limited-edition watch I’ve ever made. That is something Malec warned me about from the beginning. He said to me a year and a half ago: “Wei, I want you to know that I take a very long time to consider a watch perfect. You will have to be patient.” And, damn, if he wasn’t right. But it was worth it, because even at $670, the resulting Baltic Bicompax Pulso for Revolution & The Rake is not only one of the most accessibly priced timepieces we’ve ever made, but also one of the most beautiful.

Let’s address the elephant in the room. Why a salmon dial? Well, because the prototype — or let’s say the earlier prototype for this watch, as there was one more — was offered for sale at our charity auction the Pink Dial Project, which raised money for breast cancer awareness, research, prevention and cure. And as salmon is about as close to pink as you can get, and pink is the colour of breast cancer awareness, Malec and I thought this would