The smartwatch for a fashionable Bond girl: an interview with the designers of SHAMMANE

I admit that’s so cool that I can read my e-mails on my smartwatch and I could talk to somebody via… my wrist. It (kind of) reminds me about the old Bond movies, where a gadget like an intelligent watch at hand was reserved only to the main characters. But, even so, I wasn’t so passionate about buying the classical smartwatches – maybe because I don’t feel like they match some amazing outfit (well, yes, the Bond girls should be always glamorous). One day I have discovered SHAMMANE brand (www.shammane.com) And I thought that might be a good watch for a fashionable spy.

The SHAMMANE smartwatches could be found on www.shammane.com
A classic watch (with needles) will be launched soon, on a pre order campaign on Kickstarter the 15th of June –  http://www.shammane.com/twin-watch/.

Their design is closer to what I expect from a smartwatch: a simple, minimalist design watch that doesn’t show off the tech inventions, which are subtly infused in fashion side. Therefore, I talked with designers about fashion & technology, about design and what makes SHAMMANE more desirable than others.

When you have decided to design a smartwatch? What was the trigger?

We decided to design smartwatches 2 years ago, before the Apple watch release, when all smartwatches where mostly focused on functionalities and sport. We were looking for elegant and stylish smartwatches and we couldn’t find any, so we decided to create our own, that later turned into the SHAMMANE brand. Smartwatches were seen mostly as gadget while we thought watches, as smart as they can be, remain and will remain jewels. So we start designing this jewel, with the lightest technology so it doesn’t ruin the result we wanted to achieve.

Did you know anything about horologerie when you have started the business? What’s your background? 

My associate and I are both engineers with a strong background of design and fashion, but none in watchmaking. This is why we teamed up with our two watch designers so they could give birth to what we had in mind, while ensuring that the result would still be feasible. Also we are talking about smartwatch, so as engineers we knew what is inside and how it works. With my associate and I taking care of the inside, and our designers taking care of the outside, we were sure to come up with the best design we could get.

Your smartwatch is now in Corso Como and Harrods. Where did the first watch you produced go? How your first client looked like? 

The first watch we produced is the number 00 and will stay at SHAMMANE curiosity collection. Then the first following when to the people that are supporting us since the beginning of our story through the crowdfunding we did in 2015. These first backers where (and still are) so important to us, they basically allowed us to make this brand real. So these people are our first customers and are still very engaged to our community. They are mostly Parisian women, loving design and fashion, interested in what’s new, but this changed a bit with time and our customers come now from anywhere in France really…

Why did you choose this design, in particular?  Which are your favourite materials to work with? 

If you look closely at the watch, you will notice that duality hides in every detail. They way we display time, the straps with two different materials (jersey and veal leather) or with two different finishing (plain and nubuck leather). Duality is at the heart of our brand: connecting your spiritual world and your physical life. We wanted to express this duality in our smartwatch. And of course we worked with stainless steel for the casing as it is one of the best material to do so. For the upcoming straps, we will work with new materials such as cotton, and in every collection we will design, we will think of a new material to work with. It is thrilling to try, to innovate, to create interesting material encounters and contrast. This really means something to us.

What is the particular feature of this watch that makes it desirable? In other words, why should we buy SHAMMANE and not a regular smartwatch (and there are a few…) 

Firstly its look. We think it is still a singular smartwatch on the market. Every detail is here to bring our customer in our SHAMMANE universe were you can filter your phone with elegance, you can take back control of your life by keeping your phone away as you can choose to get noticed only of what really matters to you. It is a real filter between you and your digital world. Then the straps are also really different in the materials, in the gesture to put on the watch (there are no holes in the straps). The last feature would be the size which is smaller than most of the smartwatch you would find on the market.

What’s next in your business? 

As we’ve been asked by our community, we are launching a classic watch (with needles). It will be the disconnected version of the connected one with a slightly different design. The straps will still be interchangeable between both watches. We will launch a pre order campaign on Kickstarter the 15th of June. This watch can be seen on http://www.shammane.com/twin-watch/.

Friends for more than 10 years, the two founders Arnaud Lancelot and Erwan Colin, both engineers, share a passion for innovation, beauty and travel. It is from their years spent in China, the cradle of connected objects, that the idea of SHAMMANE is born (www.shammane.com). The idea of reconciling fashion and technology by thinking the watch connected as a jewel, an intimate object worn on the skin. An elegant and delicate self-extension, a talisman, guardian of our virtual life. To give shape to their project, Sibylle Delclaux and Chloé Guyon, co-artistic directors of the brand joined the team. 

Photography: www.shammane.com