Orange Was The New Black

The year is 2001 and Andreas Felsl (Andi) is making waves in the mountain bike world with the founding of Bionicon Bicycles and engineering the companies first bicycle the BC 1.0 and a first of its kind travel adjustment suspension systems all under one roof. Tzuyu Huang is running Momo+ at this time an agency supplying cases, dials, hands and much more to Swiss and German watchmakers. With a new bike the BC 1.0 coming to light, Andi and Tzuyu looked to make a limited edition watch of just 99 pieces to be launched in 2002 for the Bionicon community that supported this incredible feat of two wheeled engineering.

This was the first watch project the couple collaborated on and it was nearly seven years before the founding of Horage. Without a brand to launch the product the two looked to long time friend Daniel Blunschi the then product director at Tissot as Tissot just a few years prior in 1999 launched their innovative T-Touch watch. The T-Touch combined both digital and analogue functions and was the first tactical watch meaning that the crystal was responsive to touch. Analogue time keeping, digital compass, barometer, temperature, chronograph, alarm and altimeter were all packed into its stainless steel case which was at that time the perfect match for the mountain bike community and Bionicons BC 1.0 .

Back then bright colours from the 80's were making a comeback and starting to etch their way into the world of mountain biking as it had been heavily laden with dark earth tones, blacks and reds. Andi loves colour and decided to go all in with giving his flagship bike the BC 1.0 a bright green and orange finish. Later on more brands caught the colour wave as professional riders and their photographers were getting photos published more than others because the rider would seemingly pop off the pages of magazines. More colour on the page lead to more logo placements, which inevitably lead to more sales.

An article found in Bike Mag Hungary on the BC 1.o. Click the image or check the link here.

The dial of the T-Touch was black with orange hour markers and had a green T logo around 8 o'clock, this colour combination was the perfect match for the BC 1.0, but a splash is never enough and Andi looked to go all-in on orange with a then audacious request for a full on orange rubber strap and orange hour and minute hands. Today nobody bats an eye at such things, but for Tissot it was the first time orange hands would appear on the T-Touch as well as with the matching orange rubber strap. With samples in hand Tissot distributors caught wind of this 99 piece limited edition colourway that they just couldn't have. They loved the colour and requested that HQ ship bright orange straps with their orders and to include orange hands in a future product, which Tissot later released in the second generation T-Touch. Andi's Pantone 151C rubber straps would then become a mainstay and although not the first orange rubber strap in the market they were a hit at Tissot. Thankfully Andi and Tzuyu engraved the case backs with "Bionicon Limited Edition 2002 XX/99" as well the T on dial was also coloured different in subsequent offerings.

Both Andi and Tzuyu have always taken on incredibly difficult engineering and production process projects and in time Bionicon would be sold and the two would eventually consolidate their time and resources into building Horage. Like any founder funded projects Bionicon had some incredible highs and equally challenging lows, it was a labour of love and a company Andi poured his heart and soul into. The BC 1.0 and the orange hands and rubber straps were at the time new and edgy, but today at Horage they are now a thing of the past. Our vision is to always look to the future with each project rather than dig up the skeletons of yesteryear.

The Edison had a great run winning awards and evolving with the times.

Orange once was the new black for us. SUPERSEDE is a new chapter in both watch and movement development for Horage and for this fresh new step forward an orange rubber strap reminds us of a time long ago.

We have taken notice of the comments of the three rubber straps we have initially presented as being both positively received and also deemed a little conservative. Those that have either been a part of our journey as a fly on the wall or a supporter of one of our watch projects know that taking the well beaten path is not what we are known for. A young team of engineers, watchmakers and entrepreneurial outcasts guided by founders bootstrapping ground up movement development in Switzerland and having been kicked around by those that would rather keep things the same might be viewed differently. From risk takers, to disruptors and even being called punk rock, playing it safe has never been our forte.

The K2 Calibre will equate to 5 years of development by the time SUPERSEDE ships.

I hoped you enjoyed the back story and our history with the colour orange. We are not quite done with straps as there were two other straps. Tzuyu along with our designers have spent a lot of time on colour research as we have many projects in the works behind the scenes. To keep things a little more punk rock and in looking forward to where our design direction is going she decided on a Vermilion Red which is unmistakable vibrant reddish orange. One could say it is our future twist on a dated orange past.

The other colour is one that we have not seen requested in the forum and one that is largely overlooked in the rubber strap market. Porfirio Purple is a colour is a fresh exciting take on rubber strap colour options or possibly motivation for your next hair colour.

Now with five colours to choose from, one can rock something a little louder or keep it quiet on the side lines. Pre-order starts November 23rd at 14:00CET. Let us know your take on Vermillion Red and Porfirio Purple in the comments. Until next time... Landon Stirling