WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN
Today’s mainstream luxury watch world is largely defined by restraint: staid aesthetics, conservative design, and glacial progression. Place a vintage Rolex Submariner next to its modern counterpart and try to spot the difference. Not easy, right? Repeat this action with a vintage Omega Speedmaster and you’ll find the same pattern. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this slow march. And to be fair, some brands still push forward (I’m looking at you, Tudor). But if you want to observe genuine evolution, you’ll need to leave behind the familiar trio of Rolex, Omega, and Grand Seiko and travel into the world of microbrands – small-batch makers free to play with form, colour, materials, and even the very idea of what an analogue wristwatch can be in a digital age.
Perhaps surprisingly, southern Ontario has become something of a microbrand pocket. Hamilton is home to Locke & King (whose pieces draw inspiration from early twentieth-century trench watches), Whitby’s Whitby Watch Co puts a unique spin on classic dive and tool watches, and London’s Makoto Watch Co – featured elsewhere in this issue – channels Japanese design across a wide range of styles.
And then there’s Worden Watch Studio: a Guelph-based microbrand taking a different path altogether – approaching the wristwatch not as a traditional instrument but as medium for the brand’s unique artistic vision. Angular steel cases. Colourful enameled faces. Handcrafted straps of thick leather and twine laces. And playful theme-based releases like ‘Bubble Gum’ and ‘SunnySide’ that evoke childhood nostalgia and summertime bliss. The first time I spotted a Worden watch – the image slipped into my Instagram feed by the algorithm gods – I couldn’t look away. All baby blues, bright pinks, and brushed steel. A watch, yes – but also an expression of creativity and individuality: a dream brought to life. As both watch enthusiast and Guelphite, I had to know more. And so I reached out to founder and designer Tyler Worden and arranged a time to meet.
Less than a week later I find myself in Tyler’s watch studio discussing his ambitious entry into horology. It feels fitting that his workspace is tucked inside Guelph’s storied Trafalgar Building: an old red-brick industrial structure perched on the banks of the Speed River. Once a manufacturing hub, the building has evolved into a hive of creative energy – its three storeys now home to painters, designers, and artists of all kinds. Worden fits right in among this free-spirited crowd. Rickety staircases connect the floors, and an original freight elevator – clearly a veteran of many decades – still clanks dutifully up and down the shaft. Tyler leads me through a maze of corridors to his studio on the top floor.
Inside, the space feels equal parts inspired workshop and minimalist retreat: the studio is framed by crisp white walls, huge windows spilling sunlight across the room, and paint-splattered floors demarking years of creative output. A white couch and modern seat surround a low-lying coffee table in the centre of the room, while an Eames-style lounger sits tucked beneath a window. Nearby, a watchmaking table (where Tyler assembles each of his creations by hand) and computer desk – with Herman Miller chair – share space with large leafy plants, a bookshelf packed with art and design titles, and a scattering of colourful pop-art-inspired paintings by local artists.
Along one wall, the first three Worden releases – ‘Via Negativa’, ‘Bubble Gum’, and ‘SunnySide’ – sit on playful custom display platforms that reflect the inspiration behind each model. The SunnySide display features a miniature camping scene complete with tiny tent and picnic table, while ‘Bubble Gum’ is presented in a tiny urban landscape of concrete and graffiti. Opposite them, a glass case holds early prototypes – quiet reminders of the brand’s evolution. A modest workout bench in the corner (‘to get the creative juices flowing,’ Tyler chuckles) adds a touch of materiality. Clearly, this is a space built for serious thinking and experimentation.
Tyler’s path into horology was sparked by a YouTube rabbit hole he stumbled on during his industrial design studies at Carleton University. It was a Hodinkee video featuring a Rolex Explorer that opened the door. Within minutes he was captivated – not just by the watch, but by the language surrounding it: lug-to-lug, 904 steel, tapered bracelet, screw-down crown. ‘It was like discovering a secret vocabulary,’ Tyler tells me as we settle into our conversation. Soon he was devouring content, studying case geometry, proportions, and movement design. By his fourth year he set out to buy a graduation watch – but struggled to find one that balanced practicality with bold design.
Many boundary-pushing watches, he noticed, leaned on exotic materials and five-figure price tags. He wondered why there weren’t more artful watches using normal materials – stainless steel, simple components, quartz movements – but with interesting design. This question became the seed for Worden watches. While we chat, I reach for a ‘SunnySide’ on the coffee table. It sits beautifully in my hand – substantial, not heavy – and reveals itself in layers. The angular steel case, CNC’d locally, catches the light with understated confidence. The dial – a punchy enameled yellow anchored by a small red heart at twelve o’clock ‘to remind you that every Worden watch is crafted with care,’ Tyler says – emanates joy. A rugged leather strap, hand-painted with a sailboat and an apple, nods to summer camp craft. And the ‘SunnySide’ logo on the dial, designed by artist Liam Reynolds, feels like it’s been lifted from a love story – all carved letters and warm nostalgia. I flip it over and the theme continues: a wood-inlaid case back, etched with Worden Watch and Liam’s initials inside a heart. Made with love. And entirely unique.
If Tyler’s brand sits outside traditional watch categories, that’s by design. His influences range from the playful toughness of G-Shock to the restraint of Rolex and the architectural thinking of Gérald Genta – the design genius behind such horological legends as the lofty Royal Oak, the sublime Nautilus, and the much more modest (yet perhaps equally influential) Mickey Mouse watch. Beyond watches, he draws from iconic industrial design: Eames loungers, Herman Miller chairs. And Porsches. When I comment on the exquisite engineering of the German car maker, Tyler is quick to respond. ‘I used to own a Porsche 944,’ he tells me with a grin. ‘With a turbo front clip.’ Of course he did.
Yet the most distinctive inspiration behind Worden’s watches comes from something far less polished: shared moments of everyday nostalgia. The aforementioned SunnySide explores the idea of marking moments in time, alluding to those gestures that attempt to hold onto something fleeting. Like carving initials in a tree. Summer camp. Young love. Meanwhile, ‘Bubble Gum’ draws on the visual language of street art. Its palette – baby blue, pink, red, and purple – echoes graffiti bombing, while the dial’s playful graffiti-styled ‘Bubble Gum’ logo recalls memories of sun-drenched Saturdays. Riding bikes. Buying candy. Just hanging out. ‘These watches should evoke that feeling of just being a kid,’ Tyler tells me. Of small fragments of human experience. Mission accomplished.
Across the Worden lineup, subtle design cues tie everything together. Bright coloured faces. Fun circle hour markers. Baton-style hands with rounded tips. The aforementioned heart icon at twelve o’clock. And matching angular steel cases machined right here in the region – a distinctly brutalist design cue that offers a potent contrast to the watches’ ubiquitous playfulness. Another shared element across all Worden watches: quartz movements. It’s a choice that might surprise purists, but it’s intentional: accurate, durable, and practical. ‘If someone’s going to wear this watch all the time,’ Tyler declares, ‘it should just work.’
These first Worden models are produced in extremely small batches – the cases CNC-machined locally, with Tyler assembling each watch in his studio, by hand. While the dials are made overseas, nearly everything else – from design to final assembly – passes through his hands. Like many microbrands, production has grown gradually. One CNC case becomes two. Two become ten. Each step brings new lessons about manufacturing, sourcing, and scaling a product-driven business. Looking ahead, Tyler will begin transitioning production to external partners so that he can transition his energy on developing new themes, releases, and one-off pieces. Emergent design elements – like water-resistance testing or sapphire crystals with anti-reflective coating – require specialized equipment and outside partners. But the core idea behind Worden watches isn’t changing anytime soon.
At heart, the brand remains an exercise in creative freedom: these are watches that blend evocative themes with thoughtful industrial design, conceived not in a corporate boardroom but in a sunlit studio overlooking the Speed River. Perhaps that’s exactly what makes them so compelling. In a watch world often defined by heritage and tradition, Worden’s creations feel refreshingly human – objects that mark time while giving form to moments of human experience that make life worth measuring.
WORDEN WATCH STUDIO Guelph ON wordenwatch.com
