‘The watch business is going great:’ In an age of smartphones, Chesterfield-based startup watch maker is building a customer base | Business News

His move into making watches part-time was partly inspired by his training for triathalons, which involve running, swimming and biking long distances. He noticed that many watches – especially the bands – simply don’t hold up under that kind of strain.

“Leather is great, but wet leather is not great,” he said.

The need for a highly functional watch also became more clear when they had their first child, Penelope, who is now 18 months old.

“Now, I am not just running and swimming and biking, but changing diapers and mowing grass,” he said.

So the couple started to work on various watch designs, eventually offering up about 30 different looks to customers who shop for their watches online.

“Jay was saying: ‘There has to be something that is both business professional and useful,” said Alexis Carpenter, who works full-time in human resources training in the mortgage industry but also serves as a marketing and design expert for Handley Watches.

The…

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