Lovro Žada (26) & Fabio Brmež (26), Masters of Economics, Entrepreneurs: A marketer and a finance expert don’t waste time — instead, they have tamed it in watches.
Lovro Žada (26) & Fabio Brmež (26), Masters of Economics, Entrepreneurs: A marketer and a finance expert don’t waste time — instead, they have tamed it in watches
In the world, only a few people engage in watch modification, and those who do it at the level of Fabio and Lovro can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Albert Einstein once said that the only purpose of time is to prevent everything from happening at once. And although young people are often impatient — a trait of youth that shouldn’t be mocked! — Osijek natives Lovro Žada and Fabio Brmež are not only not impatient, but over the past few years they have slowly and precisely built seconds, minutes, and hours into their friendship, their learning, and their personal growth — and, indeed, into their shared business. They make watches.
Student Friendship
Fabio graduated from the 2nd Gymnasium, and Lovro from the Technical School and the Ruđer Bošković Science Gymnasium. They met at the Faculty of Economics in Osijek, but, as they both say almost in unison, they got to know each other even better while doing various student jobs together. “We worked through the Student Service at a well-known winery, bottling wine, putting on labels, carrying things around… Manual labor, but it was a good job,” Fabio reveals. “The work was repetitive, but that was good because we could talk a lot while doing it and really get to know each other,” adds Lovro.
They are hardworking and responsible young men who completed both their undergraduate and graduate studies, and along the way each of them collected more than a hundred work contracts through the Student Service, working for at least twenty different employers each. Honestly, that’s almost like completing another degree. “You find yourself in situations and places you would never otherwise get to, for example in the orchestra pit at the Croatian National Theatre or in Fina’s archive,” says Fabio, adding that these experiences are priceless.
On the other hand, they don’t want to diminish the value of the knowledge they gained through studying. “At university you’re surrounded by a large number of people who encourage you to think differently, to change your perspectives; new opportunities open up… For me, that’s even more valuable than the material you have to learn for exams. Actually, I can briefly say that by studying at the Faculty of Economics I got exactly what I needed,” adds Lovro.
Fabio decided to study economics (finance) even though he had other interests as well, such as literature, for example. “In economics I saw a good platform for my versatility and for the possibility of a solid education. Whenever someone asked me what I would do after finishing that degree, I would reply that I would start something of my own. I didn’t have an answer to what exactly. When I reached the point where only my master’s thesis was left, I took a year off and set a goal for myself: in that year I had to come up with something,” Fabio says honestly.
Lovro and Fabio, by their own admission, had a “list of silly business ideas,” but the one related to watches (EON, Wallie) was not doomed to fail. Fabio earned a degree in finance, which still genuinely interests him, but he says he doesn’t like the way the sector functions. Lovro chose marketing because it seemed more fun than finance. “Still, from the little experience I have in marketing, I concluded that no one really wants to present a product or service authentically; they only want to ensure good sales. That’s not for me — I believe in sincerity in everything. And today I apply that sincerity when advertising our watches,” Lovro says firmly.
“While we were studying, we did tons of jobs together. What I liked most was that in one month we would have, say, seven employers — for example, one day you’re carrying chairs at the airport, the next day you’re filling wine bottles… I also worked for four years in a store of a popular fashion brand where, although the conditions were good, the work became a bit monotonous — every day the same. That’s why, when we started making watches, it turned out to be like doing seven different jobs in one; every day at work is different,” Fabio explains. Still, they try to keep normal working hours from 8 to 4. “There are two of us, which makes organization easier, but I’d say our work actually never really stops. If nothing else, messages or orders come in all day and we need to respond — usually in the evening,” says Lovro.
No monotony!
They had been “training” their versatility since primary school. Lovro points out that he participated in all activities offered at school, while Fabio took part in everything outside of school. “I liked sports, but as a high school student I mostly read a lot — I tried to get to know myself that way. That’s also why I decided to study economics: to secure myself financially so that later I could have my own little ‘yard’ where I could read in peace. Books on psychology, for instance — which I actually wanted to study but didn’t, because I would have had to take the higher-level math exam for the state graduation (laughs),” Fabio explains. “I also liked philosophy, but my dad teased me, saying that they had just opened a big philosophy factory in Osijek where I’d surely get a job,” he adds.
Lovro hesitated between medicine and economics. “I grew up only with my mom; she was my greatest role model in everything, including her selfless work in the hospital. But once I got a better understanding of the burden that job carries, I admitted to myself that I wasn’t cut out for it—unlike my mother and her colleagues in Nephrology, for whom their work is truly a calling,” he says about his role models, also mentioning his stepfather in that context.
Fabio’s mother is a scientist and university professor, and his father, after a long and successful career in the automotive industry, has recently found a new challenge in mobile leasing. Lovro grew up as an only child; Fabio has a brother, Nikola. “Although he’s five years younger than me, he’s older than all of us. A serious, unique, wise guy—he’s studying agricultural mechanics and has had a workshop for knife-making ever since he was a kid,” Fabio reveals.
So, one would expect Nikola, with his golden hands, to be the one making watches — but how did two 26-year-old economists get interested in that? “Nikola was always like that, skilled with his hands. He worked wonders with Legos! Whatever he imagined in his head, he could turn into reality with his hands. So he was destined for that. For me, watches came about by accident, from this aversion I have to always doing the same thing. It was born from my struggle not to drown in monotony, from this essential need to constantly learn, not to stagnate,” Fabio says honestly.
Lovro thinks similarly. “When we started making watches, we were still working at the winery at the same time. We actually thought watches would just be a side hustle. But then Fabio’s mom convinced us to list our watches on Etsy (an online platform where small entrepreneurs and creatives sell mostly handmade items). And at one moment, we get a notification that we’d sold a watch — after which we realized we had earned more on that one watch than from ten hours of work at the winery. That was our a-ha moment! It wasn’t greed, but confirmation that what we were doing was different, more fun, that we had control over it, that by investing our time into something we were adding new value to it. Fabio then said: ‘From this moment on, there’s no turning back!’” Lovro recalls. And they didn’t look back. The only surprising thing is that, as highly educated young people with a good business idea, they weren’t supported by government incentives for self-employment!?
Modifying Watches
But now it’s time to reveal why these two 26-year-olds chose to dedicate their time — to time itself.
“We assemble personalized Casio watches. We buy new watches, take them apart down to the smallest component, and using various techniques we give them a new, unique appearance. In the watch world, this is called modification. Most of our modified watches used to end up in America — although Trump is giving us headaches now because of customs duties! — but what we love the most is when a watch finds its owner somewhere here at home,” says Fabio.
Only a few people in the world work on watch modification, and those who do it at the level of Fabio and Lovro can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Does Casio mind that they are changing the original design of the watches? “They don’t mind, but when we sell our watch, it has to be clearly stated that it’s a modification. Also, our watch costs more than theirs, so we need to communicate what the added value is,” Lovro notes, adding that the watch supplier in Croatia likes what they’re doing. “I even wrote a paper at university about what Fabio and I do — even the professors were impressed,” he adds.
So how do they modify a Casio watch? “Every screen in the world has a polarizing filter without which, for example, the image on a phone would appear white. This polarizing filter sorts light at certain angles so we can see the picture. We remove that filter and apply a new one — but we choose the angle at which we put it back. Then we can determine the color of the screen and create effects that weren’t possible on that watch before, like color shifting or printing our own tiny components such as little bulbs or movie-inspired functions, which we then install into the watch,” Fabio explains. Lovro adds that some models are modified more aggressively, and some more subtly. How long it takes to modify a watch depends exactly on how much work each one requires. They can make up to fifteen of the cheaper models in a day, while with the complicated ones they make two — or maybe just one. So far, they have modified more than 1,700 watches!
After modification, the watches remain accurate. “We make sure not to compromise anything — on the contrary, we want the modified watch to be even better,” emphasizes Lovro. Fabio points out that, in addition to the trend of returning to watches (which computers and smartphones had largely made unnecessary), the trend of personalizing the things people own has also been beneficial for their business. “It would be even better if we had our own watch, because we have no control over Casio — but that would require a lot of money, at least a €30,000 investment,” says Fabio.
Lovro adds that this is why they also began producing wall clocks under their own brand, Wallie. “There are functional wall clocks on the market, but not many that are beautifully designed. So we made sure that our wall clock is a decorative piece, something its owner can enjoy. We don’t want the owner to worry too much about time or be stressed by its passing. The clock has a second hand, but no marked numbers, and it doesn’t tick loudly. This is our original product, and now we need to introduce it to the market. We recently promoted it at an event in the Gajba beer tasting room (where you can see them until the end of December), and afterward we offered it to the Osijek watchmaker Mihaljević, who will sell it in his shop. Of course, all our watches can also be purchased online,” says Fabio.
You can find them at the following links:
Webshops:
URA web
Etsy
Ebay
Social media:
Pinterest
EON instagram
URA instagram
Supporting the community
They put special effort into designing Wallie. “It was a long process. Lovro and I are quite different (laughs). I’m analytical and like to know at least six steps ahead, while Lovro just sat down at the computer and created the shape of the clock. It turned out great — I would never have done it that way; the shape he designed gives the clock its true character,” Fabio reveals.
They print the clock frames on three 3D printers, and the interior of the clock uses heat-pressed leather. “It was important to us that as many components as possible be sourced locally so that we could support the community this way. We didn’t want to send production to China, even though it would be cheaper. The only part not made in Osijek is the clock mechanism, because there is no company here that manufactures them,” adds Lovro.
Both emphasize that they respect each other’s differences, yet share the same moral values, visions, and expectations from society, their surroundings, friends, and even their products. As friends and business partners, they often take different paths to reach the same goal — yet they arrive at the same time, with the same enthusiasm.
So, unless you happen to work at the Ministry for Ore Research and Wasting Time, there’s no reason not to get one of Fabio and Lovro’s watches. Your time — which, let us remind you, is the most precious thing you have — will gain an extra dimension when you track it on one of their original watches, whether on your wrist or on your wall. The famous German watchmaker and entrepreneur Walter Lange once said: “There is something you should expect not only from a watch but also from yourself: never stand still!”
These diligent and fearless young men have found their driving force in the fragility of a single second. They don’t waste time — they have tamed it, shaping it to live life on their own terms.
NO GRIEVANCES ABOUT LIFE IN OSIJEK
“I love the world and I love traveling; I can even imagine living somewhere else, but I cannot imagine my child, when I have one, running through streets other than those in Osijek,” Lovro says decisively, adding that the people of Osijek are good, always ready to help.
“I have to adore Osijek — my father, Davor Brmež, is one of the most persistent promoters of Osijek (note). Jokes aside, I have no grievances about living in Osijek. My brother, for example, says he doesn’t want to see the world, that he doesn’t feel the need to travel because everything he needs is here. And indeed, we actually have everything here, and essentially it’s up to us, the young people, to create whatever we feel is missing instead of complaining on social media,” emphasizes Fabio.
Both consider themselves fortunate to have been able to leave home and live with their girlfriends in apartments provided by their parents. They are aware of the advantage this gives them compared to peers who don’t have their own place, especially as the cost of housing and rent continues to rise. They hope that affordable housing programs will make a difference.
“I’ve been with Ana for almost six years. Since she works in insurance and loans, she decided to enroll in finance as well to expand her knowledge,” says Fabio. Lovro and his girlfriend Karla are still arranging their apartment. Karla studies and works; she’s a creative person who understands Lovro’s need for creativity. Their girlfriends have their own careers, yet they support them in their work, as do their parents. And it’s easy to see why.