Interview: Levenaig Watches – Swedish independent watchmaking

Swedish watch manufacturing is holding up and thriving. Within the country we find everything from makers of entry level watches on through a well filled mid segment and all the way to watchmaking of the higher school. And new players pop up at regular intervals to widen the offering further. There is simply movement on the Swedish watch scene. One Swedish player that has not made much noise about itself despite having existed for a few years and released several models is the independent manufacturer Levenaig Watches. Eqotime has had a chat with the owner and founder Holme Finnilä.

Levenaig Watches

There is no mistaking that Holme Finnilä is a true watch enthusiast and his interest in watches has stayed with him ever since childhood.

– I think my interest in watches was awakened more or less by chance. As a little one I started collecting watches after having seen the opening scene in the first Back to the Future film, Holme tells us.

The step to starting his own manufacturing is not equally accidental. The idea was awakened as early as 2013.

– In 2013 a colleague and I came up with the idea that we should perhaps each buy a watch. It was to be a slightly finer model. I knew exactly what design language I was after. It would be made in bronze and be reminiscent of 1930s diving equipment. Unfortunately I realised fairly soon that there were no such watches to buy. My colleague then had the decisive idea. He knew after all that I had basically grown up in my father’s mechanical workshop (Wasa Motor HB) and therefore suggested that I should buy a mechanical movement and then manufacture the rest myself. And so it became.

The starting material for the case became an old propeller shaft bearing in bronze from a boat and the lugs were made from a piece of brass that was lying around in the workshop.

– The two crystals came from an IKEA photo frame that I smashed and ground down into two round crystals. If anyone at IKEA is reading this then I suppose I should apologise, but at the same time it should be underlined that this is the only photo frame I have demolished.

Material from an outboard

The dial and the movement holder were manufactured from a piece of material that fifteen years earlier had been acquired to make new crank bearings for an outboard motor. When the first watch was finished Holme immediately started sketching a new model. At the same time his colleagues at work began to open their eyes to the watches and suddenly orders for tailor-made watches came in.

– Since I still enjoy the whole process around watch manufacturing, including the construction work, it has just rolled on. Or ”ticked on” perhaps one should say to get in a bit of Gothenburg humour too, says Holme, whose manufacturing takes place in Olstorp outside precisely Gothenburg.

Manufacturing watches under his own brand gives a further dimension according to Holme.

– It is fun to be able to give the watches and the whole brand their very own, personal stamp which in my case means taking inspiration partly from my upbringing on a small island without a ferry connection. And partly from my work as an engineer within ship construction.

Focus on cases, dials and hands

In production the focus is on the manufacture of cases, hands and dials. The movements are bought in finished primarily from Swiss Selitta but also from Japanese Miyota.

– Today I as a rule make no major adjustments to the movements as regards the finish. Sometimes it has happened that I have coloured screws and made some adjustment in the mechanics. In the cases where I change the mechanics the movement gets its own Levenaig designation. I do that to avoid problems arising in the future if a watchmaker somewhere in the world believes that the movement only contains original parts.

Standard components such as crystals, o-rings and spring bars for the straps are also bought in. But when it comes to the rest of the watch Holme manufactures everything from scratch. Everything from case, case back, dial and hands to crowns, to the wooden box the watch is delivered in. And not least all the parts needed to hold the movement and dial in place.

– Even the tiny coil sprigns inside the screw-down crowns I have on certain models are manufactured by me.

– Straps are also something I buy in. For a period I made my own straps. But I realised fairly soon that they were not as good as other manufacturers’ products so nowadays I buy them in instead.

Not his own movements, yet

Manufacturing his own movements is a thought Holme has entertained. But there are several reasons why he refrains.

– Apart from when it comes to jewels and hairspring I could probably manufacture movements myself too but I have chosen to refrain. A few years ago I was in the middle of developing methods for manufacturing the different parts in a movement. At the same time I happened to see a documentary about extremely driven watchmakers who put all their time into manufacturing advanced movements. I realised that if you start manufacturing movements by hand the risk is great that it becomes more than a full time occupation. And I felt that at least for the moment it is quite enough to manufacture the rest of the watch on my own.

But there is also an economic aspect according to Holme.

– The other reason is the economic aspect. If I were to make the movements myself the price for a watch would rise to a completely different level. That is a different market and I do not like the idea of my watches becoming status symbols. I usually say that if my watches had personalities they would be friendly and modest.

Odd choices of material

The watches from Levenaig are manufactured in several unconventional and exciting materials. Here there are materials such as bronze, brass and aluminium.

– I like the colour contrasts that arise when you combine for example bronze and aluminium. Or also the visible silver solder joints against a surface of bronze. Moreover bronze and brass are of course materials that have long existed within marine engineering. The parts that come into contact with skin when the watches are worn are as a rule made in titanium so as not to be toxic or allergy inducing, Holme tells us.

Basic Luxury Watches

The reception of the watches from Levenaig has according to Holme been very positve. And among the customers are found both women and men with a varyign degree of interest in watches.

– I think the common denominator is a genuine interest in craft and that you are after something unique. Which all Levenaig watches of course are. And since the movements are not manufactured inhouse at present I can price-wise place myself within the category ”Basic Luxury Watches”. My watches are reasonably accessible price-wise.

A watch from Levenaig starts with a list price of around 20 thousand. Which has to be said is a relatively low price considering that the whole watch is hand built. And precisely that it is a matter of hand built watches with a large share of the components hand built on site in Sweden has been received with great curiosity and sometimes a little astonishment.

– My impression is that the watches have so far been received with great curiosity and interest. It is surprisingly many who at first do not want to believe that I actually make quite so much of the watch myself. It is not unusual that people ask something along the lines of ”okay, so then you buy all the parts and put them together yourself, right?”, Holme tells us.

At present the watches are sold only via Levenaig’s own webshop and Holme’s plan is to make haste slowly.

– Today the watches are sold only via my site. Since I make the watches myself I only manage to produce a limited number of examples per year. So in practice it becomes a little impractical to make use of retailers. But I do not rule out that Levenaig Watches will at some point in the future be seen in other shops.