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Add Texture to GoogleSuccess in watchmaking isn’t measured solely by the precision of a movement or the rarity of a metal. It can also begin with a £7.99 toy watch, two blue levers, and Minion discs flying through the air. Before Studio Underd0g, before the fruit-themed chronographs that collectors snapped up, Rich Benc designed this unlikely object right after graduating from college. Time was almost irrelevant to the project. But the desire to subvert conventions was already there.
Six years after Studio Underd0g was founded, this penchant for the offbeat has become a method. The British brand has carved out its niche in an industry that can sometimes be too serious by treating watchmaking as a playground for graphic design, color, and playful nods. But beneath the watermelon, passion fruit, or avocado dials, the company has also strengthened its manufacturing and taken back control of the assembly of its timepieces in the United Kingdom. The visual humor has been paired with industrial ambition.
Color as an Act of Rebellion
Studio Underd0g was born during the lockdowns, at a time when luxury goods oscillated between a sense of heritage and cautious restraint. Rich Benc took the opposite approach to this dreariness. His first project centered on two watches that are still featured in the catalog: the Desert Sky, inspired by the world of sneakers, and the Go0fy Panda, which resembles a racing chronograph reimagined by a playful illustrator.
The third offering, however, overshadowed the others. Launched in 2021, the Watermel0n immediately defined the brand’s aesthetic: an affordable chronograph, featuring a playful and eye-catching dial design, with a watermelon motif suggested by its color scheme. The watch has sold over 10,000 units. For a young company, this is a remarkable figure, especially since the watch’s visibility wasn’t due to a centuries-old tradition or a high-profile marketing campaign.
Its evolution reveals another side of Studio Underd0g. Originally priced at 370 pounds, the Watermel0n is now assembled in the United Kingdom. It features an upgraded Seagull movement and a British-made strap; its price has now risen to 600 pounds. The watch retains its immediacy—almost impulsive—but its craftsmanship is no longer what it was in the early days. Behind the appearance of a summer fruit, the brand has learned to organize its own production line.
This transition is pivotal. Many young brands know how to attract attention with a successful debut dial; few manage to transform that attention into a lasting identity. Studio Underd0g chose not to make its formula more conventional to gain credibility. Instead, it opted to make it more robust.
Escaping the trap of the one-off watch
The 02SERIES, launched in 2023, served as a test. Following the Watermel0n, the goal was to demonstrate that the brand was not limited to a single spectacular design. Instead of continuing the food-themed concept or developing variations on the chronograph, Studio Underd0g tackled the field watch—a category typically associated with military-grade readability and utilitarian restraint.
The result takes the opposite approach to this austerity. Its dial is constructed on two levels: an upper sapphire layer features numerals that appear to be suspended, while a gradient background unfolds beneath it. Two conspicuously visible screws hold the assembly in place. The watch cost 800 pounds at launch. It did not seek to hide its construction but rather to make it the very focus of its design.
With its second generation and new dial colors, the 02SERIES has established itself as a hallmark of Studio Underd0g. Its two-tiered architecture has perhaps even become more recognizable than the colorful Big-Eye-style sub-dials that helped put the brand on the map. This is where British eccentricity works best: when the idea seems lighthearted, but its execution reveals true design discipline.
The Moser Moment: A Two-Pronged Recognition
In 2024, this identity reached a new milestone with Project Passion, the collaboration between Studio Underd0g and H. Moser & Cie. The partnership was unexpected given the gap in price and positioning, but far less so in terms of spirit. Both houses share a taste for humor applied to technically serious timepieces.
The project took the form of a diptych. H. Moser & Cie presented an Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Passion Fruit, a yellow-and-purple variation on one of its most complex timepieces. Studio Underd0g, for its part, unveiled the 03SERIES, a single-push-button chronograph featuring the same color palette. The two watches engaged in a visual dialogue despite belonging to very different mechanical worlds.
Interest was immediate, to the point of overwhelming Moser’s website when the collection went live. But the collaboration also revealed a contradiction: the set of two watches was priced at 65,000 pounds, a sum that made the set unaffordable, even for those who had contributed to the project.
The teams then designed a separate piece, intended for those involved in the project. This version of the Studio Underd0g, featuring inverted Passi0nfruit hues, was offered to them at cost. A “team watch,” so to speak, which remained virtually invisible on the secondary market. None of these pieces would have surfaced there. In the brand’s universe, where desirability often stems from a very short ordering window, this discretion gives it a special status.
Proof in the Line
On March 8, 2025, during British Watchmakers’ Day organized by the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers, the phenomenon stepped off the screen. A line formed around the Fears x Studio Underd0g Gimlet, a far cry from the online purchasing habit to which limited releases are often reduced.
This edition of 200 pieces combined Fears’ cushion-shaped case—adapted to house a Sellita movement—with the two-tiered dial of the 02SERIES. Fully luminescent, the Gimlet took its name and colors from the cocktail. Its price was set at 1,000 pounds. Not all of the enthusiasts in attendance that day were able to leave with a watch, which confirmed the level of anticipation surrounding Studio Underd0g.
Two other “alcohol-inspired” creations followed for Wind-Up New York: the Manhattan and the Mim0sa. This series does not blur the lines between the two houses. On the contrary, it makes them clear: Fears contributes the cushion-shaped case, while Studio Underd0g brings the artistry of the dial, transforming a bar staple into a watch design without veering into promotional merchandise.
Countering Copies by Turning Them Against Themselves
Popularity almost always attracts imitators. When reproductions of its designs began to appear, Studio Underd0g could have simply viewed them as an infringement on its work. The response they chose was more playful—and more scathing. Among these copies, one introduced an idea absent from the collection: a design inspired by the avocado.
Rich Benc adopted the concept as his own. The Av0cado features a stone-orange sub-dial, while the Guacam0le works with a more subdued palette of greens. The gesture is almost self-evident: it’s better to absorb a poor imitation than to let it define your visual territory. During the nine-hour ordering window, the two models generated 3.25 million pounds in sales.
The move is indicative of a brand that has understood that its value lies not only in aesthetics. Studio Underd0g sells the ability to laugh at its own success—and thus to escape the solemnity that usually accompanies desirability. Its watches remain coveted, limited-edition, and collectible, but the brand refuses to turn this tension into a drama.
A Sequel Still Under Wraps
The next watch in the main collection will be called the 04SERIES and is slated for release in 2026. Details remain under wraps. One thing is already certain: it will resemble neither the chronographs of the 01SERIES, nor the raised construction of the 02SERIES, nor the single-push-button model launched with Project Passion.
This commitment to constant evolution is likely Studio Underd0g’s best defense against the exhaustion of its own style. A watermelon can become a signature; it cannot become a program in and of itself. To follow the rest of this journey, the brand directs you to its official website, Studio Underd0g. It remains to be seen which piece will take the reins in 2026, and how it will once again transform a seemingly frivolous motif into a very serious endeavor.
