Circadian Collection Launch

There’s something quite strange about finally reaching the day you’ve been working towards for months.

You spend so long designing something, changing things, looking at samples, questioning decisions and wondering whether you’ve actually got it right that eventually the idea of launching it can almost feel like the easy part. Then the day actually arrives and suddenly the watch that has existed mostly on a screen, on a workbench and in your head is sitting there as a finished product that other people can actually buy and wear.

That was the feeling I had when the Circadian finally launched.

The idea behind the watch had been developing for a long time. As I wrote about in my previous article, the design came from a mixture of things that I've always been drawn to, particularly watches from the 1950s and 60s, my great-grandfather's 1952 Olma Automatic and even the speedometer of an old Kawasaki KH250 that I'd restored. Those things eventually became the starting point for the Circadian, but getting from an idea to something I was actually willing to put my name on was a very different process.

Getting It Right

One of the hardest parts of making a watch yourself is knowing when to stop changing things.

When you design something, there is always another detail you can look at. The shape of a marker, the size of a numeral, the spacing on the dial, the finish of the case, the colour of the hands. You can convince yourself that changing one small thing will make the watch better, and sometimes it does. Other times you end up going backwards and wondering why you changed it in the first place.

The Circadian went through plenty of that.

There were details that I liked individually but didn't work when everything was put together. There were things that looked good in renders but didn't feel right when I saw them as a physical watch. There were also moments where I had to remind myself that the watch didn't need another feature or another design element just because I could add one.

That was probably one of the biggest lessons from making it.

Sometimes making something better means taking something away.

I wanted the finished watch to feel considered without feeling over-designed. It needed to have enough detail to reward you when you looked closely at it, but still feel clean when you saw it from across the room. Most importantly, it needed to feel like a Kaya Watch Co. watch rather than simply another watch that happened to have my name on it.

The Final Watches

Seeing the first finished Circadian watches was probably one of the moments where everything started to feel real.

Until that point, I'd spent so much time looking at individual parts and thinking about the design that it was easy to forget what the finished watch was supposed to feel like.

Then you see the case, dial, hands, markers and strap all together and suddenly it's no longer a project.

It's a watch.

That was the point where I could finally put one on my own wrist and ask myself the question I always come back to with anything I make for Kaya Watch Co.

Would I actually wear this?

The answer was yes.

That might sound like a simple test, but for me it's probably one of the most important ones. I don't want to make watches that only look good in photographs or on a website. I want them to be watches that I would genuinely reach for in the morning, whether I'm working, going out for dinner or just getting on with an ordinary day.

That was always the intention with the Circadian.

Launch Day

Then came launch day.

After all the designing, waiting, changing things and second guessing myself, there wasn't really anything left to change. At some point you have to stop working on the watch and actually let people see it.

That was probably the most nerve-racking part.

When you're working on something yourself, you become very familiar with every little detail and every mistake you've made along the way. You know how long it took to get there and you know all the decisions behind it. But once you put it out into the world, people don't see any of that.

They just see the watch.

And that's how it should be.

I wanted the Circadian to be judged as a watch rather than as an idea I'd spent months working on. I wanted someone to see it and decide for themselves whether they liked the design, whether they could imagine it on their wrist and whether it was something they wanted to keep.

Watching people begin to see the collection for the first time was a pretty surreal feeling.

There is a big difference between making something for yourself and making something that another person chooses to spend their own money on. The second someone places an order, the watch becomes something more than just a product you've designed. It becomes something that is going to someone else's wrist, and eventually it becomes part of their own life.

That's something I don't think I'll ever take for granted.

Three Watches, One Collection

The Circadian collection launched with three versions: white, black and blue.

Although they share the same overall design, each one has its own character. The white has that clean, almost classic feel that I originally wanted from the design, while the black has a much more understated presence. The blue adds a bit more colour without taking away from the simplicity of the dial.

I've always liked the idea of giving people different ways to wear the same watch rather than creating completely different designs just for the sake of having more options.

The three Circadians are still recognisably part of the same collection, but each one feels slightly different once it's actually on the wrist.

What Comes Next

Launching the Circadian also made me think quite a lot about what Kaya Watch Co. is becoming.

The StoneWorks collection was the first flagship collection I'd released, and seeing those watches go out into the world was a huge moment for me. The Circadian felt different because it was much more personal in terms of where the design came from.

It's a watch that started with history but wasn't designed to simply recreate it.

My great-grandfather's Olma was made in 1952 and is still here more than seventy years later. That's something I think about quite often when I'm making watches. A watch doesn't have to be complicated or covered in unnecessary details to become important. Sometimes it's simply the fact that it was there.

It was there when someone bought it, when they wore it to work, when they went on holiday, when they met someone, when their children grew up. Eventually it becomes part of those memories without ever being designed specifically for that purpose.

That's what I'd like the Circadian to become for someone.

Not just a new watch that they bought in 2026, but something that stays with them long enough for it to become their watch.

Built to Be There

The name Circadian has always felt appropriate for that reason.

Our lives are made up of days and nights, routines and changes, moments that seem important at the time and moments that we don't realise will become memories until years later. Time keeps moving whether we're paying attention to it or not.

A watch simply sits there and records it.

The Circadian is my interpretation of that idea. A watch influenced by the past, designed in the present and hopefully built well enough to still be around long into the future.

The launch was the end of one part of the story, but really it's the beginning of another.

I've spent a long time deciding what the Circadian should be. Now it's time for the people who bought them to decide what they become.

That, to me, is the most exciting part.