The founders of Hong Kong’s Nectere Watches on their first collection and lessons learned
Order From Chaos was launched with a successful Kickstarter campaign, but production and delivery were complicated by President Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariffs
Co-founders James Wong and Tony Yip are childhood friends, having been at junior school together. “We always had a common interest,” Wong says as we sit down to speak with him about the brand. “We used to collect trainers, then cameras, watches and even furniture.” Their common thread is a love of design.
According to Nectere’s materials, the Order From Chaos specifically takes cues from visual representations of chaos theory, a branch of mathematics that explores number systems whose patterns and outcomes can be radically affected by the slightest shifts in inputs. However, Wong shares that the inspiration goes even further back.
“We were having dinner together,” Wong recalls. “At first we were thinking of launching our own app, doing something more digital. But I noticed an oyster shell, and suddenly wanted to start a design based on how random [the lines on an] oyster shell are. That’s how we came to the chaos theory, because we can’t call the watch ‘Oyster’ since in the watch industry, an Oyster is a diver’s watch.”
Wong and Yip’s contrasting design tastes came together into something like harmony – or order, if you will. The Order From Chaos collection consequently comes in three dial colours – salmon, green and silver – housed in an asymmetrical lugless case with a stepped bezel.
Executing their design came with challenges. Nectere engaged a third designer to develop the watch, which required multiple rounds of 3D printing to get right, according to Wong. The suppliers found it challenging to cut sapphire crystals too, but back then Chinese factories were willing to try new things at lower quantities given the downturn at the time. This happily coincided with Chinese factories showing improving aptitude for watchmaking. There were also fewer language barriers.
The Order From Chaos is powered by the Seagull ST17 hand-wound movement from the Sea-Gull factory in Tianjin, whose first movements were developed after being tasked by the Chinese government with acquiring the then-luxury Venus 175 Swiss chronograph movement for use in military-issue watches in 1955. Today, the factory supplies movements for microbrands like Studio Underd0g, which used one of its calibres inside the colourful Av0cado and Guacam0le models, among its popular visuals-focused watches.