Alterum
Operating in a wholly different industry, Justin founded his brand out of passion and manages it as a side pursuit, yet with a rare clarity of vision and an outstanding design approach.
The Alterum story begins with a lesson in simplicity — designing less, cutting away the chaos, to simplify. Simplicity is beautiful. It is brutal, it is harsh, but when nothing else can be added or removed, it becomes truth. And the truth endures. At the core of Alterum lies a philosophy that values clarity over complexity, where every detail serves a purpose. Inspired by the clean lines and understated beautyf ound in modern architecture and early examples of industrial design, Alterum is a testament to the belief that less can be more. Minimal design, meaningful philosophy. With this premise, we set out to create a hybrid American-Swiss watch brand that expresses the beautiful, brutal simplicity of American design and the expertise of Swiss watchmaking.
Drawing from his design work, we evaluated and selected the most suitable construction options for the case and produced the complete engineering plans. A functional prototype validated the entire process, allowing our supply chain team to proceed with component procurement. RH’s quality control, testing, and assembly services ultimately enabled the successful realization of ALTERUM.
Worldtimer
“The first challenge was the size of the watch. I was really determined that the watch be no larger than 39mm in diameter and 10.5mm inthickness. My generation has seen a shift away from the large watches of the past and back to classic dimensions and proportions. Also, as an American brand, I wanted to be democratic and universal; I wanted to fit on anyone’s wrist. Second, I wanted to create an elegant integrated bracelet watch, because as an American, I wanted it to be adaptable with any style. This should be the perfect ‘white Tshirt watch’ because that’s America. But it should also look and feel sophisticated enough to be cool even in a suit.”“We worked a lot on the integration of the bracelet with the case to create a sort of ‘lugless’ design [and] to really create a sense of architecture on the wrist. We wanted the bracelet to taper elegantly at the back of the wrist. Similarly, the stepped bezel is not only a nodt o the tiered structure of the Guggenheim, but also to some of my favorite vintage watches .”
