Recently we wrote an article about Jebely, a watchwinder brand from Taiwan which produces interesting watchwinders for reasonable prices. As we like to learn more about relatively unknown watchwinder brands we asked Mr. Tony Liao from Jebely for an interview. 

Could you please introduce yourself and function at Jebely?

I’m Tony Liao from Taichung, Taiwan. I did study at the University of the Art at Philadelphia, USA. I also did a major in Industrial Design for product developement. In the company I am currently resonsible for the Jebely watchwinder branding and sales since 2012.

How would you describe the Jebely company?

Jebely is a Swiss brand which we bought in 2003. We believe to bringing the high-end watchwinder to more majority market and add personality to it. For a long period of time, we were OEM/ODM for many brands in US and Europe. As a professional watchwinder manufacturer, we believe we have more proper reason to bring our own brand with our own technology and design to the market.

How would you describe the Jebely watchwinders?

Currently we have three different levels watchwinder for different market.
First is entry level watchwinder, which is made with plastic and metal combination. We are targeting the majority customer with affordable price.

Second, we have standerd and classic style of watchwinder for those who have 3 up to 8 mechanical watches. They are very simple, square-like watchwinder with different special panels and design treatment to represent the different personality and style. Mainly is for the watches collection.

Third, our flagship (or luxury) watchwinder is for special showcase in watch store, club, department store, or special watch collection.

We identified the Jebely watchwinder as the stylize, personalize watchwinder. With modern and unique design style for more younger generation.

Can you tell us more about the production proces?

Currently Jebely watchwinders are all made in Taiwan. We developed our own gear box with Japanese motor which we can provide two years warranty.

Base on our three levels of watchwinder, mainly materials are used as wood, glass, aluminum, and plastic combination.

What are the main markets for Jebely? And can you tell us more about the business structure; do you have distributors, dealers or do you sell directly to consumers?

Currently our main markets are China and Japan where we have our branch office for exclusive sales. We are currently looking for distributors, partners, and dealers worldwide.

In which way will Jebely develop the coming years? What will be your focus?

We are focusing in the entry-level watchwinder and module watchwinder.

If you would compare Jebely with another brand, which brand is this and why?

I will say that we are not easy to compare to any other brand since our product design is very different than others. We are not like traditional watchwinder brands, either we are not very high-end of technique or finishing. We are focusing in stylish consumer product.

What new projects can we expect soon?

We are trying hard to bring the metal watchwinder in entry-level price with unique design style.

Why should we buy a Jebely watchwinder?

With a long period of OEM/ODM background, we are confident to bring the European quality with Asian price, and a stylish design. 

Every watch adept knows that there is a moment to make a decision between being satisfied with the current collection of automatic watches, or to expand it with more watches. This decision is hard to make as it's not one to make with common sense. We all know the passion and love when we see another beautiful watch...There is no end. 

Those who look after their automatic watches use a watchwinder. It keeps the watches in motion, and they should be...compare it with a car. Almost everyone starts with a small watchwinder for one or maybe two watches. But then the collection expands and the small watchwinder doesn't offer the capacity you prefer. You want to store the watches all together, and not some in a watchwinder, others in a watch box and the rest in a cabinet or drawer. That's the exact moment to consider a bigger watchwinder for 4, 6 or maybe even 8 automatic watches. 

If you have only a few automatic watches a single or double watchwinder will do the trick. But when you have more than a few automatic watches we strongly advise to purchase a bigger watchwinder. It's more practical, more safe and is a beautiful sight when all watches do rotate. In fact it's mostly even cheaper than multiple single watchwinders. 

Of course there are also disadvantages. You cannot take a big watchwinder with you at a trip or business travel. You also need to choose the exact watchwinder which fits into your interiour, in terms of material, size and color. A single watchwinder does fit everywhere and won't be irritating, but a bigger watchwinder will when it's not matching it's background. 

If you have a few automatic watches, just stick to a single or double watchwinder and hope you can resist the tempation of buying new automatic watches. But if the flesh is weak there are so many beautiful big watchwinders which are real eye catchers! It will definitely impress your friends:) 

The Italian watchwinder brand Scatola del Tempo is one of the few brands that's still producing watchwinders in an old style. While almost all watchwinder brands innovate and produce more modern and stylish watchwinders, Scatola del Tempo chooses to produce old-fashioned watchwinders with a lack of interesting functions.

In these times that consumers do demand more, and successful brands do listen very well to them, it's a no brainer to meet the consumer demands. Nevertheless the Scatola del Tempo watchwinders are still looking the same for the last 10 years, and don't have exciting options which makes a watchwinder more sexy and attractive for a watch collector. Some say "never change a winning team", but we hear more and more that Scatola del Tempo is selling less watchwinders. Maybe it are rumours, but even in a rumour can be truth. We noticed several dealers stopped selling this Italian brand. 

Good examples of high end brands which understand the consumers demands are Buben & Zörweg, Stockinger but also Orbita. These brands do innovate in design and functionality. These brands also invest in good social media campaigns to keep contact with the consumers. The facebook page of Scatola del Tempo is only updated once per several months, and only has 84 likes. For example, Buben & Zörweg has almost 38k likes, Stockinger 500....

Come on Scatola del Tempo, we expect more from Italians.

The Dutch watch brand Van Speyk launched its first models in 2011. Last week Van Speyk presented its newest Dutch Diver models, which are produced in the Netherlands (Dutch made). Normally we don’t write about watches but as announced we like to write an article about watches in combination with a watchwinder. For this review we did choose for a combination with the Swiss Kubik aluminium black. This watchwinder is one of the most popular models from Swiss Kubik and a bestseller since a couple of years.

Van Speyk Dutch Diver

The new Van Speyk Dutch Diver watch does surprise us. The specs are very good (Miyota movement, sapphire glass, 200m waterresistant, screw crown and double layer dial) but more amazing is the very interesting price; 329,00 euro (incl. 21% VAT and free shipment worldwide). We received the blue Dutch Diver from Van Speyk and the blue color is intriging. It’s a dial color which is quite normal for a watch, but it looks very nice. The advantage is that the watch is easy to combine with all kind of clothing. Blue simply does match with a lot of colors.

We did test the Van Speyk Dutch Diver for two weeks and it keeps time perfectly. At night the luminova does its work fine. We didn’t go snorkling or diving with it, which we should have done with a diver, but we expect the watch is extremely well protected against water as Van Speyk promised it us.

Swiss Kubik aluminium black

One of the most popular watchwinder brands in the price level from 400 to 900 euro is Swiss Kubik. The watchwinder is compact, effective and easy to control. It will wind any automatic watch without a problem. The battery function is great to use the watchwinder at a travel or inside a safe. The Swiss Kubik models don’t use a Swiss motor anymore, but it’s still a good watchwinder for an interesting price. A big advantage is the three year warranty, where many other brands only provide two years. Some call it a detail, but we think it’s proof of good service and aftersales.

We hope Swiss Kubik will introduce new models soon, as most available models are on the market for several years. Swiss Kubik watchwinders did prove its quality and therefore we are very curious about new models in another design.

The Van Speyk Dutch Diver wound by a Swiss Kubik watchwinder

As an automatic watch the Dutch Diver has a powerreserve of about 40 hours. Without any movement the watch will loose its energy, and that’s exactly the reason why a watchwinder is so handy. We did wind the watch with the Swiss Kubik watchwinder and we found out it’s a perfect combination.

Sometimes we "discover" a relatively unknown watchwinder brand. One of these brands is Jebely. This watchwinder brand is originally from Switzerland, but taken over by a Taiwan company. Since then Jebely focuses on producing good quality watchwinders. We got in touch with Jebely a few weeks ago and learnd more about this interesting brand. 

The Jebely watchwinders are available in many different styles, colours and materials. The entry-level watchwinders are made of plastic. The more luxury models are made of wood, aluminium and glass. Quite special is that Jebely developed an own gearbox technology which is used in all Jebely watchwinders. This is quite special.

When we take a look at the Jebely website we see a modern design with a nice presentation of all models. We have to say that we are attracted by several models because of the original design. The main markets for Jebely are China and Japan, which could be the reason we didn't know this brand. It's a matter of time till Jebely expands to Europe and the USA, as their watchwinders will be attractive for many automatic watch adepts. 

Soon we will present an interview with Mr. Tony Liao, who is responsible for the Jebely branding and sales. He will inform us about the values and traditions of this Taiwan compay. We are very interested as the Jebely watchwinders do look very promising.

Hopefully we can test a Jebely watchwinder soon, so we can write about its quality, functionality and looks. Thereby we hope Jebely will expand to Europe and the USA so that consumers can see the brand in real.