Credits: Article and images by Ross Povey @ Revolution Watch Magazine. See the original article here - https://revolutionwatch.com/cool-britannia-studio-underd0g/
With one of the hottest trends in the watch market currently being micro‑brands, there has been a rise in cool interesting watches that punch above their weight in a dense horological marketplace. No micro‑brand has made as colorful and playful a splash as Studio Underd0g with collections such as Watermel0n and Mint Ch0c Chip. Founder Richard Benc has a background in corporate design, and with Studio Underd0g, he’s enjoyed playing around with his own ideas for a change.
Tell us about your first watch.
Back in 2003 when I was around 10 years old, I somehow convinced my parents to buy me a green Baby-G (by G-Shock). I can vividly recall being in school and looking at the digital display on my comically oversized watch, counting down the minutes until break- time, so I could head outside and play marbles or trade Pokémon cards with my friends!
Was this the moment you knew that you might one day start a watch brand?
The founding of Studio Underd0g was a bit of an accident, if I’m being honest. When the UK was put into lockdown, I found myself with ample free time (since the pubs were shut) so I started to tinker around with some designs that were on my mind and posted a few concept renders/ visuals online. The response I got from the community was overwhelmingly positive, which motivated me to continue to develop my ideas. In essence, Studio Underd0g was a passion project in that I was designing watches for myself and didn’t expect my approach to resonate with anyone else. I wish I could say that this was a strategic decision based on unwavering self-confidence, but the truth is that it didn’t cross my mind that Studio Underd0g would be something that I’d bring to market. I believe that this mindset was one of the core reasons for the success of the brand, as I didn’t set out with any commercial objectives, meaning my design decisions were unrestrained. I launched Studio Underd0g in March 2021.
Credits: Article and images by Ross Povey @ Revolution Watch Magazine. See the original article here - https://revolutionwatch.com/cool-britannia-studio-underd0g/