The Logbook

1903 Watch Co. First Flight pilot watch, as reviewed by Mainspring Watch Magazine
A Review From Mainspring Watch Magazine
On October 3rd, Vincent Deschamps of Mainspring Watch Magazine published his review of the First Flight. We've been looking at this watch for so long that it's hard to see... Read more...
Two 1903 Watch Co. First Flight watches, branded packaging, and a customs pro forma invoice on a wood table
The Part of Building a Watch Brand Nobody Warns You About
It's been a few weeks since our last post, and there's a reason for that — we've been buried in a part of this business that never makes it into... Read more...
Prototype of the First Flight 40 automatic pilot's watch, marking the start of mass production
Both Deposits Are In
Eight months ago this was a name in a note-taking app and a theory about why watches feel designed for a shelf instead of a wrist. This week, it's two... Read more...
Updated First Flight caseback with color specific serial numbers
Two Number Ones
Four hundred and sixty-two watches. Two dial colors. One number line, one through four sixty-two. Sounds simple until you actually have to decide who gets to be #1. The obvious... Read more...
First Flight 40 prototype watch resting on a Boeing aircraft center pedestal panel
What We Caught Before You Ever Saw It
Most people never see the version of a watch that almost shipped. They see the finished piece — dial, case, strap, box — and assume that's simply how it always... Read more...
The Case for a Case
The Case for a Case
When I started designing the First Flight, I spent most of my time thinking about the watch. The movement, the dial, the crown, the caseback. Every millimeter mattered. What I... Read more...
The Invoice
The Invoice
There's a moment in every founder's journey where the abstract becomes concrete. Where the renders stop being renders. Where the conversations stop being conversations. Where the dream stops being a... Read more...
12 Seconds. 120 Feet. The Rest Is History.
12 Seconds. 120 Feet. The Rest Is History.
The morning of December 17, 1903 was cold and unforgiving. Wind cut across the dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina at nearly 27 miles per hour. The temperature hovered just... Read more...
To Every Pilot Who Ever Had a First Flight
To Every Pilot Who Ever Had a First Flight
Every pilot remembers their first flight. Not the first time they flew as a passenger, watching the ground fall away from a window seat. The first time THEY flew. The... Read more...
Every decision made on screen is about to meet the real world.
Every decision made on screen is about to meet the real world.
Drawings are useful. Renders are useful. They help develop an idea, stress-test proportions, catch problems before they become expensive. Up to a point, they're the right tool. But there are... Read more...
Not finished. But nothing feels out of place.
Not finished. But nothing feels out of place.
There wasn't a moment where everything clicked. It was more gradual than that — a point where the adjustments slowed, then stopped, not because perfection had arrived but because the... Read more...
Designing the watch taught me how to build the site. Eventually.
Designing the watch taught me how to build the site. Eventually.
After the watch, the website felt like it should be the straightforward part. Pick a theme. Arrange the content. Done. It wasn't. Themes that looked clean in previews felt cluttered... Read more...
Some of the best decisions were the things left out.
Some of the best decisions were the things left out.
There's a graveyard of good ideas behind this watch. Elements that made sense on their own, looked considered in isolation, and solved a real problem — right up until they... Read more...
One hundred watches. Not as a selling point — as a promise.
One hundred watches. Not as a selling point — as a promise.
"Designed to be right" is easy to say. Most things are, in one way or another. At some point it needed a definition — something with edges, something that actually... Read more...
The most important design decision was throwing the design away.
The most important design decision was throwing the design away.
There was a version of this watch that worked, technically. The specs were sound. Individual elements looked right on their own. By most measures, it was close. But close isn't... Read more...
Getting a watch made starts long before anyone picks up a tool.
Getting a watch made starts long before anyone picks up a tool.
With the design far enough along, I started reaching out to manufacturers. It felt like a natural next step. Send some messages, get some quotes, figure out what's possible. The... Read more...
The first dial had everything. That was the problem.
The first dial had everything. That was the problem.
On screen, it looked like a watch should look. Balanced. Considered. Every element placed with intention. I looked at it for a while, feeling like something was finished. Then I... Read more...
You can sketch a watch in an afternoon. Building one is another thing entirely.
You can sketch a watch in an afternoon. Building one is another thing entirely.
I had ideas before I had knowledge. That gap needed closing before anything else. So I started at the beginning. Cases. Dials. Movements. Tolerances. Assembly. Not as concepts—as physical realities.... Read more...
Why I built a watch company with hands I couldn’t use
Why I built a watch company with hands I couldn’t use
When the doctors told me I had bilateral epicondylitis—both elbows, at the same time—I figured it meant a few weeks of rest. It meant months. Months of not being able... Read more...