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LIV Watches, and living on Kickstarter

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March 2017


They dared to LIV. The young brand is on Kickstarter once again, offering an affordable new rectangular timepiece to fans of bold watches.

LIV Watches, and living on Kickstarter

LIV was established in 2012 with the motto, “Dare to LIV.” I suppose that would hold true for all new companies during the precarious early days. But in this case the motto was probably directed toward potential consumers who might be looking for a more exciting Swiss timepiece at a modest price.

Like with many young and ambitious start-ups, the objective was to design quality affordable watches for people that don’t necessarily have the classic watch look in mind.

LIV Watches, and living on Kickstarter

Just over four years in the business, and LIV has by now come to life and come good on its promise. They recently launched their third Kickstarter campaign with the LIV Rebel Watch.

That’s right, this is their third go at crowd funding. At the end of 2014 they launched the LIV GX1 Swiss Quartz Chronograph. The campaign was fully funded in about half of a day, and the GX1 is actually still being produced today.

LIV Watches, and living on Kickstarter

The team then followed it up with an automatic offering of the same model at the start of 2016. That resulted in over a million dollars worth of funding for the brand to start their production run. Not bad at all.

After two successful runs on Kickstarter, you might think that the company would have enough capital to fund production of new models. Even if they do, it’s not necessary. By pre-selling on Kickstarter, they can raise enough money to meet the minimum quantity order required by their manufacturers. That, in turn, helps out the loyal customers, who can get the watch at a lower price.

LIV Watches, and living on Kickstarter

The resulting Rebel timepiece takes its name from the fact that this new watch is something different than what the brand has done in the past. Specifically, the watch doesn’t come in the same old round case but rather a rectangular stadium-designed face.

LIV Watches, and living on Kickstarter

Their dials are well organized, and while there is a lot to catch the eye on multiple layers, the dials remain relatively easy to read. The dial and indices are equally readable at night, too, thanks to the BG-W9 lume made by Super-LuminNova.

The Rebel has been made available in four different models: a chronograph powered by the Ronda Z60 Swiss Quartz; an automatic fitted with a Sellita SW200-1 calibre; and an automatic chronograph driven by the self-winding SW500 movement; and, most recently a GMT model which is powered by the Ronda PowerTech Cal.515.24H Swiss Quartz.

LIV Watches, and living on Kickstarter

The base model of the Rebel can be had at an early-bird price on Kickstarter until March 30th. Depending on the model, it costs anywhere from $259 USD for the basic quartz model to $790 USD for the automatic chronograph. Check out their Kickstarter campaign to find out more.