With a love for things that last forever combined with a sentimental reminder of home is VIEREN the one-year-old Swiss watch collection, manufactured in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Seen at their first retail footprint are Jess Chow, co-founder and powerhouse female who grew up in the watchmaking industry, and Sunny Fong, winner of Project Runway Canada who serves as the brand’s creative director.
A collection that speaks to the digital generation that acts as a constant reminder to do things and not stand still. Much like their automatic watches powered by movement.
The Knockturnal: How did you get into watchmaking?
Sunny Fong: I met Jess, we were working together in corporate, we worked together really well, and she told me that her family was in watches. So I used to be in fashion, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do our own things. We quit our jobs and just did it.
The Knockturnal: How did your individual styles trickle in to the collection?
Sunny Fong: Jess likes my style, which is amazing, but we both have the same point of view in terms of what we love. So naturally, everything that we did clicked.
The Knockturnal: Does one-piece stand out to you more than the others?
Sunng Fong: We have different relationships with everything. Usually, I’ll tell her my idea, and then she gets it, but usually, there’s this natural connection – if there was a lot of conflict it wouldn’t work out!
The Knockturnal: What do you want people to take away from this collection?
Sunny Fong: I want people to appreciate watches again. There was a time when people loved timepieces, it was a sentimental piece. With the world of fast fashion, everything has become that way too, when I think about wearing an automatic watch it lasts forever. My sister asks me why I didn’t do a smartwatch. My automatic watch would outlast my smartwatch any day! No downloading any new software or anything.
The reason we went automatic was because I started wearing my dads’ automatic watch and then I needed some sort of motivation like if I wear it I’m out that means I’m powering my watch. I like that idea that I can use this sentimentally as a reminder to do things. Jess agreed right away!
The Knockturnal: Where does #poweryourtime come from?
It’s kind of the just do it mantra.
The Knockturnal: What do you hope for your next collection?
Sunny Fong: Hopefully we want to play around with more textures and materials and try something new. You can see the evolution of where our design is going, the matte white to the black diamonds, the leather is where the new path we are taking. We want to appeal to a new generation, it needs that inspiration.
The Knockturnal: Do you have a favorite?
Sunny Fong: The newest one is my favorite because I can’t wait to put it out into the world.
Jess, whose parents both were watchmakers took the leap to feel closer to home and her family. The collection is a love story to her family for missing out on the special moments in life.
The Knockturnal: How did you get into watchmaking?
Jess Chow: My parents are both into watchmaking, they met at BASELWORLD like 40 years. The both independently make watches, so growing up we would visit factories and talk about it a lot, but I actually hated it. I just wanted a break, I wanted to do something different, I went to Toronto and I was a management consultant actually for ten years. I was working a lot, it was exciting to learn things. I turned 40 and it just felt like work. VIEREN is like a love letter to my family.
I felt like I wasn’t spending enough time with the things or people I care about. Vieren means celebrate, in Dutch. It reminds us to celebrate the meaningful moments and when I look at my watch, it reminds me of home.
The Knockturnal: What do you hope people will take away from this collection?
Jess Chow: I feel like the world is so digital these days, we are looking at screens where this becomes a return to slowness. It’s a reminder to be present.
Also, Sunny works in leather in all his collections so this acts as a nod to his fashion!
The Knockturnal: What is happening in next collection?
Jess Chow: With us, we never have a shortage of ideas, we never know what to do with them. So, this is an opportunity and a way of getting it out there and hear some feedback to see what people are interested in. We are taking this opportunity to listen, and share pieces that are new and different.
This dynamic duo from Toronto are on a quest to transform the luxury watch landscape, into appreciating an automatic watch for what it is, a collectible item that lasts forever…
