A family name, and a workshop in Krugersdorp
KRUGER is a family name. The man who carried it was dependable in the plain sense of the word: he was there, he did what he said he would, and he did not expect to be thanked for it. We took the name because we wanted to be held to that.
We are a small workshop in Krugersdorp. We design timepieces around a single occasion in someone’s life, then assemble and finish them here, one at a time. Most of the people we build for are marking something: a marriage, a child, a milestone birthday, a year that changed the shape of things.
A watch is an unusual gift because it gets worn. Twenty years on it is still running, and it still means what it meant the day it was given.
It goes to work and on holiday. It is on the wrist when the next important thing happens. Because the piece will be looked at every day for a very long time, we take the design seriously, and we take the occasion behind it seriously too.
When you commission one for someone else, you are giving them a permanent, wearable reminder of what they mean to you. We think that is worth doing carefully, which is why every piece goes out under the family name and gets the same attention, including the parts only the wearer will ever see.
How a KRUGER is made
Each piece starts as a design brief and ends as a finished timepiece, and almost everything in between is decided with you.
The movement can be a reliable quartz, a Seiko NH35 automatic, or an open-worked skeleton calibre, depending on what the piece is for and how it should feel on the wrist. Case and crystal are chosen to suit the design and the budget. Straps run from a stainless steel bracelet to a hand-made leather strap cut to your wrist measurement. We advise on all of it, and we will say so when we think a choice is wrong, but the decisions are yours.
The dial is where most of our own work goes. It is designed for the piece, drawn by hand, and made to the design you approved. It is the part nobody else will have.
Assembled in Krugersdorp
Every piece is assembled and finished in our own workshop. We do not send that work out, and we check every component before the case is closed.
Recorded
Each timepiece is logged in our registry under its own serial number, and leaves with a letter of authentication.
Explained
It also leaves with a letter from us to the wearer, saying what the piece was made to mark. We write it with you, so it says what you want it to say.
Looked after
We service and repair what we make. Six months on parts with maintenance included, and a reduced rate for returning customers after that.
Afterwards
A timepiece is worth more to its owner after ten years than after one. We would like to still be the people looking after it then, so we stay in touch, and when it needs attention it comes back to us.
The full specification is set out in writing and agreed with you before a single part is ordered.
What a watch is for now
For most of its history a watch had one job. Every screen in the room does that job now, which has left the watch free to do something better. A mechanical piece runs on the movement of your own arm. It runs because you are living, and it will still be running at the next thing that matters.
Most gifts mark an occasion and then go into a drawer. A watch is worn. Each time the wearer looks at it, the reason it was given is briefly there again, and years later it is handed on with all of that still in it.
So a commission starts with one question: what should this piece carry?
Every line records something
How we design our own collections. A commission can follow this, or ignore it entirely.
From far enough away, they are simply lines.
A contour map is an abstract pattern until you learn it is a particular hill. The rings inside a tree are quiet marks until you learn that each one is a year — and that they are never quite circular, because they form around an off-centre heart and record the years the tree actually had.
Both are the same idea: a set of irregular lines that mean nothing at all, until you know what they record.
For our own collections we design dials the same way: the outline of a landscape that matters, or the geometry of a span of years, drawn so that it reads as pattern to most people and as a place or a time to the few who know.
This is how we design our own collections. A commission does not have to follow it. The design language for a commission is whatever you bring to the first conversation.
A timepiece designed around your moment
You tell us what the piece should mark. We design it with you, from the first sketch to the finished watch.
How the design happens
We start with what the piece is for and who it is for. Then we design outward from that, and you see the work at every stage, so nothing in the finished piece is a surprise to you.
The occasion goes into the design itself. It might be the outline of a landscape that matters to you, the rings of a span of years, or a form that only two people would recognise. To everyone else it is a good-looking dial. To the wearer it is obviously theirs.
Some people want that kept private, readable only by them. Others want it plain. We do either, and the first conversation is usually where that gets decided.
What you choose
Every element is open. We advise at each step, and you decide.
The movement
Quartz for accuracy and simplicity, a Seiko NH35 automatic for a mechanical piece any watchmaker can service, or a skeleton calibre if you want the mechanism on show. We will tell you which suits the design.
The case and crystal
Chosen to suit the piece and the budget. We measure your wrist and advise on size, because a watch that sits right is a watch that gets worn.
The dial
From one of our own designs to something drawn entirely for you. This is where the occasion takes visual form, and it is where we spend most of our time.
The hands
More shapes and finishes are available than most people realise. A small choice with a large effect on the character of the piece.
The strap
A stainless steel bracelet, a hand-made leather strap, or anything between the two, cut to your wrist.
The engraving and the record
The serial number on the caseback as standard, plus whatever else you want said. And the letter that goes with the piece, written with you.
If you can picture it, we can build it. Most people cannot picture it at the start, and that is what the first conversation is for.
How a commission works
Five stages over a few months. You see everything before it is made, and nothing is ordered until the specification is agreed in writing.
The conversation
We sit down together, in person if you are near Krugersdorp and on a call if not, and talk through what the piece should mark and who it is for. Usually about an hour. There is no charge and no obligation.
The drawing
We work from that conversation into sketches, then finished renders, and show you the piece at each stage. It changes as often as it needs to. Nothing moves forward until you can see exactly what you will receive.
The specification
Case, movement, crystal, hands, strap and finish, each chosen with our guidance. This is where the piece is costed and confirmed in writing, and a 50% deposit begins the making. The balance is due on delivery.
The making
Assembled and finished by hand, with every component checked before the case is closed. This takes months, and it is the stage that decides how well the piece ages.
The handover, and afterwards
You receive the piece, its drawings, its serial number, its letter of authentication, and the letter that says what it was made to mark. After that we stay in touch, and we remain the people who look after it.
Quoted per piece
No two commissions are the same, so there is no list price. You will have a realistic range in the first conversation, before any work begins, and a fixed written price before anything is ordered.
The house collections
These are our own dial designs: landscape contours, growth rings, and in some cases both. They show what we do when the brief is ours.
A commission is not limited to any of this. It starts from your idea.
Ask us anything at all
If there is something you want to know before you begin, ask. We would rather answer a question now than have you guess.
Some people know exactly what they want to capture and simply need to know how to start. Others have a feeling rather than an idea, and want to talk it through before committing to anything. Both conversations are welcome, and neither costs anything.
We are happy to arrange a meeting, take a call, or answer questions over WhatsApp, whichever suits you.
Call or WhatsApp 068 638 4012, or write to sales@krugerwatches.co.za.
Tell us what you would like to capture
Send us the outline and we will be in touch shortly to arrange a conversation, where we can go through it properly.
You are just as welcome to call or WhatsApp 068 638 4012, or write to sales@krugerwatches.co.za.
Our own collections
Alongside commissions, we design limited series of our own.
These are small production runs designed in-house and drawn from what surrounds us: South African wildlife, our culture, and the history of the country we work in. Each series is numbered and finite.
We also collaborate with South African artists and designers on collections of their own, giving their work a form that will be worn for decades.
Same workshop, same registry, same care as a commission. The difference is that we chose the story on the dial.
See the collections