If you're sitting in a pub and the person opposite is staring at your watch, there's a fair bet it'll be someone from an innovative company based in Ponteland, Northumberland. Clic Time founders Jim Richardson and Guy Allen are obsessed by watches - and so they should be. Their business is in the manufacture, distribution and selling of high-quality timepieces under licence for Lego. "The first thing we notice about anybody is their watch," says Guy, the firm's sales and marketing director. "We sit in bars and stare at people's wrists. We've actually bought an unusual watch off a waiter. "You can judge people by their watch, it's a statement. Somebody could be wearing a very expensive suit with a Swatch watch - you wouldn't wear flipflops with the same suit, would you?" The company was established in 1999 by the pair who were in the watch business in the South, originally working for the same company before going their separate ways. Guy moved on to work for Lego which at that time made its own watches. Eventually, they took on the licence which gives Clic Time the rights to the Lego name for a royalty. "The idea behind the watches uses the same construction elements as Lego the toy," says Jim. "Youcan change the bezel colour, for example, plus the straps clip apart and can be reconstructed. We give kids something they can build for themselves, it's very straightforward. "We're quite unusual in the North-East as watch design is normally a London-based industry. No-one expects to see a company like us in the North-East." Clic Time, which employs eight staff in Ponteland and ten in its Hong Kong office - the watches are manufactured in China - is in constant dialogue with Lego discussing development and direction before designs and drawings are prepared in the North-East. The company also owns 95% of the production and tooling in the Chinese factory and sells in 33 countries and globally in tax-free retail outlets. It sold 510,000 Lego watches last year and is set to open a New York office. Guy says: "The market is divided into two poles with something like a very inexpensive Batman watch to promote the latest film, but we're at the other end of the market. You can't just stamp a Lego logo on a dial, you have to take on the Lego values. Lego has a very interesting adult following - a very quirky following. It is a real watch with mineral scratch-proof glass, it's water-resistant with movements made by Citizen. "We use washable, heat-transfer printed straps rather than the screen-printed ones that bleed and fade. We try to be different. Customers ring up every day and tell us they've had their watch for years and can we send a new bezel - we love it. "They send us poems, it's a diverse customer base. Purchases tend to be driven by kids rather than adults - a Lego watch is a Rolex for kids, it's a must-have. The age range tends to be five to ten in the UK, but in Japan they're never going to buy a kids' watch, it's for teens and young adults. We look at the Far East market as entirely different from Europe and the US." The Swedish market is different again, with a clean, efficent-looking watch made in aluminium a big favourite. "It's product design rather than graphic design," says Jim. "Our designer had no watch before he came here - but he's very talented in product design and graphic design. "Our customer base is very sophisticated. Lego has a 98% brand-awareness rating, it's a well-known, middle-class family product. "People have high expectations. In a recent survey, the fact that a watch must must keep good time didn't even feature in the top ten of requirements. It's an assumption now that accuracy is a given." Clic Time also produces a range of MG watches which are popular with the classic car's owners' clubs worldwide. One has a silver strap which owes its styling to an MG's wire-spoked wheels; face colours are MG-inspired and look exactly like 1930s speedometers and dashboard dials, and leather straps are as the vehicle upholstery. An Elvis watch and a roulette-wheel design are on the drawing board for the weekend newspaper and magazine market which has proved lucrative for a Snowdrop design and a watch with a one-gram, 24-carat gold ingot as its centrepiece. Jim says: "The people at Lego hold our products up to companies making presentations and say, if you want to be a Lego licencee, this is what you have to do. In essence, it's a very desirable product." And a very successful North-East company - one to watch.
For further information on Lego watches, or other designs, email: zoe@clictime.com
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