Original Grain gives the wooden watch market a welcome influx of style

By Rick Stella March 23, 2016

As seen in recent years, implementing wood into a timepiece is one of the watch industry’s most significant new trends. Manufacturers at companies all over the United States (and beyond) have taken to the task of either making an entire watch out of wood — save for the timepiece itself — or using it sparingly as an accent. Though the current watch market boasts a wide variety of wooden options fit for many styles, few companies offer as eclectic and diverse a mix of wood-styled watches as the California-based company, Original Grain.

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Thanks to a highly successful Kickstarter campaign roughly three years ago, the folks at Original Grain found the means to turn what started as a passion project into a full-fledged enterprise. While some crowdfunded campaigns may woo the buyer with flashes of brilliance, Original Grain’s initial offering gave watch enthusiasts a clear cut opportunity to score a damn fine timepiece. A clear win-win for both parties, the company cruised through its 30-day campaign raising over $390k from more than 2,000 backers.

So what makes Original Grain so different? To point to one aspect of the business would do it a disservice, as the company’s allure is literally a sum of its parts. Concerning the watches themselves, Original Grain offers three distinct collections of styles suitable for men or women. With its Classic Collection, the team inlays wood into the bezel and watch face while also implanting wooden pieces into each link of those outfit with stainless steel band. Others in the same collection feature the same wooden face and bezel but come adorned with an Italian leather band that exudes style.

Then there’s the Barrel Collection, a set of watches that feature inlaid wood from reclaimed whiskey barrels both in its face, bezel, and watch band. As American as anything, these watches are of particular importance due to Original Grain’s continued focus on reclaiming and recycling wood into its products. A lifestyle, as the company calls it, that it continues to stand behind in an effort to differentiate itself from the pack. This is also why Original Grain partnered with Trees.org to plant ten trees for every one watch sold. Its goal in 2016? One million trees planted.

Taking its affinity for reclaiming wood a step further, Original Grain even plans on launching an entirely new collection called simply, Reclaimed. With planned collaborations featuring reclaimed Jim Beam whiskey barrels and reclaimed wood from old Yankee Stadium, the collection will undoubtedly be a massive hit (no pun intended). Considering the source material for the wood going into the watches, it’s likely both will release in incredibly limited runs. Simply put, these will go fast.

With a Kickstarter triumph already in the bag and a pair of outstanding partnerships on deck, Original Grain isn’t merely a crowdfunding success story built to fade into retail obscurity but rather one set up to last. It’s building a lifestyle around a gorgeous lineup of products and a continued commitment to the environment; don’t wait to take notice.

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