We started in Morten’s design studio north of Copenhagen near where we both grew up. Initially, in the autumn 2002, it was Morten and an assistant designer only, but soon it grew to become a six man team with project management, software design, testing facilities and prototype development. We involved IPU (of the Danish Technical University) to assist us with developing the instruments – software and hardware including the essential locking mechanism between the watch and the instrument.
The simultaneous development of a watch in Switzerland and the instruments in Denmark added complexity to the process as well as time – this was 20 years ago when smartphones were a futuristic idea. What it also added was the best of two worlds – the innovation and design ethos of Denmark and the incomparable experience in making highly precise man and machine made objects/watches – in Switzerland.
…and luckily the development of the instruments required a lot of testing in the mountains in Switzerland – so really combining two of my favourite things to have and do.
More than four years after our initial idea (October 2006) Morten and I were ready to launch the Founders Watch as an invitation to friends and new friends to acquire the Biformeter watch and the Land Instrument for mountaineering. The instrument functionality included altitude, barometer, chronograph, compass, heart rate, inclination, temperature and log – over time we added avalanche warning and ski guides which also gave birth to an LW skiing app.
In 2008 we participated in an expedition to Mount Everest to follow in George Mallory’s footsteps. When the expedition team came back to London they told us they had brought only the instrument with them to the top and left the watch at base camp because of weight limitations. While we were very proud that the instrument had been of valuable assistance at 8849 meters we began to discuss making a much lighter watch. That led to the development and introduction of the SpidoLite in 2009 and also to our long term partnership with world renowned climber and LW Explorer Leo Houlding. Leo’s input was instrumental for the idea of the SpidoLite.
The instruments also became central to the plot of our graphic novel The Perfect V (five) which we launched at the same time. These five “perfect” instruments were unknowingly sold to LW customers and needed to be put together to achieve unprecedented calculating power to get in touch with extraterrestrial life. Early quantum computing and (as ever) we were ahead of the game.
The Dive instrument launched in 2009 was one of the most advanced dive computers at the time (300k lines of code!) with professional grade software to protect a diver against the dangers of diving too deep or indeed ascending too quickly amongst many other functionalities. And like the skiing instrument – renamed The Rock – it allowed for me countless wonderful diving trips around the world.
In 2012 – with some sadness – we decided to cease production of our Rock and Reef instruments. We realised that software had taken over hardware and it was not possible for us to compete against €1.50 apps on an iPhone providing ever more information.
The instruments are still very much part of our history and raison d’etre. All our watches are inspired by our two universes, the ability to click on an instrument – and indeed the form of our watches (apparently called an isosceles trapezium!)
The construction of the SpidoLite/SpidoSpeed and the Oktopus are directly influenced by the idea and the construction of the instruments the Rock and the Reef – so in a very true sense when you wear a Linde Werdelin timepiece you are still wearing the attachable instruments.