TRIWA and Herr Judit
Swedish brands collaborate in watchmaking
Choosing for its name the acronym for “Transforming the Industry of Watches”, Stockholm-based TRIWA sets itself up as a plucky brand of self-proclaimed leaders in their field. The still relatively young brand has evolved from a plastic-dominated offering to a strong line of crisply designed, reasonably priced timepieces and this Spring, TRIWA debuts its latest model, an affordable up-market collaboration with Swedish haberdashery Herr Judit that marks the company’s first automatic-winding model.
Last year the company contacted Herr Judit founder Christian Quaglia to collaborate after seeing one of his previous joint efforts. “I didn’t really know much about TRIWA just that it did plastic watches in different colors,” explains Quaglia whose primary condition to the project was that the piece would have to be done properly if it was to be done at all.
“Eventually we met for a little chat and to discuss what they had in mind. I unveiled my idea—or, rather, outlined my personal demand—that we create a mechanical timepiece. A real watch, not battery driven as with TRIWA’s other previous offerings,” says Quaglia.
The parties started from scratch, and Quaglia worked closely with one of TRIWA’s designers to lift source material and images to give the watch its 1940s grounding and visual references. “The collaboration was much easier than I had feared and we soon began to realize our shared ideas really intuitively and naturally,” he says.
Together they created a distinct piece with a classic tortoise-like acetate face and modern stainless steel to prevent premature dating. The backplate is transparent to reveal the mechanical movement, which is shielded partially by a leather band from Tärnsjö—the same region responsible for the watch’s movement.
TRIWA & Herr Judit Automatic was released in a limited run, numbered 1-200 and available online for $375.
