For more than 500 years, people have been surprised by the Torre dell’orologio, the beautiful bell tower on Piazza San Marco in Venice. But only two visitors were so inspired that they created a watch company called Venezianico, or, in English, Venetian.
Alessandro and Alberto Morelli, the brothers who founded the brand in 2017, said they became curious about the cross at the top of the tower, while ten years ago they were students at Ca ‘Foscari University in the city. After they had asked around, they learned that the cross, which has four arms of equal length, was meant to symbolize harmony and timeless beauty. That knowledge, they said, led to a decision – and ultimately the logo of their brand.
“We had a passion for watches, but we didn’t have the budget to be collectors,” said Alberto, 32, sitting in the headquarters of the company in San Donà di Piave, a city of around 40,000 inhabitants who have about 40 minutes with the Train is northeast of Venice. “But as lovers of design and architecture, we thought:” Why not just do something? “”
They started a Kickstarter -Crowd financing campaign that reached 800,000 euros ($ 827,910) and then flew to Hong Kong to find a watchmaker to make their prototype. (Some watch dismantling is still outsourced to Hong Kong and Switzerland, but the more complicated are in -house.)
The first model, called Neereide, was named after the Neereide -Ondeezr from 1913, “A Marvel or Venetian Naval Engineering,” said Alberto. The watch, which debuted in 2017, is water -resistant up to 200 meters (almost 660 feet) and is available in 30 iterations.
One, the Neride Aureo, is a steel model of 42 millimeters with a 24-carat golden dial of which Alessandro, 31, said she looked like the gold leaves that was common on Venetian furniture and was applied with the help of a traditional “tumbling” technique . The watch, powered by a Sellita -automatic movement, is € 1,295.
The brothers wanted their brand to honor the city, would draw on the motifs and materials that remind us of the traditions and techniques of the local artisans, “said Alessandro. So all the back of the watches have engravings of the historic scenes or locations that have inspired their names.
And some of the Neereide-Guide plates are made of Aventurine, a kind of glass made in Venice in the 17th century, which, according to the Venezianico website, is characterized, “by Needlelike Metal Micro-Inclusions, which produce a multiple of glittering reflections, Memories on the stars of the night sky. ‘
Shortly after De Neereide, the Reason Order collection, a tight steel design of 40 millimeters came after IL Reason in Il, or Church of the Holy Redeemer, the 16th-century basilica on the Giudecca Island Giudecca in Venet Father of Neoklassical style. And there is the Bucintoro collection – the chronograph or stopwatch of the brand – named after the ceremonial ship that used the Doges or Venice until the end of the 18th century. While four steel models are still offered from € 1,595, a 69-part limited edition with Lemania 1873 movements sold out last year, each for € 4,500.
The fifth and newest collection of the brand, planned for shipping March 21, was entitled Arsenale, a steel design of 40 millimeters named after the Stadswerf founded in 1104 that changed Venice into a maritime stream.
The current projects of the brand are a Tourbillon, a design that keeps the effects of gravity on time, and a 32 millimeter design created with women in mind, said Alberto: “We can bring a little Venice to their wrist.”
The brothers said that one of their primary goals was producing luxury watches that were also affordable, so they only sell through the brand website, the head office shop and at more than 200 sales locations around the world. “We have retailers. No agents. No distributors, “said Alberto.
The company has also received attention. Two of the Venezianico watches participated in the Grand Prix d’Hoeterie de Geneva from 2024, the annual Industry Awards event. One of them was the Reason Bellanotte, who pays tribute to the annual compliance of Venice from the end of the 1576 plague. The watch has a dial of four levels: a starry sky in Aventurine, a small off-center Mother-of-Pearl Sub-Dial, a satin disk that shows fireworks and a Rhodium-Gulded Bas-relief of the Palace of the Doge and IL Reason as the background. The second was the Reason Historia Temporis, which inspired a dial on a late 17th -century currency.
And in 2022 Forbes Italia Alberto mentioned his 100 young leaders of the future under 30.
Alberto, who has a diploma in the Greek classics, is the director of the brand and responsible for concept and design. And Alessandro, who has diplomas in economics and marketing, supervises the activities and production – or, as Alberto explained, “he is in charge of how he can make things happen.”
Things happen in a palazzo that the brothers bought and have become a headquarters for themselves and their 10-person employees and a store. Just like the designs of their watches, the interior in Venetian style has gold in the veins of a marble table top and edges of a display case; Bureaus and display cases made in oak, the wood that is used for the posts that map the Venetian lagoon.
The building, Palazzo Baradel, was built on the main street of San Donà di Piave in 1929, part of the reconstruction of the city after the First World War. When the brothers began to consider the purchase, it was empty and a thorn in the city center for years. But when they opened the doors for the renovation of 500 square meters (5,380 square feet) in May 2024, the brothers said: 1,000 people showed up to celebrate.
Mayor Alberto Teso was among them. “It is important to have a young, successful company, started by two brothers who grew up here,” he said in a recent interview. “We are a small town, but I hope this will inspire other young people to get here and start something new.”
