As you know, we don’t fell any trees for our watches, they’re made from recycled natural wood furniture. But which types of wood do we use and why do we use them? Let’s take a little detour into botany, shall we?
Zebrawood
Don’t you worry, no Zebras harmed! Commonly found in the tropical rainforests of West Africa, some traditional uses for this wood are tool handles, furniture, boatbuilding and skis. Known for it’s unique stripe-pattern, the name “Zebrawood'' should be no surprise. Zebrawood’s strong texture provides great reliability and durability for all kinds of uses. So why not for a watch? Our thoughts exactly, checkout one of our zebrawood watches, The Yew.
Red and Green Sandalwood
We use two different types of Sandalwood for our watches, both found in several countries throughout Asia. Red Sandalwood is characterised by its distinctive red colour and green sandalwood by its… you guessed it dark green colour.
Whilst botanically speaking they do not belong to the same family, they make a great material for beads, musical instruments and luxury furniture and are characterised by their strength. So we recycle these pieces of furniture and make them into beautiful watches such as The Willow and The Ash.
Maple
You’ve heard of this one, eh? The Maple tree doesn’t only produce our favourite pancake topping (controversial I know), it’s got some pretty nifty uses. Native to the northern states of the US and of course Canada, this almost white wood is frequently used for hardwood flooring and high-end furniture. Given its strength and and beautiful light colour, the wood lends itself perfectly to producing a watch. The White Cedar perfectly accentuates the features of this wood, contrasting it perfectly with silver.
Ebony
Being harvested from a range of trees, this wood calls several parts of the world home, including India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and West Africa. The demand for this high quality hardwood, within the luxury furniture industry is tremendous. Used heavily for furniture due to its dark colour, this wood has a rich history and a range of decorative uses including piano keys and knife handles. Pieces of engraved Ebony have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, dating back to 3000 BC! Do you think The Ebony Apple Watch Strap will be discovered in a couple thousand years too?
It is our mission to contribute positively to the environment above all else. Repurposing and recycling natural wood furniture is one way we choose to give back to our planet. We have a number of other sustainability initiatives, including planting one tree for every order and offsetting double the amount of carbon we generate in shipping, for every package we ship!Click here to shop our full range of handmade recycled natural wood wristwatches & Apple watch straps.