Two Students, One Microbrand: The Montera story

By Sachin Velmurugan & Noah Wilson

We didn't set out to build a watch brand. We just wanted a watch we actually liked.

December 2025. We were 20, both at Sheffield Hallam, juggling uni and part time jobs. We were sat in the library procrastinating our assignments and finding ways to avoid them, so we did what any watch lover would do and started scrolling through watches we couldn't afford. Then we realised we're paying a stupid amount of money for a degree we weren't even using. So we decided to make our own watch, with the designs we wanted and a price that wouldn't require a mortgage.

So we just decided to do it ourselves.

The first few months weren't exciting. Before any of the fun stuff there was a mountain of groundwork. Company registration, supplier contracts, import regulations. Late nights and weekends, on top of lectures and shifts. Not glamorous. But we got through it.

The Bluewater GMT Collection

Two variants: the Great White and the Bull Shark, named after the Mediterranean's most iconic predators.

Automatic movement. GMT complication. Sapphire crystal. 100m water resistance. Custom shark engraved caseback. Seiko NH34 movement.

Batch 1 sold out in 48 hours.

Honestly we still find it hard to put into words. Two 20 year olds who started this in a university library, funding it through part time jobs and it sold out in two days. What got us most was knowing it wasn't down to luck. It was the community. People on Reddit, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook who'd been there from the start, given us feedback, told us what they wanted. They showed up when it mattered. We're genuinely grateful for every single one of them.

How We Got Here

We didn't have a marketing budget. We still don't really. What we had was a community of people who liked what we were doing and told others about it. That's still how Montera works.

What's Next

Batch 2 is sold out too. We're always working on the next thing: new colourways, better movements, stronger designs. Every release is going to be better than the last. We're not stopping.

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