Here’s our first project update for the SAFIR Hajen to everyone who has jumped on our Early Bird and Pre-Order offers. A big, big THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. It’s always a bit of a scare to embark on a new project and we’re very happy with the overwhelming interest in our new release. With the current pace of pre-orders, there’s a significant chance we’ll be sold out before the release in September.
Production is well under way: the cases are being manufactured and in parallel the dials, hands, and date wheels are being made. The only thing that is completed at the time is our bracelets. Fitting of the diver clasps is the only activity remaining there. You’re probably curious about the strap option that will follow the watch? We landed on a classic tropical strap in FKM rubber: black for the black Hajen and navy blue for the blue Hajen. We’ll also have an orange option for those that may want to add that to the watch. This will eventually be available on our web shop.
We are going to partake in this year’s Stockholm Time event and will also have some befitting SAFIR Hajen give-aways for that event. For those of you not able to participate – don’t worry. The give-away will also be part of the SAFIR Hajen delivery.
The release date has not been set yet but we’re quite sure it’s going to be sometime in mid/end September. There’s quite some logistics still for us to work out, but that’s a topic for the next update.
We’re also at your disposal at any time should you have any questions, comments or requests. Email us at tid@celegin.se
PS: feel free to also follow our new Instagram account @safirwatches.
Many of you have already seen our Client Manager’s name in e-mails and other places. Pontus joined the team a little more than a year ago and has become a very appreciated addition. Also a watch geek (like the rest of us), Pontus brings expertise in web design and web development. However, his great contributions don’t stop there.
Pontus has definitely helped improve our response times and takes good care of our customers, fans and friends. He’s also pivotal in bringing in new ideas and feedback to our projects. The choice of making him a partner after one year was easy!
Pontus is also managing our SAFIR Watches IG account, so if you interact with us there, he’s the man behind the wheel.
Three questions to Pontus:
What’s your favorite Celegin watch?
I like them all in different ways but if I have to choose it would be Celegin Helgonet 38. I love how the watch connects to the Swedish classic Volvo P1800 sports car – a car I’ve loved since being a child. I also like how the watch combines elegance and sportiness. It works perfect in formal settings with a suit jacket and shirt but also casually with jeans and a t-shirt. Versatility at its best!
How is it like being part of the team?
I can hardly wait for what lies ahead!
I’ve long had a dream of starting my own watch business, but never really had the opportunity to do so. During the last few years, I’ve connected more and more with the world of watches and that’s how I met Leonard and Erik. These friendships led to my introduction to the team, something I’m very appreciative of! It’s really exciting and fun to develop our products and concepts in a vision we share together. I can hardly wait for what lies ahead!
Can you share a fun fact about yourself?
Sure! Next to being a watch nerd, I spend my remaining allotment of nerding hours into deepening my knowledge about coffee. It’s a really fun hobby but also challenging. So if you ever want to talk about coffee or watches, just hit me!
We are of course super happy to have Pontus on board and look forward to continuing our journey!
We wanted to design a watch that is fun, stylish and with versatility in focus. By doing so, we are thrilled to announce the launch of a new brand under the Celegin family — SAFIR. With SAFIR, we aim to bring you the same dedication to high-quality craftsmanship and design that you love from Celegin, but at a more affordable price range. This exciting new line of watches features reliable Japanese movements while maintaining our commitment to our signature aesthetics and functionality.
Discover SAFIR: Swedish Elegance with a Fun Twist
SAFIR watches embody the essence of the Celegin design, featuring Swedish text and prints that celebrate our heritage. These watches offer a relaxed and fun approach to design, while never compromising on quality. Each piece is crafted with the same attention to detail and aspiration that defines Celegin, making SAFIR the perfect blend of affordability and elegance.
Hajen is Swedish for The Shark
Find all information and specs about the SAFIR Hajen here.
To celebrate the launch of SAFIR, we are offering a limited pre-launch campaign for our debut diver watch, the SAFIR Hajen:
3500 SEK for a bracelet + strap option watch until July 28th
4000 SEK until the official launch
The list price will be 4800 SEK after the launch
This is a fantastic opportunity to own a piece of Swedish craftsmanship at an incredible value.
An New Everyday Diver for Our Enthusiasts
We are delighted to introduce a new diver watch to our collection, following the success of the Celegin Treudd. This new addition has been eagerly awaited by our fans and followers, and we are excited to finally fill this gap in our lineup.
The case back of hajen features a silhouette of the Prionace glauca shark (commonly known as blue shark / blåhaj in Sweden). Another detail making this what we believe is The most fun everyday watch.
Looking Ahead: The Next Generation Treudd
We are also hard at work on the next generation of the beloved Treudd, which we hope to launch next year. Our team is dedicated to developing our concept, of design and functionality to bring you an even more exceptional timepiece.
Explore Our Other Collections
If a diver watch isn’t what you’re looking for, we invite you to explore our other collections:
Helgonet 38: A classy, racing-themed dress watch that exudes sophistication.
Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. We are excited to embark on this new journey with SAFIR and to keep bringing you the best of Swedish watchmaking.
Stay Connected
For the latest updates and exclusive offers, follow us on our social media channels.
We look forward to sharing more about SAFIR with you in the coming weeks. Dive into the world of SAFIR and experience Swedish craftsmanship like never before.
We’re super happy to announce that as off 19th May 2023, Celegin Precision Timing will be exclusively represented by Wild Gear in Norway for the Norwegian market. Wild Gear and Celegin have a similar philosophy when it comes to doing something unique while at the same striving for the highest quality.
This also adds the possibility for Norwegian clients to see the watches in real life in the Wild Gear showroom located at Skjærvaveien 18, 1466 Strømmen.
Feel free to also check out all the other cool stuff that can be obtained via Wild Gear.
Web shop in Norway
If you’re residing in Norway and want to place an order for a Celegin watch without having to import it from Sweden, please go to www.wildgear.no/celegin. The prices include Norwegian VAT and tracked postal shipping in Norway.
If you want to place an order directly from Celegin Precision Timing, that’s also possible but then you’ll be liable for import duties and VAT.
Norwegian Customers with Pending Pre-orders
If you have a pending pre-order via Celegin Precision Timing in Sweden, your order will be delivered from there. If you have a pending pre-order via Henma AS, this will be delivered by Wild Gear.
Contact
If you have any questions or thoughts, or if there’s something from the Celegin line-up that you’re not finding at Wild Gear, just send us an e-mail to either tid@celegin.se or morten@wildgear.no.
On behalf of Celegin and Wild Gear, we’re very happy to finally be able to announce this partnership! 🙂
We’re happy to announce not only one, but two big news in regards to our next watch: Celegin Helgonet 38.
First, the production start date has been set and if all goes to plan, the watch will be launched and ready for delivery by the end of August!
Second, we’ve decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign for Helgonet 38 (klick on the image above or here to see the page). The main reason for this is not funding (the production will start regardless of if the campaign is successful or not), but rather that we’re curious to see what other audiences we’re able to reach by this. The campaign ends on 16th May, 18:00 CET. Please spread the word and feel free to support!
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that enables people to support projects in return for rewards, such as a discounted offer. In line with the general practices, we’ve set the three reward tiers at significantly lower levels than our pre-order and coming list prices.
For those that already have made a pre-order, we’ll refund the difference between our “super early bird” reward and the paid pre-order in case of a successful campaign. If one decides to place a pre-order until the end of the campaign we’ll offer a refund (in the event of a successful funding) equivalent to the difference to the best award available at the time of the order.
We’ll also offer three stretch target goals that will be included for those who’ve backed the campaign:
1: EUR 20 000 funding or above: Red racing strap in crazy horse leather.
2: EUR 30 000 funding or above: Special designed coasters
3: EUR 40 000 funding or above: We’ll make the white dialed version of Helgonet available as an option.
When our first diver, Treudd (ref. KA1F) “Founder’s limited edition” was launched, the general idea was to follow up with a non-limited version with a black bezel insert (ref. KA1S). In fact, next to the numerous requests to retain the golden trident on the dial, the request for a black bezel insert was the most common. And yet we’re changing our plans. Here’s why and what we plan to do.
Celegin Treudd S (ref. KA1S) that we’ve decided to develop further into two new concepts.
Evolution of a concept
The first drawings of the Treudd happened way before Celegin Precision Timing was founded. Some of the design elements; the case, the case back trident and the hands, are defining the Treudd concept in a way that if they’d be changed, the whole concept would change. We wouldn’t want that.
At the same time, a year after the production of the first version was started, we’ve learned a lot of what works and what we want to develop. As usual, the number of ideas and possible permutations make it rather a question of what we chose to do rather than what we would want to do since we of course would want to make all the nice versions we can think of. Therefore, we’ve decided to do more than just changing the bezel insert color.
Not one, but two new versions!
Unless we change our minds again, The Treudd concept will evolve into the following two directions:
Treudd Professional (ref. KA1P)
Treudd ’57 (ref. K57*)
(* will be replaced by the colorway of the corresponding version – we hope to make more than one)
Treudd Professional
While the original Treudd (KA1F) had a combination of function and design, the Treudd Pro will be more utilitarian. It will be a no-date version, with a sandblasted case and monochrome dial and hands (no brushed or polished) surfaces. The bezel will be all black and the watch will retain the 41mm case (meaning 42.5mm bezel diameter). The water resistance will be 30 ATM (or higher, let’s see).
The illumination of BGW9 of the KA1F and KA1S will of course be retained.
Treudd ’57
While the name might give associations to another famous diver, the ’57 is primarily deducted from the inception year of when the Swedish Coastal Rangers: 1957. Unlike the Treudd Pro, the Treudd ’57 will be housed in our new 38mm case with a 39.5mm diameter across the bezel. The case will carry our signature brushed/polished surface combinations and the dial and hands will offer some polished surfaces making this watch as useful in open water as in the board room.
Swedish Coastal Rangers disembarking from a chopper in the 1960’s (Image from Wikipedia)
Planned release: summer of 2024
Given that we’re somewhat behind on our current release schedule, we realistically have to conclude that the new Treudd versions won’t be released until sometime next year.
What about everybody who wanted a Treudd S?
All of this doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t make a version of the Treudd S sometime in the future. When and if we do, it will be more than just a bezel color change compared to our first version.
This week we were featured in two major publications: Fratello Watches and New York Times! The latter was about Oslo Swap Meet, where we were invited to participate along with 10-12 other brands. As always, we’re extremely happy, grateful and humble about being featured like this! Links to both articles below.
Fratello Watches: “The best microbrands to keep an eye on in 2023”
We’re very humble to be featured a third time in Fratello Watches (one of the biggest online watch news outlets). This time as part of a microbrands that they look forward to seeing more from this year. Link to the article here. We’re very proud to be mentioned together with such an impressive line-up of brands!
New York Times & Oslo Swap Meet
We participated in this year’s first Oslo Swap Meet in the beginning of February. Among a dozen or so other brands, we got to meet the local watch community again. The event was a great success, with almost twice as many participants as last time around. As usual, it was nice to see all the familiar faces but also to meet some new ones! The event also happened to be covered by an American journalist from New York Times! In the article, link here, a shot of a Celegin Treudd is found!
Leonard Celegin – the founder of Celegin Precision Timing – at Oslo Swap Meet in February 2023. Photo by Niko Óst.
We’re currently revising our review schedules for this spring – feel free to drop us an e-mail at tid@admin
Just about a year ago, we were preparing for our first release: the Celegin Draken F. A year later, we have produced four series along with a bunch of prototypes. We’ve learned a lot, made many mistakes, overcome a few hurdles and had a load of fun. Here’s a brief update and our current plans and thoughts.
The watch we plan to produce next is the Celegin Helgonet (ref. P18H). The prototypes were finished just before Christmas and we’ll bombard you guys with nice photos taken by Anders Törmä! All our funds from sold watches go directly to produce new ones. Since the fall has been a bit slow for the whole watch industry – us included – we are evaluating other options to realize this watch. More info to come.
Swedish AD
During the spring, if all goes as planned, we’ll have our watches available for purchase through a small, niched physical store in Sweden. More info to follow.
Norwegian AD
During the first half of this year, we’ll close our Norwegian operation (Henma AS). The main reason for this is that we struggle to find time to run two companies in parallel. The Norwegian community has shown incredible interest and support for our designs. Therefore, we plan on having an appropriate AD setup in Norway.
Events
We’ll participate in Oslo Swap Meet and the Fredrikstad GTG. We hope to see you guys in other events too and will keep you posted. Who knows, we may even arrange one ourselves?
We’re shortly going to offer special designed straps from the high-end custom strap make Diaboliq Straps.
Cooperations and custom watches
We are in dialogues regarding custom watches and hope to realize a project this year. If you belong to an association, military regiment/battalion or company that would want to make a special edition based on one of our concepts, please get in touch with us.
This week, an interview of us was published in the group “Watch Collectors of California and Beyond” by Travis Mickel.
Maker’s Monday Interview
Leonard Celegin, Celegin Precision Timing
10-3-22, 10:10 AM
Short bio:
Leonard Celegin is the founder of the eponymous brand Celegin Precision Timing. The watches are all inspired by and dedicated to Swedish aviation, military and industry icons.
1. How did you first get into making watches?
I’ve always been fascinated by watches. A few years ago, my interest got deeper and I started exploring brands and designs that were new to me. As part of understanding different designs, I tried drawing and combining various design elements. Although I quickly realized my drawing skills weren’t excellent, the thought of maybe designing my own watches one day came up and never left. Fast forward to 2021 and I finally had everything in place to launch my first creations.
2. Do you have a “normal job“ or is this your full-time passion?
I have a day job, which at times is quite demanding. My watch brand is mainly motivated by enthusiasm and passion; the business side of it is secondary (all money coming in from watch sales go to new designs and productions).
3. What do you like best about being a successful micro brand?
All the new people I’ve met and keep on meeting. I’ve also managed to build a small team; achieving something together is always the most fun!
4. Which of your watches is your favorite? Are you also a watch enthusiast of other brands?
The upcoming release, Celegin Viggen “Akka” gets 99% of my wrist time currently and I have a hard time seeing any other of my watches getting any for the foreseeable future. I’m definitely a fan of other brands, especially some of the Sinn designs are close to my heart. Other micro brands are also very interesting.
5. What advice would you offer someone that was interested in creating their own brand of watches?
Design what you like, trust your gut feel and don’t try to design based on what everyone else likes. Surround yourself with people you trust and who’s opinions are valuable.
6. What do you think really sets your watches apart from others?
The Swedish concept; all text and all print on the watch is in Swedish language. Our pilot watches are dedicated to Swedish fighter jets; our diver watches are dedicated to our naval divers and our racing watches are dedicated to a classic Swedish sports car, the Volvo P1800.
7. What are some things that you wish everyone knew about you and your work? Any interesting brand trivia? Any personal info you’d like to share?
We plan on donating our prototypes for charity. Right now we are in dialogue with a Swedish veterans association where they will get one of the Celegin Draken S prototypes for a raffle among their members where all proceeds are going to their ends.
Trivia: The name, Celegin, is originally Italian and slightly misspelled. Apparently there are less than 20 individuals in the entire world with the surname spelled this way.
Some personal info: As a kid, I used to be very interested in aviation and spent hundreds of hours flying various combat flight simulators.
8. What has been your biggest surprise so far, as you have built your Celegin Precision Timing brand?
All work leading up to a complete design and delivered product involves hundreds of decisions of different magnitude. None of them can be ignored since they all have an impact on the end result. Therefore, everything we’ve done is a result of a deliberate choice. We’ve also been incredibly lucky; because many times you need to make a decision based on too little background.
9. What future plans do you have for your brand?
We have a lot of interesting ideas on the “dream board” and hope to bring some of them to life next year. The Viggen “Akka” is our first watch that doesn’t have a black dial and I think there will be more colors in the coming releases.
10. How many watches per year do you typically sell?
We just started, but for this year we’re looking at a few hundred watches sold.
11. What is the story behind your brand name/logo?
Instead of opting for a generic name, I wanted to manifest my commitment to the quality and watch experience by branding it with my surname.
12. Who is your ideal customer?
I honestly can’t say that one type of customer is more ideal than another. Regardless of what your relation is to watches, we still wish to give you a great experience. So far we’ve managed that well with both beginners and advanced watch freaks like ourselves.
13. Where do you see the Microbrand industry headed? What are just trends, and what is here to stay?
I’m happy to see less of the opportunistic profit driven kickstarter projects. I love the creativity that micro brands in general are able to demonstrate (typically where established, major brands don’t dare to go). Something interesting is also the development where micro brands are starting to get a very serious position in the market.
Yeah, the praise in Fratello is something I’m very proud of! The original Celegin Draken was a bicompax Chronograph inspired by Heuer 1550. We dropped the chrono and went for a three-hander (SW200) for the first release. I still wanted to make the chronograph and we developed a new version around the SW510. It’s a very expensive movement so we’re 100% dependent on preorders to make this one happen. We feel that the preorder deal is quite good; probably $500 below any other watch with this movement.
15. What is a question I did not ask that you wish I would’ve along with the answer?
If any of our watches have been sold to California. The answer is actually yes; we’ve delivered a few pieces to the Golden State already. Plus I long to get back and visit again – it’s been quite a few years since I was there personally.
A few weeks ago, we received the prototypes of the Celegin Viggen “Akka”, model reference J37A. Having waited patiently we were quite naturally very excited about finally seeing this new design “in the metal”.
Celegin Viggen “Akka”, ref. J37A Photo: Anders Törmä
The Viggen “Akka” is our first watch that doesn’t have a black dial following the inverted design of the Viggen Cockpit GMT. While matte, the dial is still silver plated which makes it spring to life in ambient life. We have struggled to get the photos to make this watch justice..
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Perhaps somewhat biased, our small team has fallen in love with our new white watch and we very much look forward to the release in November!
The silhouette of the JA37 Viggen embossed and polished on the case back
