School is out!
A Certified Watchmaker
It has been a long two years,
but somehow it also passed in a blink of an eye; as if time somehow dilated and distorted, aging me 100 years as the world around me moved at a normal pace. It's hard to describe, and still a little hard for me to believe. I remember two years ago, just starting school and having moved across the country, boxes and boxes of Orion: 1's arrived and I began shipping them from my AirBNB basement room. I was also nervous I had made a mistake, maybe I shouldn't have spent all that money on hundreds of watches with a non-traditional design.
I was wrong. All of you proved me wrong.
Going into watches and horology may have been one of the best choices I've made. Sure, my vision is a little worse and more of my hair may have fallen out over the countless 60, sometimes 70 hour weeks over the past 2 years, but I learned an incredible amount. We learned how to form hairsprings.
We learned how to refinish cases and bracelets. We learned how to machine things on the lathe, often having fabricate replacement parts or make repairs ourselves, the lathes older than some of us. We became problem solvers.
We learned the properties of metal, how to temper and quench it, understand it's properties when given different surface finishes. Some of us even learned to quench our tempers, as hours and hours of labor could often be undone in a single moment; a slip of the graver, too much play in a worn cross-slide or milling attachment. We all grew and learned together.
And it's just the beginning.
Many of us will go on to different parts of the country, or world, pursuing different paths, beginning careers. Feeling the top of our game only to be humbled again by the real world, problems that we've never witnessed in school. For me, I made a deal with my supporters, as Orion was blossoming (it was a tough germination!) I promised that the goal of Orion:1 was to support my tenure through watch school, as I write this, it has been a huge success, only 5 left in stock. I'm amazed, I'm humbled, and I'm so happy to have a wonderful group of people supporting me. I'm sorry if i was short in messages or missed your e-mail out right, I often found myself going well into my sleep budget these past 2 years. I digress. The Orion Project was a huge success, and I was scared at first, but now I'm confident.
So what's the next step? The Orion HQ. I'm looking to buy a place to setup as a shop and base of operations (I'm looking at you, Denver!). Here's the plan: I want to manufacture horology here in the USA, but if you don't strike with precision, that's something you could squander millions on and still not make any real progress. The Calamity and upcoming Orion II, not only are a promise to innovate and push boundaries on watch design, but will fund tools and machinery as well as the Orion HQ itself. Once the base is setup, the aim is to not only work on developing the skills and team to do everything in house, not yet, but to become an independent service center. With Orion II and Calamity's moving, watch repairs coming in, I'll be able to grow Orion and most importantly, hire Team Orion. From there, making use of global manufacturing and our servicing we'll begin manufacturing products and learning what it takes to do everything ourselves.
See that channel worn into the pivot?
Before I started this journey I was daunted, my goals seemed insurmountable-but I had to try. I know now, what lays before me will be an even greater challenge. And I couldn't be more excited to step up to the plate. Lets keep the momentum going, and I'll see you out in the world.
