Written by: Matt Black
The first thing I noticed wasn't the watches.
It was the crowd.
At the inaugural Montreal Timepiece Show earlier this year, collectors flowed steadily throughout the venue, drifting between established brands, independent watchmakers and enthusiast meetups. Yet every time I glanced toward the Studio Underd0g booth, there seemed to be something happening.
People weren't just looking at watches.
They were laughing. They were assembling movements. Asking questions. Taking photos. Sharing watches with friends. Some simply stood back and watched the activity unfold.
From my table across the room, where I was introducing attendees to Timepiece World Journal, it became one of the more fascinating dynamics of the weekend.
Studio Underd0g wasn't the biggest brand in attendance. It wasn't the oldest. It wasn't the most expensive.
Yet it consistently felt like one of the busiest.
When I later mentioned this to founder Richard Benc, he wasn't surprised.
"We've been trying to figure out how we can stand out," he told me. "We're always thinking, what newness can we bring to the table that isn't just products?"
The answer, at least in Montreal, appeared to be experience.
But as our conversation continued, I began to realize there was another reason collectors gravitate toward Studio Underd0g.
The brand feels different because the person behind it thinks differently.
Which makes what Richard told me next all the more surprising.
For the founder of one of watchmaking's most playful and unconventional brands, he describes himself as "quite a risk-averse person."
That wasn't the answer I expected.
Then again, much of Richard Benc's story seems built on contradictions.
Spend enough time around watch enthusiasts and you'll hear familiar origin stories.
For some, it was their grandfather's watch. For others, it’s been a lifelong obsession. And for many, it was years spent dreaming about building a brand.
But Richard's story is different.
"I literally discovered the industry in my mid-twenties," he says.
After completing his studies in Industrial Design and earning a Master's degree, Benc found himself looking for design work in London. Opportunities weren't easy to come by, and eventually he landed a role designing watches.
Sort of.
"When I say watches, it's almost a loose term," he laughs.
"I was designing children's watches."
Think Star Wars, Peppa Pig, Minions…
Battery-powered digital pieces aimed at a completely different audience than the collectors who now eagerly await Studio Underd0g releases.
Yet those projects introduced him to something he hadn't previously considered.
"It was my first opportunity to really discover the watch industry."
The deeper he went, the more fascinated he became. What appealed to him wasn't necessarily the collecting side of the hobby: it was the design, the precision… the tiny details.
"I always found during my studies that I gravitated towards designing small objects because then the devil's in the detail."
For Benc, watches represented an endless series of tiny decisions.
"If you take an existing watch and move the minute track out by 0.5 millimetres, it'll throw the aesthetic totally."
It was the kind of challenge he loved.
Still, loving watches and starting a watch company are very different things.
For years, Studio Underd0g existed only as a possibility.
A quiet thought.
A project that lived somewhere in the back of his mind.
When COVID arrived, that possibility became harder to ignore.
Looking back, Benc realizes he had already started doing the groundwork without fully admitting it to himself.
"I remember listening to podcasts and doing research without even realizing I was doing it."
Even then, he wasn't eager to jump headfirst into entrepreneurship.
"I probably liked the idea of starting my own thing. A passion project. Being an entrepreneur."
Then he pauses.
"But that first step would have felt very, very scary and very daunting."
Rather than making one giant leap, he approached the challenge the same way many designers approach a complicated problem.
One step at a time.
The first step was simply creating a watch he wanted for himself. That watch became the Watermel0n. Importantly, he wasn't trying to identify market demand. He wasn't even building a watch for everyone.
"The first watch I designed was the Watermel0n. I designed that concept for myself."
Had he followed conventional industry wisdom, the result might have looked very different.
"If I was following all the data, I'd have probably ended up with a black dial Submariner homage."
Instead, he created something colourful, unexpected and unmistakably personal. After sharing it online, he was pleasantly surprised that people responded positively. So, he took another step.
Then another.
Then another.
What stands out listening to Richard describe those early days is how little certainty existed. There was no grand strategy or five-year roadmap. The birth of Underd0g really amounted to a series of experiments.
He posted renderings online.
People liked them.
He created samples.
People liked those too.
Eventually, a crowdfunding campaign launched.
Until that moment, Studio Underd0g wasn't really a company. It was just an idea.
But then the campaign went live.
"I think we hit our funding goal within 15 minutes."
Suddenly, everything changed.
"It was a mixture of excitement and also the responsibility."
Benc had customers now. Legitimate expectations and obligations.
The idea had become real.
One of the most revealing moments in our conversation came when Richard described a walk near his family's home in Hoylake.
He was listening to a podcast discussion about favourite "fuck you" watches.
One person chose a massive gold Rolex. Another selected something completely different.
The meaning, he explained, was left open to interpretation.
As he listened, he found himself asking what that idea might look like for him.
"I thought that was kind of quite interesting."
The answer wasn't a status symbol or about exclusivity. It wasn’t even about impressing anyone.
Instead, it became part of the philosophy that would eventually define Studio Underd0g.
"I liked the idea of someone wearing a Studio Underd0g because it was like, 'I don't really care what you think. I'm doing this for me.'"
That mindset feels woven into nearly everything the company produces.
From the playful colours, to food-inspired dials, to refusing to follow established conventions and every ounce of humour in the brand’s brilliant marketing.
At a time when much of the watch industry felt increasingly predictable, Benc wanted to create something that felt different. He wasn’t just interested in playfulness, but rather wanted to be provocative and personal… maybe even a little rebellious.
Perhaps most importantly, authentic.
One phrase kept resurfacing throughout our conversation.
It's also perhaps the simplest explanation for Studio Underd0g's success.
"We make serious watches for serious collectors that don't take themselves too seriously."
The line has become synonymous with the brand, but hearing Richard explain it reveals a deeper philosophy.
The fun isn't the foundation. It's the finishing touch.
"It's two doses of serious for one playful twist at the end."
That's what separates the brand from becoming a gimmick. Collectors might first notice the watermelon dial. Or the pizza watch. Avocado anybody?
But what keeps them engaged is everything underneath.
It’s the total package: the design, the execution, the little details.
"It's a very fine line between being a gimmick and being what Studio Underd0g is."
The balance is intentional.
And judging by the crowds in Montreal, it's working.
Interestingly, many of the ideas that helped Studio Underd0g stand apart weren't borrowed from watchmaking at all.
They came from sneakers.
Like many people in their twenties and early thirties, Benc spent years immersed in sneaker culture. Looking back, he recognizes how much influence that world had on his thinking.
"I definitely took a lot of learnings from that industry. I was drawn to the drop culture, the community, the storytelling, limited releases… the personality of it all."
Sure, those ideas were already commonplace elsewhere.
In watches, they felt fresh.
"All I was doing was rehashing existing concepts and giving them a new platform."
What resulted was a brand that felt less corporate and more human.
A brand willing to laugh at itself.
A brand comfortable speaking directly to collectors rather than at them.
"A huge amount of the brand's DNA and the storytelling and the humour is just my personal sense of humour."
It's difficult to separate Richard from the brand because, in many ways, the brand grew directly from his personality.
Today, Studio Underd0g finds itself in a different place than it did five years ago.
The scrappy startup phase is ending, and in its stead, a new chapter is beginning.
Last year, the company acquired the facility responsible for assembling its watches.
Now known as The D0ghouse, the space represents one of the biggest investments in the company's history.
"We acquired them in totality," Benc explains.
The vision extends beyond assembly.
The D0ghouse has become a place where collectors can experience the brand firsthand, participate in assembly experiences and gain a deeper appreciation for the process behind the watches.
"It's something that we're quite proud of."
Listening to Richard talk about The Do0house, it's clear this isn't simply an operational decision.
It's symbolic.
A company that began with a few renderings posted online now has a permanent home. A physical place where community, creativity and craftsmanship can intersect. For a founder who insists none of this was carefully planned, it's an impressive evolution.
Yet he still doesn't speak like someone obsessed with the destination.
He's far more interested in the challenge itself.
The next idea. The next problem. The next opportunity to create something unexpected.
Near the end of our conversation, I asked how his team might describe him.
The answer came immediately.
"Creative chaos."
He laughed.
Apparently, many conversations inside Studio Underd0g begin the same way.
"I've had an idea."
The response from the team?
"Okay... Here we go…"
Five years ago, one of those ideas became the Watermel0n.
Today, those ideas are helping shape one of independent watchmaking's most distinctive brands.
Not bad for an accident.
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