Thunder

"When I was still a teenager, slowly discovering my passion for watches I came across a watch and a designer that would truly shock me. Maximilian Busser's HM4 Thunderbolt, winning the Best Concept and Design Watch award by the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, made me rethink everything I knew about watches. Growing up, I had come to believe that watches had to be simple, stately, elegant. They had to have one dial, three hands, and some maybe even had a date. But the HM4 didn't look like a watch, it looked like a spaceship, and it became my North star - a watch that I aspired one day to reach. It wasn't until 2016, when I started 3D modelling for FDM printing, that I began playing around with the idea of capturing the idea of the Thunderbolt within my own design. Rather than be inspired by aviation, I was more drawn to automotive elements such as consoles, speedometers, headlights and steering wheels. In 2021, when I embarked on making my first watch, it was this watch that I wanted to build. Three years later, I am proud to have created my own homage to Max's Thunderbolt, which serves as a reminder of the watch that made me change the way I thought about design and watchmaking." - Ivan Struk