George Bamford

Business of HYPE is a weekly series brought to you by HYPEBEAST Radio and hosted by jeffstaple. It’s a show about creatives, brand-builders and entrepreneurs and the realities behind the dreams they’ve built. For episode 19, George Bamford of Bamford Watch Department – the first company to offer full personalization of the world’s most iconic watches — explains how the once “antichrist” of the watch-world inspired the industry to rethink its approach to building brand loyalty. In the age of mass production, Bamford brought back the lost art of personalization to luxury watches. As a young adult, George found inspiration in luxury car manufacturers like Bentley and Rolls Royce, whose commitment to their customers went as far as adding shaving kits, picnic sets and many more unique items to their fine automobiles. He also looked to the famous fashion house of Louis Vuitton, who built it’s name on travel trunks that could be custom made to meet a traveler’s needs depending on the journey and destination. While the aforementioned luxury brands proved there’s a demand for personalization, it was George’s upbringing that served as the foundation for BWD to exist. As a child, George was a tinkerer, so much so that his parents wouldn’t dare enter his room for fear of setting off a new, camouflaged booby trap. He was encouraged, rather reluctantly, to take things apart and build them back together, giving him an appreciation for design, seeing them less as another mechanism and more