Deep Dive

Matthew de Bakker, co‑founder of Singapore‑based Atelier Holgur, discusses how his independent watch brand couples his passion for watches with his love of ocean conservation

- Annabel Tan

About three years ago, Matthew de Bakker received a message from a close friend from high school in France, where he grew up, who asked if he knew anything about watches. That friend, Asbjørn Simonen‑Andersen, was thinking of making one.

The answer was an emphatic yes, for De Bakker’s interest in watches started from a fascination with watch advertisements as a young boy and receiving Swatch watches from his father, which later developed into building his own collection of about 30 watches as an adult.

Call it kismet or a coincidence: not only did he have a passion for horology, but De Bakker, who is based in Singapore, had also been toying with the same idea of creating a watch. “At the time, I was also thinking [that] if I were to make a watch, what would it be?” he recounts. “What would Matthew de Bakker be as a watch?”

One thing led to another, and the duo worked on their concept and reached out to manufacturers for quotes. “At that point, we didn’t really see it growing into a real business. It was just a fun project,” says De Bakker. “If it takes off, it takes off, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter because we would have had fun together. But as we went through the process of thinking of what kind of watch we wanted to make and what kind of company it would be, it started turning into a lot more. And it became a lot clearer that this would be a lot bigger than just a small project between friends.”