Toronto Duo Brings Fashion Scene Experience to the Watch World
After working together for some time in the corporate world, Jess Chow and Sunny Fong stumbled across an opportunity that would shape the creation of their new brand, Vieren Watches. Jess’ parents were both veterans of the watch industry, having met at Baselworld (of all places) some 40+ years ago. Sunny Fong, on the other hand, was a Project Runway alum, and the founder/creative director of the Toronto-based fashion label VAWK. The pair found themselves with a mutual attachment to mechanical watchmaking, and over time, began laying the groundwork for the launch of Vieren in March of 2020.
The brand’s initial offering — dubbed the OG Automatic — leverages the high-level skill of Swiss manufacturing, designed through a lens heavily influenced by the fashion world without falling for the tropes of the typical budget-friendly fashion watch. The OG Automatic’s crisp rectangular cases measure a modest 27mm wide by 41.6mm from lug to lug, running close to the proportions of a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. While narrow, these dimensions make the freshman reference well suited to just about any wrist size, and the addition of a seven-link brick-pattern bracelet provides a suitable amount of heft to keep the watch from feeling too dainty.
While mostly monochromatic, white dial variants of the OG Automatic provide a minor touch of contrast. A polished 18k gold rehaut provides a perimeter accent — a nod to the two-tone watches that are falling back into favour these days, without going for a full-blown two-tone case and bracelet. Back to said bracelets for a moment, we were pleasantly surprised to see the use of a butterfly-style clasp, helping maintain a relatively slender profile on the inside of the wearer’s wrist.
The most out-of-the-ordinary offering from Vieren thus far is without question the Black Croc model. One of a handful of places where we see Fong’s fashion world influence in the overall design of the watch, these references use calfskin leather that is embossed with a pattern to replicate the look of crocodile skin (no crocs harmed here), which is then used for both the straps and dials of these watches. At present, we can only think of Hublot as another luxury watch brand to use a leather dial of any sorts — it’s out of the ordinary, yet the look works surprisingly well.
Powering these automatic watches is an ETA-supplied caliber, the compact 2671 to be precise. Design choices aside, it’s nice to see a new player that walks the line of fashion without relying on cheap and disposable quartz movements in its watches.
All told, it’s a strong effort considering neither Chow nor Fong entered this project with direct past experience in watchmaking. If we’re being critical — as we must — for an entry price of $2,350 we’d like to see a more detailed set of hands fitted to indicate the time, but otherwise it’s a solid offering that has fairly mass-market appeal. The OG Automatic won’t be for everyone, but considering only 100 of each reference have been produced, it also doesn’t have to be. Either way, we’re eager to see where the brand goes from here.
Learn more about Vieren Watches here.
