Doesn’t time fly? In a bit of irony, time has lost a little of its meaning for us - we’re constantly chasing “what’s next” and doing what we can to keep things moving along smoothly.

As we head into a new financial year, we’re making lots of progress in many facets of the Marloe world, and it’s a really positive time - we feel positive and things in the world are, in general terms, starting to look positive too.

In January, we updated you with where we were at and it was a reflective time, just through Christmas and the huge surge of new customers, launching the Atlantic and the Coniston Black Edition at the tail end of last year - which made a positive impact on our business. This year so far we’ve already launched the Bonneville and Eyre, which had a great reception. Our partnership with the Campbell Family Heritage Trust is really special and brings us even closer to the two men who triumphed over adversity, breaking the barriers of speed.

Lots of new and exciting things are starting to happen on the production front - the Solent is due to arrive at the beginning of June, the Pacific is being manufactured as we speak, and the Apollo, 35mm and Subaquatic are in the early stages of production too. The product pipeline for this and next year is looking great. The 35mm and the Subaquatic are a bit different to the last time we showed you pictures, mainly due to natural project development as we move from initial concept to more resolved designs, and thinking where each of these new designs will sit in our range, what they represent and mean to us. Now that the projects are live - they’ve been submitted to the manufacturer - the realities and complexities of bringing these designs to market start - the finer details that must be discussed and ironed out, oftentimes creatively thinking through little tweaks to achieve, aesthetically, the same outcome but with manufacturing compromises or tolerances addressed. The more times we go through the manufacture cycle, the more we learn and can input into the next project we start.

The significance of the Global and the process we went through in thinking about it has had huge, irreversible changes on all of us here at Marloe. 

The Apollo project - that’s just our internal designation, the final range won’t be called that - is a different kettle of fish. A square chassis with round internals is more complex than you’d imagine, especially if, like me, you’re trying to keep everything slim and efficient. We’ve done a bit of prototyping now to get a feel for how a square watch works and the sizing of it, on the wrist, in the hand, in the computer - and what it all means for manufacturing. A 40mm square watch, just due to the nature of it being square, wears more like a 43 or 44mm round watch, so that in itself has dictated the direction of the project. As usual we’re coming at this from a Marloe angle and trying to be as original in design as we can, so our manufacturing partner has been grappling a little with our original designs to fit their manufacturing methods. It’s looking great already - we are lucky to have partners who are engaged and enthusiastic about working with us too, which makes the final product that much better, when everyone is invested in it.

Progression, not perfection.

Two weeks ago we launched a new iteration of the Haskell. The significance of the Global and the process we went through in thinking about it has had huge, irreversible changes on all of us here at Marloe. 

For a long time now we’ve been becoming more globally aware of what’s going on and, with Stephanie returning in February, this awareness has ramped up significantly. She’s passionate about conscious living and her knowledge about climate change is significant. It feeds into a big shift in Marloe’s history this year, as we ramp up to move into our new HQ on the banks of Loch Leven. Our new office is nearing completion and, when we move in, will be completely off-grid - electricity is supplied by the sun, and heat is provided by the earth. Our friends at LBA who are building this creative community are really switched on to what the future needs to look like, and we’re so chuffed to be a part of it. This move to our new office will also mean Steph and I can walk or cycle to work - there’s electric car charging points being installed too, allowing the staff from both offices to convert to electric vehicles.

So I guess this will be the last video that comes out of the Perth office - the next video will likely come from our new place. It’s so exciting and daunting, with the plans we have for the Orwell HQ, what this move means for us as a business and our growth, but also as a place of our own, designed for us to flourish and grow within. It’s been 6 years since Oliver and I first crossed paths - I never thought for a second that we’d be where we are now, with such a promising future ahead of us. Every year gets busier and more challenging, but with that increase in complexity comes an increase in excitement - not to mention the enjoyment for what we are doing here, and as the business matures we have more understanding of what Marloe stands for and where it sits in the world.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us over these past 6 years, championed us as the guys who put quality before all else, shared your stories and joined our community of like minded people. It’s a genuine honour to see such passionate people engaging with us and our watches. 

Now that things are starting to look positive in the UK, with vaccines rolling out to more age groups, we are hoping we can soon start welcoming people to our new digs. It’s going to be another interesting year, that’s for sure.

It marks a shift in our business to a more environmentally aware position. We’ve been making little steps in all areas of our business to try and reduce our impact on the world, be it our packaging, our supply chain or our working environment - it’s slow work but we’re moving in the right direction, and with the mindset we have now it’ll only get better. The Haskell Global represents this adjustment to our attitudes in MWC and in our personal lives, and our underlying motivations going forward.

So I guess this will be the last video that comes out of the Perth office - the next video will likely come from our new place. It’s so exciting and daunting, with the plans we have for the Orwell HQ, what this move means for us as a business and our growth, but also as a place of our own, designed for us to flourish and grow within. It’s been 6 years since Oliver and I first crossed paths - I never thought for a second that we’d be where we are now, with such a promising future ahead of us. Every year gets busier and more challenging, but with that increase in complexity comes an increase in excitement - not to mention the enjoyment for what we are doing here, and as the business matures we have more understanding of what Marloe stands for and where it sits in the world.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us over these past 6 years, championed us as the guys who put quality before all else, shared your stories and joined our community of like minded people. It’s a genuine honour to see such passionate people engaging with us and our watches. 

Now that things are starting to look positive in the UK, with vaccines rolling out to more age groups, we are hoping we can soon start welcoming people to our new digs. It’s going to be another interesting year, that’s for sure.