The first models of 3thrity3 will help the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF) and Drop in the Bucket.

3thirty3 is a project launched by my friend and fellow watch blogger, James Henderson from Tempus Fugit. The idea is simple, create a watch brand, that would donate one third, 33.3%, of the price of the watch to a charitable organization. As any respectable watch brand, 3thirty3 too has signed up two brand ambassadors, actually, official “spokes-elephant” and “spokes-rhino”. I had the pleasure to asked them a few questions about this worthy project.

WatchPaper: Peanut and Samuel, first of all, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I would love to hear about your background, may I ask you to introduce yourself?

Peanut: Well, my name is Peanut and I currently live and work in Santa Barbara. I am fairly new to the world of watches as my position as “official spokes-elephant” of the Tempus Fugit Initiative was my first real job in the world of watch PR. It was actually really exciting because a bunch of brands got involved and I got to meet with several of their brand managers and owners in Basel this year!

Peanut with Eterna at BaselWorld

Peanut with Bell & Ross at Baselworld

With A. Favre & Fils

Cuervo y Sobrinos

Glycine

It was a lot of work and a lot of late nights, but James and I pushed through!

One of the reasons why I got behind the initiative (apart from the obvious reason of funding anti-poaching) was that instead of advertising money, James asked brands to donate a reasonable amount of money to the IAPF.

Samuel: Peanut and I met through Facebook, I am originally from Los Angeles but moved up to Santa Barbara to help with the “state-side” logistics of the initiative this year and to assist with presenting the Frederique Constant watch that we gave to a lucky contributor to the IAPF:

Jennifer Ibaven, winner of a Frederique Constant slimline, with Peanut and Samuel.

It has proven to be a lot of hard work following up with brands, etc. but I really enjoyed it, and Peanut is a great co-worker so it doesn’t really feel like work at all! And the best part is that we get free room and board at Tempus Fugit/3thirty3 HQ.

WP: Please tell me about 3thirty3 and what does it mean to you to be its ambassador?

Peanut: For me, 3thirty3 is the ultimate “anti-brand” in a way. I was with James at BaselWorld meeting with all of the brand managers when the idea started forming in his head. We met with a few trusted “insiders” to talk about the possibility of a limited edition watch for their brand that would support the IAPF, but what became clear was that these types of partnerships seldom solved the bigger problem. They are fun and exciting for the short-term, but once the fundraiser is over, the idea sort of dies away. The idea of 3thirty3 is really quite simple – the world has a bunch of problems. If we look at all of them all at once they seem “unsolveable” BUT – if we try to work on a few at a time and get people involved even at the smallest level, then we can hopefully solve them together. 3thrity3 is not a charity. It is a watch brand that seeks to help others by sharing whatever sales success it will have. Unlike a lot of brands doing a limited edition watch with say 10% going to the charity, 3thirty3 has built in a donation of 33.3% into the business plan. It is not a “special event” or unique action – it is “business as usual”. And for once we can use that expression in a positive way!

Samuel: I would second everything that Peanut said but go a bit further. What I found was that a lot of brands have their own charitable projects which are very important. Moreover, it is a bit unreasonable to constantly approach people with a lot of money and ask for it just because they have it. Watch brands are no different than people – if you constantly go to them with your hand out, sooner or later they will stop wanting to meet with you ; )

James decided to put his money where his mouth was. He sold most of his collection, he found two amazing people to help with the design of the logo and dial, and he reached out to “insider” friends for advice and assistance. The hand-wound model that we hope to launch around BaselWorld time (March 2015) is truly a team effort! Here is a picture of the prototype “in progress”. Our friend in Cleveland is working on the assembly as I write this and we look forward to showing it off in the first week or two of December. Our first models for the public will be two quartz pieces.

Early prototype of the upcoming mechanical 3thirty3

WP: Why IAPF and Drop in the Bucket?

Samuel: I think I can answer for both Peanut and myself regarding the IAPF – it is an organization that is ACTION oriented. No fancy fund-raisers with beautiful people sipping cocktails in pretty clothes. The IAPF works to recruit, train and support rangers working to save and protect endangered animals in Africa. It’s sort of “near and dear” to us. The IAPF was founded by Damien Mander. This is a guy who was a Australian Royal Navy Clearance Diver and Special Operations military sniper who has become an anti-poaching crusader. He was looking to do something positive following several tours of duty in combat, and sought a way to make an impact on the world by SAVING the lives of endangered animals and the brave park rangers who protect them. He had some personal wealth saved during his military career both in the “public” and “private” sector and essentially he sold it all to create the IAPF. In a way, you could say that Damien and Carlo Croco (the owner of Hublot who sold his ownership in it and walked away from a life of wealth and luxury to create and manage his foundation for children) are the “patron saints” of 3thirty3 and Tempus Fugit Media.

Peanut: I could not have said it better myself! As for Drop in the Bucket, they work to literally create wells for safe and clean drinking water in parts of Africa. In addition they also work on creating sanitation solutions. This then ties in with education as they strive to provide wells near schools, which in turn enables girls to get an education. Pretty cool, huh?

But it won’t just stop with these two organizations as we have recruited an independent consultant to be our Quality Control Consultant for Giving. David Byrd essentially evaluates EVERY potential charitable organization that we might work with for future collaborations, and then provides a “report card” detailing how much money was donated, and what the money was spent on.

WP: How can someone help you launch 3thirty3?

Samuel: That is the easiest part! They can help by participating in our crowdfunder project through GoFundMe:
http://www.gofundme.com/gav5ds and truly ANY amount helps. We are essentially asking people for $10 – $20 US.

Peanut: But this also allows people the opportunity to “pre-purchase” one of the first two quartz versions of the 3thirty3 watch by donating $333.

An important note – the straps pictured are leather – BUT the straps that the watches will ship with will most likely be Lorica. We wanted to have a vegan solution ; )

We will probably offer leather straps for customers who wish to purchase one separately – we are not judging anyone! Our straps are sourced from the good folks at Hadley-Roma, who have been supporting our project right from the start!

WP: Thanks again and good luck with achieving your goal!

Peanut – Thank you Adam!

Samuel – Yes, a big Merci!