Today we’d like to introduce you to Danilo Villanueva

Hi Danilo, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

My entire career had been dedicated to the advertising industry building campaigns for major international brands for many years. I enjoyed it and learned a lot from it. However, I wanted more. I wanted to build my own thing. And it had to be a watch brand because it is something I obsess about. In 2016, I took a sabbatical and gave myself a year to bring Makina Watches to life – from coming up with the name, coming up with designs concepts, hiring engineers, finding the right supply chains, building prototypes to finishing mass production. At the same time, I was also trying to figure out how to launch a new brand into a market that is already very saturated and about to be disrupted by the smart watch industry. There was some anxiety of course but I just simply kept going and kept in mind that what will make our brand special to some is that it is a family-run company with a passion project mindset, designing products for a niche audience and never driven by trends nor mass consumerism.

I was able to get everything done in a year. Ever since Makina’s launch in 2017, we’ve built 7 different models, some of which have been rereleased in multiple design iterations, totaling to more than 30+ variants and shipping to Asia, Europe and North America. Ever since we’ve fully opened our custom services at the beginning of 2024, we’ve been commissioned to design and mass produce commemorative timepieces by corporations and organizations like the Philippine Heart Center, Megaworld International, Altria, Philippine General Hospital, and more.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

Building brand history is one challenge. We had no brand history when we first launched of course and we’re coming from a country that doesn’t have history in watchmaking. From my perspective, a new brand with no history shouldn’t be doing most of the talking. That’s why I made it our objective to have other people, with history, to talk about us. After writing a few press releases, media publications like Esquire, Monochrome-Watches, Entrepreneur and others helped launch our brand. Over the years we’ve been featured in international and local news, style and watch-centric publications in magazines and on TV.

Although there is more work to do, we’ve already built a very young brand history since Makina was born 7 years ago. Our watches have so far been seen on two major production television series produced by ABS-CBN, one of the largest entertainment networks in the Philippines – not just as product placement but as a crucial part of the story’s main plot. And were soon to be seen on the big screens too. Since participating in award shows only at the end of 2023, we’ve received 9 product design awards from international awards institutions in which larger corporations have also competed in. Makina Watches’ latest historical milestone is building the Paris 2024 Olympic Timepiece commissioned by the Philippine Olympic Committee dedicated. This timepiece has “1924-2024” written on the dial which marks the Philippine’s 100th year anniversary of participating in the Olympics since 1924, which was also held in Paris. Only 100 will be produced and is exclusive. This historical timepiece is a significant bullet point in Makina’s historical timeline.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

I’m the founder of Makina Watches. Although I oversee new business and the overall vision for the brand, I’ve never stopped being hands on with product development. I believe product is just as important as brand and so I use what I know in design and art direction to influence and shape all products that come out of Makina. I have, after all, been a creative director for multiple years and so it is hard for me to let go of any creative aspects related to our brand or products. Being in the advertising industry for quite some time now, I’ve spent years and years making other brands look good. I now use that skill to make my brand look good. In addition to new business development, product design and brand building are really at the core of what I do.

What are your plans for the future?

Our plan is to continue remaining true to our passion project mindset and remain true to why we exist in the first place: obsession for watches. We want to grow by looking inwards not outwards and see how we can add to our portfolio by evolving our current collection, building things we’ve never built before and building things we like and things we think our select audience will like. We want to remain being a family-run company making big things like the Philippines’ Paris 2024 Olympics Timepiece and all the other commemorative timepieces we’ve made for other brands and organizations. I think all the things I’ve mentioned here are important character traits of the brand and are reasons why people are attracted to Makina. We never want to lose sight of that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.makinawatches.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makinawatches/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/makinawatches/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/danilovvillanueva/