These stories, the first of which follows below, will be published during the year, with some kindly written by Simon de Burton and Kristian Haagen. 

It has been some quite fantastic and eventful years.

It started as an idea in early spring 2002 and became manifest on the 26th August when we registered LindeWerdelin.com – in those days a definite sign that one had arrived in this world.

The origins of Linde Werdelin go back to the early 1970’ies when Morten and I met in primary school and quickly became best of friends. We have throughout our lives shared many common interests such as skiing in the Alps, funk and soul music in the 80ies, architecture, SLR photography to name but a few. Importantly we also share aesthetical and cultural values – which created and still imbues the essence of Linde Werdelin.

Morten’s family was in the furniture retail business and my father was third generation in high end watch and jewellery retail. Growing up in Denmark in the 70’ies and 80’ies it was still unusual to go skiing in Switzerland but because my father went there to buy watches we skied there regularly – I suppose that was how my passion for both started.

Forwarding to the actual beginning of Linde Werdelin; I went heli skiing in Canada in early 2002 and found I couldn’t really leave my JLC Reverso in my room as there were no locks anywhere and I didn’t have much use for it on the mountain; when I was next in Copenhagen, Morten told me about a watch he was designing for Georg Jensen aimed at sailing – and with an interchangeable outer case and strap; and the rest really is history.

The first few years Morten and I travelled Switzerland to find suppliers and partners to develop our first watches and instruments. It was a great time of immersing ourselves into all the intricacies and stories of our industry – and to do a fair bit of skiing across the Alps. When we launched the first Biformeter watches and land instruments at the end of 2006 we felt we had conquered more than a mountain.

We soon gathered a team of people to work with us in Copenhagen and London while we took on the fairs of Geneva and Basel. When we attended our first Basel fair in March 2009 we fought both a financial crisis as well as torrential rain to get retailers and journalists to visit us in Hall 4. That fair was seminal to us – we had developed the first SpidoLite case with a Svend Andersen modified movement inside; and it was the watch everybody wanted to see – 44 pieces sold out before we knew about it.

After that, we decided to divide our watch families into the SpidoLite and the Oktopus. The first inspired by mountaineering and the need for minimal weight and the other inspired by sustaining life in the deep seas. We also divided Morten’s and my time so that I travelled quite intensively while Morten focused on new developments of watches – movements and materials.
 
In the years between 2010 and 2015 I travelled to 45 different countries all across the world, often covering six or seven countries over a few weeks visiting retailers, hosting events with existing and potential clients and meeting journalists. It was wonderful to meet all those people – some are still our clients and friends to this day.

The travelling allowed us to connect with watch enthusiasts all around the world while at the same time social media and direct selling combined to take Linde Werdelin in a new direction.
 
In 2016 we decided to attend the Basel fair for the last time and to focus on a more direct relationship with our clients. Made to order, limited production, customisation, pre-owned, servicing and sustainability became daily words and deeds we started living by. Many of these actions were ahead of their time and took time to implement and make successful.
 
In 2018 Morten decided to hand over the reins to me and the rest of the team to pursue other life and design interests. The design ethos remains true to our original idea and some of the design team still harks back to the beginning which gives great continuity. I am very much of the belief that we develop through evolution and according to what our clients desire from us.
 
Early in 2020 we learned about a new virus – COVID-19 – which meant for some very bizarre times ahead. I was skiing in early February and meant to go on a trip with journalist friends in the Italian Alps later in the season. That was cancelled as were most activities for the next year and a half.
 
However, Linde Werdelin unknowingly was well prepared to operate in that new paradigm. No retail, flexible and remote working, made to order and ability to scale up or down took us through unscathed – and ready to work into our third decade.
 
Today we have also launched a 20th anniversary piece. The Oktopus Moon 3DTP Black Ink. It is both our lightest watch and our darkest – as a first for us the dial is painted in ultra black anti reflective paint. I think it is a very beautiful and cool piece.