BEFORE THE LAYNE
TEN YEARS OF LEARNING & EXPERIMENTING
Long before M. Ryan Watch Designs became a watch brand, I was experimenting with watch design on my own.
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For more than a decade, I've created test dials using my own process of electro-etching and water-slide decals to explore colors, typography and layouts.
I've also designed and 3D-printed watch cases, building test watches to see how different ideas worked in the real world.
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Many never became finished watches. They were a way to test an idea, learn from it and move on to the next.
Those experiments became the foundation for how I approach watch design today.
FROM EXPERIMENTS TO SERIES NO. 1
TURNING AN IDEA INTO A WATCH
Eventually, I wanted to take everything I'd learned and create a watch that could exist beyond my workbench.
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That became M. Ryan Watch Designs.
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The Layne—Series No. 1—is the first result: a mechanical watch shaped by years of experimentation, with a focus on legibility, distinctive case design, thoughtful proportions and a design that balances character with function.
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The Layne went through prototypes, testing and refinement just like the watches and dials that came before it.
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This time, the idea is going all the way to production.
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— Mike Ryan
Founder & Designer, M. Ryan Watch Designs, LLC
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