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This CD Is Designing Wrist Watches For Chefs and Screenwriters
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25/08/2026
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Enigma’s Aldo Ferretto told Tess Connery-Britten after falling down YouTube rabbit holes at 3am, “I just became absolutely obsessed with the mechanism, with the internal movements,” and decided to set up a micro brand
Outside of his day job as Enigma’s creative director and head of art, Aldo Ferretto has developed an obsession with wrist watches so intense, he’s now making his own.
“Most people get into it because their dad gave them a watch or, they simply like watches and whatnot. Mine was different,” he told LBB.
“I never liked to wear things on me – I don’t have any tattoos, I resented watches in general because I have a phone.
“Why do I need something else to tell me the time? And why do I need something that I need to change the battery on or worry about?”
That changed when he discovered ‘Wristwatch Revival’, a YouTube channel hosted by Canadian watchmaker Marshall Sutcliffe, who takes apart and services old watches.
“I just became absolutely obsessed with the mechanism, with the internal movements of the watches, to the point that I found myself at 1, 2, 3am, still watching his channel. That’s where everything started.”
The late night deep-dives eventually expanded. “For someone who likes tools and little things, the art direction and the design fit into that,” he said.
“I went and bought a bunch of tools and I taught myself to open some watches. I got a few watches from eBay, I remember getting a couple of pocket watches because they’re slightly bigger, so they’re good for practice.”
The hobby “reminds me a lot of cars,” laughed Aldo. “I always loved cars. I’ve never had the space to actually repair a car, but I do have the space to repair watches.”
Six months ago, Aldo began developing the foundations of his own micro watch brand, applying the same problem-solving skills he brings to briefs at Enigma.
“It’s been this journey as a creative person. You apply the, ‘Is there anything new to think about in watches?’ [question] the same way that you go into a brief. If watchmaking and innovation is a brief, what hasn’t been done? Where can we do some interesting innovation?
“It’s not probably going to come from the tech side, it’s not going to come from design. But idea-wise, can something interesting be brought into watchmaking from Australia, from a place that is not well-known for watches?”
Many watches available today were originally designed for those in particular professions – including field watches, submariner watches, sailing watches, and train watches.
“They’re all tied to categories where when watches were invented, they really had a real function – train watches were timed to trains so the trains don’t crash and so on,” said Aldo.
“It came to me: there is no watch for a chef, and a chef is completely connected to time. I started to find that there were lots more disciplines that haven’t been celebrated by the world of watches, and I got really excited about that.
“I thought, ‘Okay, what does the chef watch look like? What does the screenwriter’s watch look like?’ These other disciplines that are tied to time in some way, what would it look like if we had to put a watch on the wrist of one of these people?”
The chef watch will be the first to move into production, with Aldo now working through the practicalities of bringing the design to life.
“I have decided the chef watch will be the first watch of the collection, and I’m deep down into design, CNC [computer numerical control, an automated manufacturing process], and contacting suppliers all around the world to see how I’m going to make it.
There is a wider community of watchmakers in Australia, with third-generation master-watchmaker Nicholas Hacko being one Aldo laughed he has been “stalking to see what they’re doing.
“Nicholas Hacko seems to be one of the big representatives within this community, mainly because it’s one of a few watchmakers that are bringing machines to Australia. If you were to make a micro brand here in Australia, you will most likely need toer from Japan, Germany or Switzerland. This guy seems to be more interested in getting the machines here – let’s get the knowledge here and let’s start making some things here
“The watchmaking industry has had an awakening in Australia, but it’s still far from places like Glashütte in Germany, or in Switzerland where there are towns who live around a watch brand.”
People in association withThe Monthly Cut
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