Hi guys,
I'm Stijn, the founder of Méraud. I found this thread through google and wanted to post a message here to say thank you for the support! It means a lot to me.
With Méraud I'm trying to express my passion through the offering of my own timepieces. I have been collecting for 12 years and have handled many pieces, ranging from Seiko to Patek. And often I felt that there was a lack of attention for certain things. This both from small brands as with big brands. So in the first place I wanted to create a watch for myself, something that I would be pleased with. Not a vintage piece but a modern piece with vintage inspiration. After a burglary I was also looking for a piece that I could take with me anywhere in the world, without hesitation, to use on a daily basis. And since I'm mainly a vintage guy, I chose for a vintage inspiration.
We're now almost 2 years since my first drawing and idea and in the meantime fully funded on Kickstarter which is amazing and which is which is why I need to thank all my backers and supporters. A couple are on here, thank you.
One of the things where I really wanted to jump out of the crowd is the value for money. I am no hardcore microbrand collector, let that be clear, yet I wanted to offer a timepiece within the microbrand pricing range. I am well aware of the cheaper and more expensive brands. But what I wanted in the first place is something that I would buy myself.
I'm a strap guy so I spent a lot of time on finding the right strapmaker. I already knew that tannerie Haas was the ones I would work with (you can look them up, very interesting). The production is located in Switzerland, Hong Kong, France and Germany. Final quality check and shipping is in Belgium. No reason not to be transparant, yes I work with manufacturers in the Far East, that have been picked out carefully. I chose the manufacturers based upon references they had, production timeframe, price and quality. There's a huge difference from the one manufacturer to the other, hehe.
That being said, at the beginning of my Kickstarter I had a few backers asking for a blue rubber tropic strap. We're now about one month later and I have got it produced. I agree that it looks much better on the "Marine Blue" dial. The blue color is based upon an original blue tropic strap that I had lying here. The finishing has a look of the old one and the feel but one can never reproduce them. The original tropic will stay the best one!
Some photos:
We are now entering the last 2 days of the Kickstarter campaign and it's been quite a ride, very intense, and even emotional.
Thanks again for the support! If you have any question, feel free to let me know.
Kind regards,
Stijn
