Interview Eric Yeh – Founder of Havaan Tuvali

It’s no secret I love Eric Yeh’s work and what he creates for his brand Havaan Tuvali.

I met Eric for the first time in 2017 during the Aurochronos festival in Lodz. And since then, we have seen each other several times a year at various watch fairs around the world.

Eric is a bit like my brother from another mother and from another country… Something like that lol. In any case during all these years we have established a real friendship.

Today he will introduce himself to you and tell you about his brand in this little interview.

Come on, let’s go!

Erice-Yeh-Havaan-Tuvali
Could you tell us a bit about you and about your story with watches?

My name is Eric Yeh and I’m the owner/founder of Havaan Tuvali Watches. I started collecting watches rather late than most watch enthusiasts at my late twenties and I mostly collect vintage watches, mainly Russian and Japanese brands and of course a few Swiss watches. I was struggle to find a trustworthy watch repair shop at my hometown so I decided to take apprenticeship at watch repairing, and that was when I really dig into watches. 

When the idea to create a new brand came to you? and when do you start working on the creation and on the launch of it?

I started Havaan Tuvali in 2016, 5 years after my apprenticeship of watch repairing, I was ready to take the next step. I had just quitted my job as a salesperson in a local trading company and I didn’t know what to do for my future, so I thought to myself, why not put my skills to use and create my own watch brand. Watch repairing was just a hobby for me before, and now it’s my fulltime job.

Could you tell us from where comes the name of your brand?

The brand name, Havaan Tuvali was originated from the Taiwanese aboriginal Burun tribe language meaning “The deer’s sunset”. The ancient Burun people believed that at suns down, when the deer came out from the forest to browse for food and water, that’s the time for the people to finish up their day of work, in some ways, it is also how they tell time.

Havaan-Tuvali
What’s the most important thing in the process of creating your timepieces?

I look into dial designing the most when creating a watch, the propositions of the overall layout and combination of color in the dial to me is the most important aspect. I think that a well-designed dial is what catches people’s eyes.  

What steps do you go through to develop and produce them?

When I first started my brand, I rely on dial and case factories to manufacture the parts; of course I’ll need to provide the designs and drawings to them. Now I mostly do everything myself, I make the dials and hands myself and use vintage new old stock cases to put my watches together. I don’t really have a certain process when developing a watch, I’ll come up with an idea in my head and set out to make samples to see how it looks, most of time it’s just constant trial and error until I get the result I like and if it looks good, I’ll produce and sell the watch.  

From where comes your inspiration concerning the design of your pieces?

Everything and anything can be my inspiration for design. But I’m a big fan of vintage watches, especially the use of vivid colors in the 70s and 80s watch, like the Orient king divers, or Yema yachtingraf just to name a couple, so I always try to incorporate a little bit vintage designs into my watches.  

Duodecima-by-Havaan-Tuvali

 

Do you have an anecdote about the design and creation phase of your timepieces?

I’d say the creating of my last model, the Heritage series. I was visiting my case factory hoping to score some free gaskets and I saw this dusted box sitting in the corner of the warehouse that has export markings on it. The factory owner said they made these watchcases for a French brand (now closed) back in the 70s but never sold them due to financial reasons. So…. some begging and bargaining later, they are in my possession. Since they are vintage cases, I had to pair them with vintage movements; and of course handmade the dials myself to recreate the vintage watch. The overall process from finding the case to hand making the watch was just really special.

From your perception, what makes your watches so special?

Rather than having factories to make the watch for me. I try to hand make the parts as much as possible, from making the dial, hands to regulating the movements, the touch of a man made product, as oppose to machine and computer made, is what makes my watches special.

Could you tell us how your collection is composed and what is the price of your watches?

Currently I have a few vintage inspired dress watch collections and price is from USD385~549, I’m currently working on a couple new models and details will be available in my website and my social media account soon.

Havaan-Tuvali-Collection
Do you have an idea of how many watches do you already have delivered?

Man, I never count them. I guess somewhere between 800 to 1000. I’d love to sell more, but since all my watches are handmade now, I can only produce about 15 watches a month.  

Do you have an idea of what is your flagship collection?

I have quite a few ideas and designs in my head that have not realized yet, ultimately I’d want to make movements myself or modified movements based on Swiss movements, and my idea of a flagship collection would be watches made entirely in-house by myself. 

Do you have a favorite piece in your collection?

The first watch is always the most special, even now that I have created more than 6 different models , I still wear the first model, the Squadron One, every day.

Squadron-by-Havaan-Tuvali
Social networks are really important for microbrands like Havaan Tuvali. Could you let us know how and why do you use them? and what’s your strategy to stand out from other brands in your price range?

I’m really lazy when it comes to using social media, I usually do a few posts on facebook or instagram when a new model is released then totally disappeared until I remember that I need to promote my watches.

Let’s talk about distribution. Obviously, you use the direct sales strategy which is better for a young brand like yours. Could you explain us your distribution strategy?

I thought about talking to a few distributors to sell my watches to the overseas market when I first started and I did work with a few of them. After a few deals, I decided to switch back to direct sales simply because the profit margin wasn’t good enough for both sides. Right now I only sell through my own website and because I only produce a small quantity of watches, so far I’ve managed okay.

What is your first market? Will you try to develop other markets in the future?

I don’t have a specific market when promoting my watch, because I sell only through my own website and ships basically everywhere in the world, I’d say internet is my market and I mostly use social media for brand exposure, so far it’s working out fine, but I’d love to spend more effort into using more online media platforms.

Sector-Watch-by-Havaan-Tuvali
Do you plan to participate in watchmaking events in the coming months?

Definitely, I’ll be in Washington DC for the District Time event in March and Warsaw, Poland for the Aurochronos event in May. And I’m looking to attend more events later this year.

Now and more generally, what are your plans for the future?

I’m looking to release at least one or two collections each year, all handmade of course, this is the direction Havaan Tuvali is heading into, handmade watches of limited quantity.  I’m also looking to collaboration with other artists and watchmakers to create more unique timepieces. 

What aspects of your brand you think people should know more about?

I’d say the efforts into making the watches. As oppose to machine made mass production watches, I try to produce my watches using traditional methods such as hand painting, pad printing, and hand polishing.   

Heritage-Collection-by-Havaan-Tuvali
OK, now something more personal. For you, what’s the most important thing to find in a watch?

The story behind the watch and the idea of its design.

To finish, are you also a watch collector? If yes, what kind of watches do you collect?

I used to collect vintage watches, mostly Japanese brands and some Swiss brands. I particularity like vintage chronograph watches, I had a few Seiko and Citizen bullheads and Breitling navitimer as well as some less-known brand with 17 jewels chronograph watches.

Wayfinder-by-Havaan-Tuvali

Hope you guys have enjoyed this interview. You can follow Havaan Tuvali on the social networks :

Facebook / Instagram

If you’re interested to buy one of them, or if you want to know more about the brand, just click HERE.

Jonathan Kopp

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