Damaged in Italy - how OOO redefined design and style
There is something slightly absurd about buying a watch designed to accompany us through life and then becoming terrified of putting the first scratch on it. Collectors know the feeling.
The first mark on a polished case. The first scrape on a clasp. That tiny imperfection that somehow seems enormous because yesterday the watch was pristine.
Out of Order Watches decided to turn that entire idea upside down.
And that is precisely why we are pleased to welcome OOO – Out of Order Watches to Sincrono.
What if the first scratch was already there?
The story begins near Venice in 2013. Co-founder Riccardo Torrisi found himself with a damaged luxury watch and without the budget required to restore it properly. Instead of simply seeing the damage as a problem, he began thinking about other objects we often find more attractive precisely because they have aged.
A faded pair of jeans. A leather jacket softened by years of use. Shoes that have acquired their own patina. Why, he wondered, should a watch be different? Together with Claudio Dalla Mora and Dario Ceolotto, that question became a watch company. The premise was wonderfully simple:
What if a new watch could already look as though it had lived?
Damaged in Italy
From that idea came the expression that would define OOO:
Damaged in Italy.
It is witty, certainly, but underneath the humour is a serious design philosophy.
OOO developed and patented a handcrafted finishing process through which 316L stainless-steel cases and bracelets are deliberately aged before the watch reaches its owner.
Edges are softened visually. Surfaces acquire marks and variations. The clinical perfection normally associated with a new watch disappears.
Importantly, however, the quality does not.
The ageing is intentional and controlled, with individual details finished by hand. As a consequence, no two distressed watches are precisely identical.
That distinction matters.
These are not damaged watches.
They are watches in which the appearance of use has become part of the original design.
And I think that is rather clever.
Imperfection as a form of luxury
Luxury has traditionally been obsessed with perfection.
Perfect polishing. Perfect symmetry. Perfect surfaces protected obsessively from the outside world.
OOO proposes something different.
Its watches arrive already liberated from that anxiety.
Wear one. Travel with it. Put it on the table. Let the bracelet acquire another mark.
Instead of diminishing the watch, those experiences simply continue what OOO started.
There is something very appealing about that philosophy because a good watch should eventually carry evidence of the person who owns it.
At Sincrono, we have always believed that watches should accumulate memories rather than merely market value.
OOO begins that process before the box is even opened.
More than distressed watches
It would nevertheless be a mistake to think Out of Order is simply a company that scratches watches.
The brand has evolved considerably since that first prototype in 2013.
Its current collections explore automatic movements, GMT complications, chronographs, unusual colours, mother-of-pearl dials and more experimental case designs.
The Casanova family takes its inspiration from one of Venice's most famous characters and ranges from compact automatic watches to the unmistakable Ultra Distressed models.
The Torpedine and Diverissimo collections develop OOO's mechanical side, while the Shaker Automatic GMT introduces genuine travel functionality.
Then there is the newer OOO Forma, where the company moves even further away from conventional round-watch design and into a more architectural, contemporary language.
Perhaps most interestingly, OOO has also introduced watches without its distressed treatment.
Since its tenth anniversary, customers have increasingly been able to choose between the traditional Damaged in Italy personality and cleaner brushed-steel interpretations.
That tells me the company has matured.
The original idea remains at its heart, but OOO no longer needs to depend upon a single visual trick to establish its identity.
A very Venetian contradiction
There is also something appropriately Venetian about the whole concept.
Venice is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but very little about that beauty is pristine.
Stone changes colour.
Metal oxidises.
Wood ages.
Walls carry centuries of marks.
The result is not ugliness.
It is character.
OOO was founded close to Venice, and whether consciously or otherwise, I find that same idea running through many of its watches.
They do not pretend that time leaves nothing behind.
They celebrate the fact that it does.
Why OOO belongs at Sincrono
We increasingly look for brands that possess an identity strong enough to survive without relying on a famous name. OOO has that. You can understand the idea almost immediately.
It is playful without being frivolous, accessible without feeling anonymous and unconventional without becoming difficult to wear. Most importantly, the brand has created something recognisable.
Damaged in Italy is not simply a slogan attached to a product after it was designed.
It changed the way the product itself was conceived.
That is design. And that is why Out of Order deserves considerably more attention than the deliberately irreverent name might initially suggest.
Welcome to Sincrono
Over the coming weeks, we will introduce the OOO collections individually, beginning with the Casanova family before exploring the broader world of Out of Order.
Different movements.
Different complications.
Different personalities.
But always the same willingness to challenge the assumption that a new watch has to look untouched.
OOO – Out of Order Watches is now part of Sincrono.
Made to be worn. Designed to acquire memories. And, in the best possible sense of the expression, Damaged in Italy.
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