Luxury Olive Wood Watch Case

This Luxury Olive Wood Watch Case was a commission piece by Lombard Bespoke for one of our esteemed clients. Crafted in partnership with my friend Grant Wood, a master carpenter and accomplished designer and builder.

Preliminary sketch and design concept of the bespoke wooden watch case by Lombard Bespoke

Bespoke Olive Wood Watch Case by Lombard Bespoke

The solid wooden case was fashioned from both Walnut and 100-year-old olive trees, personally felled by Grant at his Olive Farm in the Paarl, Cape Town. Specific sections of the aged olive trees were selected for their distinctive distress wood markings, reflecting the trees' age—unlike younger olive wood, which is more uniform in tone and lacks contrast, with branches too small for carpentry. Olive wood cannot be ordered by the meter, even from specialty wood retailers, making this project particularly exciting for us.

Photo of 100+ Year-Old Trees on the Grant's family Olive Farm in Paarl, located high up on the maintain, below the Du Toitskloof Pass.

Colour swatch for leathers options shown for final selection of the design. The Mid-Brown colour best complimented the tones of the olive wood for this project.

Grant completed the woodwork in his studio, while I handled the leather cladding and detailing on the wooden watch case in my studio in Wellington. The collaboration was seamless, as we were only a few kilometers apart being in the same valley.

Olive Wood trunk section on the band saw.

Grant Wood in his workshop (happy place) showing me the sections he had prepared for gluing together.

We undertook this project over a span of six months, progressing in stages as the design developed, beginning with the exquisite olive drawer that Grant initially crafted. There were times when we had to wait for imported solid brass hardware and fittings from the USA and the UK, as well as for bevelled glass to be precisely cut for us.

All woods used are solid timbers, not veneered. The case is heavy, intended to evoke the feel of traditional woodwork construction and design.

Walnut Frame with the Olive wood drawer placed inside.

The case is designed to display up to 8 timepieces through a beveled glass lid. It also features a solid olive wood drawer compartment for storing additional watch straps, small tools, and more. Generous spacing for the watches ensures there is no risk of them knocking against each other. Our client has a collection of large luxury timepieces and a large wrist size, so we incorporated these considerations into the design specifications.

Here the watch compartment section is being lined with a a padded biscuit suede leather for the base.

The leatherwork style chosen involves full-grain goat leather, hand-stained to create tonal depth and a worn-in, characterful appearance, rather than a modern, monotone flat leather. To catch the eye, I hand-stitched a baseball-stitch pattern on the sides of the case with thick cream thread, giving it a more masculine look.

Here I wet and stretch out the leather, before gluing it down, so that it neatly takes the shape of the edge.

The lid opens with dual release catch buttons, designed to prevent tampering by guests or children at home, ensuring they cannot easily access the watches inside.

Functionality of the locking dual closure mechanism on the Bespoke Olive Watch Case