Category: Watches / Timepieces

Steve Soffa: “I created a custom timepiece for this gentleman (Brian) who wanted a watch that symbolized this SS bike. This was a very sentimental piece.  This bike was built to pay tribute to his friend that lost the battle to cancer. It was built to mirror his 1970 SS Chevelle muscle car, for which he did a phenomenal job.

This customized watch began with a pair of photographs he provided me of the tank art (1st and 2nd) and, shown 3rd, its finished creation as a virtual comp. He had called us and wanted an innovative piece that would be timeless.  He emailed me just two pictures and said “Steve, make me the baddest blue and black watch on the planet.”! So, that is what I did.”

CASE STUDY

(1) The collector’s own SS bike (2) Another view of our collector’s SS Bike, seen from another angle (3a) Digital (Virtual) Comprehensives of the SS Watch (3b) Digital (Virtual) Comprehensives of the SS Watch (4) The final, the custom “SSE1100″ watch

By: adminJune 19, 2014June 21, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“I received a phone call from a collector of mine named Terry who wanted to create a collectable timepiece for her son Paul; soon to be graduating from college. Paul is a fine air brush artist and his art and style are unique.
After brainstorming for a while, I came up with some ideas that lent themselves to her sonʼs artwork, as well as a timepiece design that suited his lifestyle. I asked Terry to send me his most recent artwork; a piece that he really loved. In the next screens, you can see the steps taken to design and create as well as the final timepiece.”

CASE HISTORY

(1) Paul Bermani's Original Art... (2a) Jester Art as a virtual comp (1 of 2) (2b) Jester Art as a virtual comp (2 of 2) (3) Watch caseback is etched with the original art (4) The finished Bermani Jester custom timepiece (5) Presenting the finished Bermani Jester watch (6) Bermani Watch - Tooling Hob (7) Paul Bermani, the happy recipient of a watch with his own artwork incorporated into the design!

By: adminJune 19, 2014June 21, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“Master auto builder P.J. Davis was building his dream car from the frame up, and wanted to create a special edition timepiece to commemorate this personal concept car. He phoned and commissioned us to design a special timepiece to memorialize this special edition 1970 Camaro.”

THE PROCESS

(1) The Inspiration: Collector's 1970 SS Camaro (2) The Design: 1970 SS Camaro Watch in Leather Strap (3) The Design: 1970 SS Camaro in Stainless Steel (4) Matching presentation box in black/orange

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 21, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“As an avid muscle car fan, I have had my own eye set on this 1950 Chevy truck. This truck has character and brings back that nostalgic look beautifully. I wanted to design pieces that reminded me of how cool the 1950’s were. So stay tuned for the final design of my special edition truck.”

THE PROCESS

(1) The inspiration: Collector's 1950 Chevy (2) The Design: 1950 Chevy Dogtag (3) The Design: 1950 Chevy Watch

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 28, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“The Wizard” began as a body tattoo on the collector’s leg… One of my long-time collectors decided to get this Wizard tattoo on his calf, at the Sturgis bike rally. When he showed me, his creativity immediately flowed and he got excited about the possibilities. I reminded him that this artistic tattoo has now become an important part of his personal brand… so let’s keep building on that and create a magnificent timepiece that will depict your new artwork… And away we went, beginning with a rendering of the tattoo image as a piece of ‘line art’, in order to be able to create the timepiece in three dimensions.”

THE PROCESS

(1a) The inspiration: The collector's "Wizard" body art (detail 1) (1b) The inspiration: The collector's "Wizard" body art (detail 2) (2) Step 1: Conversion of body art to line art for reproduction (3) The design: "The Wizard" as a custom watch (4) The watch casing on the back integrates "The Wizard" as a personalized design element

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 24, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“For this one, my collector asked me to design him an over-the-top watch, housing precious stones accompanied by a Swiss Tourbillon movement as well as other complicated movements…”

THE PROCESS

Watch-Shane Presentation-Layout2c-4 Watch-Shane Presentation-Layout2-6 Watch-Shane Presentation-Layout-2

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 24, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“Another one of collector PJ Davis’s muscle cars was designed and built for a private collector of his own. His collector then called Davis and wanted to donate his car to a military charity.  As a former crew member of the U.S. Coast guard Davis was compelled him to help out.  Having ties with a former crew member who was personally aided by “The Mission Continues” charity was therefore an easy choice for Davis to choose this particular cause. This car was to be auctioned off, with all the proceeds  donated to “The Mission Continues ” for the continued efforts to help our veterans.

This was a very special car for a special cause and Davis felt that Soffa’s expertise in designing the perfect piece was in need.  Soffa designed a brilliant timepiece that commemorated our military and the freedom of being a U.S citizen. Only three limited edition pieces were manufactured. One piece went to The Mission Continues founder Eric Greitins (shown here with Soffa and you can get pics off of google), one piece went to P.J. Davis and the final piece went to the proud new owner of this custom Nova.”

THE PROCESS

Watch-mission-continues2 Watch-mission-continues1

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 24, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“Master auto builder P.J. Davis designed an amazing 1932 roadster  for Major league baseball’s Cy Young Award-winner Roy “Doc” Halliday.  Davis  named the 1932 roadster  “Kate,” which dated back to days of the Old West, in which the real “Doc” Holliday’s girlfriend’s name was Kate. When Davis was approached for this project he rendered a blueprint of what it would look like.  With asked me to work my magic and design a sport style timepiece that would keep Kate timeless.”

THE PROCESS

Kate source art Kate Line Art Kate Layout

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 24, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“This all began with an heirloom photo showing a young couple, taken near the beginning of the 20th century. The children of the couple in the photo had met me at one of my exhibitions and wanted to design an heirloom that would memorialize their parents as they appeared in this photo. The only thing they still had was a photograph taken in the early 1900’s of their great grand parents.
To keep with the early 1900’s I designed a super thin, 18kt gold watch, with a 3D struck dial in 10kt gold, accompanied by a beautiful brown alligator strap.  I finished this masterpiece by engraving the case back, as this watch will be handed down for generations.”

THE PROCESS

Watch-Anniversary a1484-chacog (1)

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 24, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“I was very honored to be chosen to be the first artist and designer to collaborate on a very innovative project with artist Andy Lakey. He was well known for his beautiful work creating Angels and adored by thousands of collectors. He was the most prolific artist in Japan, yet lived a quiet community in Southern California. One day he said to me, ‘Steve, my collectors all around the world embrace my Angels, and each person sees something unique in each one of them… you are the only one that I know and trust that can make my Angels fly timelessly.’

The Angel custom watch was a design produced in collaboration with artist Andy, whose 3 paintings shown became backgrounds for the watch art. He and I worked together in his studio for over a year and while his unfortunate departure from this life ceased our work on this project, I know there are Angels watching over him.”

THE PROCESS

"Lakey Angel" Design #1 "Lakey Angel" Design #2 "Lakey Angel" Design #3

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 28, 2014

Steve Soffa:
“I have designed several custom pieces for this long-time collector, and the most recent art piece was to pay tribute to the artwork he had designed for his custom chopper. Every aspect of his artwork on the gas tank was drawn again to scale in proportion to a watch dial. This dial was cast in four dimensions combined with beautiful colors that were inlayed.”

THE PROCESS

(1) The Inspiration: "Aces" Custom artwork on collector's motorcycle (2) Step 1: Conversion of the art from the gas tank (3) Virtual design rendering for Presentation of the custom Aces Watch Design (4a) The finished design: Aces Watch (4b) The finished design: Aces Watch (4c) The finished design: Aces Watch (5a) Close up of the Aces watchback casing (1 of 2 designs) (5b) Close up of the Aces watchback casing (2 of 2 designs)

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 28, 2014

Steve Soffa: “One of my long time collectors, Tony, owns over 15 unique timepieces made by me, and now wanted to design a timepiece in which his corporate brand could be the focus. A beautiful stainless steel timepiece was selected to bring out the bright colors of his artwork, and raising the sun in three dimensions added a special touch.”

THE PROCESS

Watch-Tony custom source art Watch-Tony-Sun-Slideshow-Layout2-2

By: adminJune 18, 2014June 28, 2014