Designing The Modello

After nine months and six prototypes we are finally in a position to share the Modello design with the world.

Here’s how we arrived at a product we’re proud to debut.

All in the detail

Being both a designer and perfectionist seems like a winning combination but it also means that I have the tendency to obsess over every little detail which can slow down the creative process.

I knew how I wanted the Modello to make its owner feel but coming up with a simple, yet unique design was more challenging than one might think.

The minimalist style watch dominates the market but I wanted our design to have a practical, simple design that felt expensive without the luxury markup. It was also essential that the Modello had a second hand, because how can you time our pulse the old school way without a second hand?

I looked at hundreds of classic watches from the early 20th century, drawing inspiration from the world war one trench watch but adding a larger dial for a modern twist.

I wanted the Modello to be versatile. I love a beautiful leather strap but leather may not be everyone's preference. I wanted the customer to have some control over the watch style so the Modello strap has been designed to be interchangeable. The final retail version will include two watch straps with every watch purchase for added value.

Quality

There was never any doubt that our watches would contain the highest quality Swiss made movement, Italian leather, solid stainless steel casing and domed scratch resistant sapphire crystal.

We are seeing too many low quality watches flood the market with cheap mechanics that will likely need to be replaced in a couple of years, adding to our planets horrendous amount of landfill.

We want our customers to have an emotional connection with their Barrow wrist watch. We want it to be worn every day and held dear as something of value not just a fashion accessory .

We believe in buying quality over quantity but we still didn’t want our range to be too expensive. So we’ve worked hard to find quality driven suppliers that have helped us achieve our goal of creating beautiful, timeless watches.