The First Generation — The One They Laughed At

 The First Generation strap— 2007

 

The First Generation — The One They Laughed At

Handcrafted for Durability. Built to Last. Built to Be Reborn.

Not Perfect. But Pure.

 It was 2007, just a few months after I started Gimics. No design background, no training, no blueprint — just a head full of ideas, hands ready to work, and a heart burning to make something real. That was it: pure passion, the simplest design thoughts, nothing extra, nothing fancy.

 Money was tight back then. The watches themselves? I picked them up at the night market — simple, affordable, just something to build around. I didn’t have much, but I had everything I needed: an idea, a pair of hands, and nothing to prove but the desire to make something myself. That was the most honest way of all — no budget, no frills, just make do and make it right.

 That was when the first generation watch straps came to life.

 To be honest — they were rough. A little clumsy, a little awkward, far from polished. People noticed. Some laughed. Some criticized. Some said it wouldn’t last.

 Then I look at the old marking — “Top 10 Preferred Design.” And I wonder: where on earth did I get the nerve?

 Boldness From Pure Passion

 I read the comments. I saw the jokes. I knew it wasn’t yet right.

 But looking back, I understand: that confidence wasn’t arrogance — it was just the fire of starting out. It was that simplest, most honest urge: I have an idea, so I will make it. I didn’t know enough to doubt myself — and that was exactly what kept me going. That raw, unpolished passion was the purest thing I ever had.

 You Can’t Refine Something That Doesn’t Exist

 People ask why I was so bold. Simple: I wasn’t attached to being perfect — I was attached to making something real.

 You can’t refine something that doesn’t exist yet. I didn’t wait to be good before I started. I just started. Cut, stitched, messed up, learned, and made another one. The first version doesn’t need to be the best — it just needs to be yours. It just needs to prove the idea can live.

 From Rough to Ready

 Those early straps — made with night-market watches, made on a shoestring — were the messy, bold beginning of everything that followed. Every Gripper, every improvement, every custom piece — all grew out of those first awkward, earnest attempts.

 If I’d stopped because people laughed, or because I had so little — there would be no GIMICS, no GIMAX, nothing at all.

Instead: I kept making.

The Point Is to Start

 It’s easy to look back and smile at the boldness, or the roughness, or the fact that I built it all on nearly nothing. But I wouldn’t change it. Better to be rough and sincere than polished and empty. Better to make something imperfect than dream something perfect and never touch it.

 That “Top 10” label? Maybe it wasn’t true then — but it became true later, because I kept going.

 Those first straps weren’t masterpieces — but they were mine. Made with simple watches, tight pockets, and the purest kind of passion. And that’s the part that never changes.

 

 

 

Deans

GIMAX

Handcrafted for Durability. Built to Last. Built to Be Reborn.