Berlin – In this process, members became founders.
CODE41 was founded in 2016 by luxury watch designer Claudio D’Amore, who previously designed wristwatches for renowned Swiss brands such as Tag Heuer and Montblanc for 10 years. Finally, he took up the challenge of creating a high-end wristwatch together with the community and true enthusiasts. His start-up is located in the traditional heart of the Swiss watch industry.
The project is based on a policy of total transparency for customers. This means that the entire community is always informed about the origin, prices and production of components. Customers can be sure that they are buying an excellent wristwatch at a fair price. This community now consists of over 300,000 loyal fans who are enthusiastic about watchmaking and share the values of CODE41.
More than 2 years after its original introduction, CODE41’s X41 returns for a fifth edition on June 23rd. While some innovations are to be expected, the intent behind the project remains the same: to democratize precision watchmaking by offering an authentic, transparent piece that is affordable to all enthusiasts.
A community based, participatory project
In the past few years, the CODE41 name has made the rounds on watchmaking news more than once. The young Swiss brand, which was founded in 2016 by Claudio D’Amore, is breaking new ground with its community approach and involving its members in the creation of their mechanical watches. By the way, it is known more as a movement than as a brand. Your goal? To design and produce exceptional mechanical watches in full transparency.
The X41 adventure began in March 2019 when CODE41 announced the start of pre-orders for its first edition. Little at that point, Fine Watchmaking had no idea that it was on the verge of reaching a pivotal moment in its history: the arrival of the very first community-created watch that was crowdfunded.
It took the CODE41 team and its community of watch enthusiasts 12 months to design this extraordinary piece. An ambitious project in which each member was able to play an active role through countless voices and comments.
4 editions and 4 success stories; a grand slam for the X41
Despite the doubts of most watchmaking experts, the launch of the X41 (including the Creator Edition and Edition 2) was an instant success, and within 30 days 700 pieces were sold for a total of nearly 3 million Swiss francs.
CODE41 then decided to repeat the experiment with two new editions: once in November 2019, when 450 pieces were sold and fetched 2,599,616 CHF, and the other time in July 2020, when 500 watches were pre-ordered for a total of 3,313,996 CHF.
In view of this more than enthusiastic response and the demand from the community, the launch of a fifth edition was a matter of course: The X41 Edition 5 will therefore only be available for pre-order for a limited time, from June 23 to July 15, 2021.
X41 Edition 5: between newcomers and classics
So what surprises does Edition 5 have in store? First of all, let’s talk about what hasn’t changed, starting with the unique architecture and design, exclusive to the CODE41 community. The same goes for the peripheral oscillating weight, an extremely technical feature that only a handful of brands can master.
The movement is designed, produced and assembled entirely by hand in small series in Switzerland. Incidentally, 90% of the components in the X41 come from Switzerland! A great effort that would comfortably meet the Swiss Made criteria would not be the fact that CODE41 opposed this label from the start because it was perceived as unclear and misleading.
Among the new features, enthusiasts will notice an increase in water resistance from 5 to 10 ATM, which means 100 meters of depth in calm water. As for the case, the X41 is available in two different materials: titanium and AeroCarbon. The grade 5 titanium used here replaces grade 2 of the previous editions and offers higher toughness and better scratch resistance and enables finer details in the processing.
AeroCarbon is a very dense material that was originally used in aviation. Its production is based on a technical compression process that makes it 2.5 times more rigid than steel and 4x lighter. In addition, the collection of AeroCarbon models has just been expanded to include two new colors.
The retail price for the X41 starts at € 5,443, which is an exceptionally low price for a high-end watch of this quality. In comparison, similar pieces typically sell for around € 20,000!
Towards more authentic precision watchmaking
With the X41 project, the young brand wants to show another side of precision watchmaking and distance itself from the luxurious and elitist image that clings to it. According to CODE41, the prices of models from the luxury label are not always an objective reflection of their quality, but rather a marker of social status. The result: many enthusiasts simply cannot afford to treat themselves to such a watch.
CODE41 counteracts this positioning with fixed surcharges and absolute transparency about the origin of the materials. A vision that is undeniably up to date and shared by the thousands of members of its community!
If you don’t want to miss the release of the X41 Edition 5 and want to take a closer look at the project, visit us at: https://code41watches.com/de/projects/x41/. Just a reminder: Pre-orders are only possible until July 15, 2021 and availability is limited!