WHEN COLLECTORS BUILD WATCHES

JOHNATHAN CHAN AND HIS CO-FOUNDERS AT EARTHEN TURN YEARS OF COLLECTING INTO CREATION, CREATING WATCHES THAT ARE PRECISE, PRAGMATIC, AND MADE FOR THE SLOPES.

- WORDS ANANDHI GOPINATH PHOTOS EARTHEN

THERE'S A DISTINCT ENERGY when a watch brand is started by someone who's spent years on the other side of the counter. Earthen, a new Hong Kong outfit founded by collectors, isn't trying to impress a boardroom. It's trying to impress the wrist. One of its founders, Johnathan Chan, also a co-founder of The Horology Club, summed it up nicely when we met during its launch in Malaysia. “We loved collaborating with brands, but you're always boxed in by their house codes. Starting Earthen meant we could chase the details we obsess over—proportions, finishing, how it actually wears—without compromise.”

For its debut, Earthen is launching The Summit Collection, a trio of ceramic pilot-and-field-watch hybrids designed for the outdoors, priced under US$1,000, and built to be worn, not displayed. “We ski. We wanted a watch that wasn’t a Garmin or an Apple Watch and also wasn't a pricey steel piece you're scared to knock. Ceramic doesn't scratch, and the colours pop beautifully against ski gear.”

That's the first insight into Earthen’s design philosophy: use the right material for the job, then obsess over the details. Ceramic here isn’t a luxury affectation; it’s a functional choice, elevated by painstaking finishing. “It's easy to make a ceramic case,” Chan says. “But it’s the finishing that really makes it sing.”

He and his team pushed suppliers for crisp bevels along the lugs, a mix of brushed and polished surfaces, and a case geometry that reads vintage but feels contemporary. “They were surprised,” he laughs. “They're used to people cutting corners. We told them, we want the bevel, we want the brushing. Yes, we know it costs more, but please do it.”