– The Founder
I should tell you who is asking
I have collected watches since childhood. I took a degree in Supply Chain Management, Information Systems, and Economics from Penn State University. I spent my career in consulting, project management, and sales. I learned why people make certain purchases, and how difficult it is to make anything well.
I moved to New York City in 2015 with my high-school sweetheart. We’ve been married for seven years, and we have a three-year-old daughter.
At some point I stopped waiting for someone else to build the watch I wanted. I took a course in 3D modeling and CGI and worked through it on my laptop, at night, after work.
I then drew every part of the Van Alen with my own hands. No AI. No catalog case, dial, or bracelet.
The hardest problems were the most subtle. Getting the case so thin while still sealing it to 100 meters. Engineering micro-adjustment links you cannot see. Convincing Swiss watchmakers to take a first-time brand seriously, at a price I could defend.
Bien is brand new. We do not have two hundred years of history, and I will not pretend we do. But every brand you respect started exactly here: one person, willing to begin.
- Max Bien
