Front Range, Colorado
Made by hand.Made, to measure moments.
I'm building a small watch company from a bench in Colorado. The Delevery — my first reference concept, featuring a linen dial I hand-finish myself.
01 — How this started
I broke my back, and fell for watches.
Well, technically I didn't break my back, but I did have a serious back injury that kept me laid up for weeks. During that time I was introduced to watches, and what started as curiousity, became infatuation, became a passion.
What got me was never the logos. It was the trifecta of the mechanical ingenuity that captivated the 'lego kid' in me, the consequential history attached at the hip to innovation in timekeeping, and the opportunity for self expression that truly combined art and function.
02 — Learning the bench
So I built a collection. Literally.
From almost the beginning I ran parallel paths in my growing watch hobby. Half my time was spent researching, collecting, learning about and appreciating the work of others, and half of the time I taught myself to build my own. Sourcing movements, cases, dials and hands, learning what fits what, ruining a few parts and learning exactly why.
Eventually someone saw one of my pieces and asked whether I'd build them one. That first commission paid for the next set of tools, and those paid for the build after it. That's still how this works — the bench funds the hobby, funds the brand.
Correction - the bench funds a small part of the hobby...
03 — Why Delali
A name worth building toward.
While nearly no one knows me by it, Delali is actually my first name. In my father's West African tribal tongue, Delali translates most literally as deliverer. Culturally, though, it's often used to say 'the redeemer has come' or 'the savior lives'.
I have a deep respect for the craftmanship and true excellence in watchmaking and horology, both before me and by others today. With that in mind, my hope is that should Delali Watch Company exist, it not only be meaningfully additive to what's already here, but also a redemptive influence to the world around it - local, and perhaps, beyond.
Follow the journey
I write when something actually happens — a dial that worked, a part that didn't, a campaign date. Not often, and never filler.
04 — The first reference
Ref. 101, The Delevery.
The name blends delivery and every — the watch meant to be delivered, and then worn, every day. A 38mm hand-wound piece with a small seconds register, carrying a Creme Linen dial.
It's the core reference: the goal is to build and deliver this one watch properly, rather than a catalogue of them badly.
- Case
- 38mm, rose gold-tone
- Movement
- Hand-wound, small seconds
- Dial
- Creme Linen
- Water resistance
- 100m
05 — Delali linen dials
My first real contribution.
Most of the watch components I've built to date have been entirely sourced. These linen dials will be the first components I actually make and hand-finish myself.
They start with raw material, specifically blank brass, and end as a beautiful, lacquered linen dial. Each one unique, a fingerprint of its own. Modern watchmaking has gotten very good at perfect: enamel, lacquer, sunray brushing. I'm focusing first on the different register, a dial that still carries the grain of the hands that made it. My hands.
Creme Linen
Solid brass, satin creme over linen texture
The most restrained of the three. A warm, chalky creme that reads quietly against a dress shirt or a field jacket alike.
06 — What happens next
A first batch, funded honestly.
Rather than take pre-orders for something that doesn't physically exist yet, I'm building toward a small numbered first run — roughly ten to twelve pieces — before anything is offered for sale.
Nothing ships before the movements are regulated and a prototype has been worn long enough to find what's wrong with it.
Dial development
Continuing to refine the linen dial finish by hand, batch after batch.
A real prototype
A physical Ref. 101 built and worn long enough to find what's wrong with it, before anyone is asked to pay for one.
The campaign
A small numbered first run of The Delevery — roughly 10 to 12 pieces, to backers first.
A proper bench
A real workshop, and the room to take on more builds than I can fit around a kitchen table.
07 — The long game
Rooted somewhere, and useful to it.
I want DELALI to be a redemptive presence in the place it comes from, not just a brand that happens to be based here. That means building something that lifts up the community and the land around it.
Want one now
I'll build you one.
Ref. 101 isn't ready yet, but the bench is. Tell me what you have in mind and I'll come back with a real quote and a real timeline.
Commission a BuildWant to watch it happen
Follow the journey.
Dial experiments and prototype progress, before it's public.