Back in 2017, when Oliver and I were discussing how to present our next exciting launch - the Haskell - we decided that we needed a new box. The Cherwell, Derwent and Lomond were all shipped in small tray boxes; efficient packaging to deliver our first tentative steps into the watch world. However, we wanted something a little more befitting of the Haskell, our first Swiss Made design. After a spot of research we settled on a something that we both really liked - a classic hinged box coated in matte black paint - and inside this box we decided to have a small leather patch with our logo debossed. However, the more we chatted, the more we thought this little patch should celebrate all that encompassed Marloe Watch Company. An afternoon was spent discussing what Marloe stood for, what we stood for, our brand values, and as the dust settled we became wedded to “Beyond Expectation”. It signified who we were, what we wanted to achieve and what people had fed back to us as their experience - that feedback was always that we were going beyond what was expected of us, of any brand. 

And so it remained for the next 5 years, emblazoned on our literature, website, packaging, our Land Rover and merchandise; the phrase “Beyond Expectation” has resonated in everything we've done since the Haskell launch. However, more recently we've thought about our trajectory, and the more we discussed it, the more the phrase started to feel a bit distant from our position. Yes, we still go beyond every expectation asked of us, from watch quality to in-box inclusions, to our communication and presentation, but Beyond Expectation has become more about what we do, not who we are. And now in our 7th year, our reputation is more established than ever, so we went back to the drawing board to explore our inner soul.

In parallel, our marketing strategy was developing and we started chatting to a new branding agency who had some really interesting ideas. We hit it off immediately - we worked with them on a creative process to properly firm up, once and for all, what we wanted to say as Oliver and Gordon, as Marloe Watch Company, and what our position in this tumultuous industry was. Somehow they were able to contextualise exactly who we were and what we stood for within a couple of meetings. The whole process took around 3 months, during which we spoke at length about what we do, how we do it and where we see ourselves in 5-10 years. The result was a resolved brand book which captures “us”, and allows us to hand that brand book to people who we work with - photographers, PR firms, creatives - as well as being a de facto blueprint for how we present our brand to the world.

In this exercise we also spoke of taglines - the thing that sits alongside our logo to state who we are in a few words, and despite many fabulous phrases found in the process, we kept coming back to the same one. It says everything we want it to: Time Well Spent. The connotations are many - Oliver and I spend our time creating beautifully designed, incredible quality watches. That’s definitely time well spent in our book. Our watches offer huge value and quality for accessible pricing - that’s money spent well, on time. We’ve shifted our area of interest away from the outdoorsy type, adventurous spirit because we’re not Garmin or Suunto, the guys who make timepieces for the adventurers. We’re more about the craft, about the pursuit of the sublime; the people who have a firm focus and direction, who execute ideas or pursue hobbies for the main goal of being happy; that’s us in a nutshell and typifies the sentiment of Time Well Spent.

Marloe Watch Company. Time Well Spent. I can’t help but smile when I see those two phrases together, because I know how far we’ve come in our journey, and how many incredible experiences Oliver and I have been through, both positive and negative. After all, we remain; not just standing, but poised ready for the next challenge. And what a challenging time it is, to be a small company like ours operating in an elevated state of emergency currently propagating through every facet of our lives right now. Every day we face new questions that demand our immediate action, and working through those processes takes a lot of time, but it keeps us on the straight and narrow - Time Well Spent.

We’ve soft-launched our new branding, despite planning to shout about it louder, because we are cognisant of what’s happening in the world right now and what’s important to people; a branding tweak from a small watch company is not high on the agenda right now. But we wanted to let you know that we’ve shifted our direction slightly, and that you may see a few things sneaking into your watch boxes with our new hallowed words - you can even head over to our About us page for even more on our new tagline. We hope you like it too, and whatever it is that you’re doing, we hope it’s Time Well Spent.