Fotowatch: About us - About me
Unable to get France out of my mind, I returned to live there a little under a year later.
I met some wonderful people and soon became great friends with them all.
One of these friends was a lawyer who was determined to see me be able to legally
remain in France once my student visa expired. She loved the Timex Photo watch on
my wrist and knew that I had a passion for watches. She suggested that I contact Timex
in the States about selling it in France where they had nothing like it. She was
convinced that my go-getter personality would be a good fit.
"Can't hurt to ask right?", she said. "If that works, you can
convert your student visa to a business visa with the right to stay!"
I was excited and on board with her great idea even before she could finish her sentence.
I contacted Timex USA and submitted a proposal for the European market. To my
delight and after much back and forth - they said Yes.
I was amazed to learn that my lawyer friend who'd made the suggestion actually
specialized in the process of creating companies in France and had authored a book
on that very subject. She said that with the exclusivity agreement from Timex and
the seed money necessary (which I had saved up), we could begin the paperwork.
My company was approved and a business visa accorded by the French government.
I joined the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris soon after, where I had the opportunity
to promote the Timex Photo watches to French business executives. My first customer
was a French investment firm who wanted to see their rising white Stallion company
logo on the watch face.
At a Chamber of Commerce event, I met one of those people whom I would call
friend - a retired General from the French Air Force who pulled my business card
from a hat - entitling him to a free gift. He really took to me, telling me months
later that I reminded him of his daughter. Always the perfect gentleman, he would
come to see me as his adopted American daughter who he was determined to see
succeed in France.
He introduced me to two other Generals who had retired from the French Air Force and
were then heads of military companies in France. Both wanted nice watches for their
employees and customers. They became customers and then good friends.
My Generals -- That's how I fondly referred to them. It always made them smile.
I expanded my custom watches product line to include jewelry style watches to
accommodate those customers who wanted something more upscale - eventually
offering 100+ high quality watches for our customers to choose from. For me, it's
always about the quality. If the quality isn't there, I want nothing to do with it.
I later came to work with companies that wanted original design manufacture
custom watches. In other words, they wanted me to design a watch from scratch
based upon their ideas and vision. What a thrill! Right up my alley! I loved watches and
I loved designing them. I worked with my aviation customer to create a beautiful watch
that channeled a new airplane they would soon launch. Quite pleased with the
result, the customer asked that I create a watch of exclusive design for their pilots.
Both watches became collector's items.
It's not only about selling watches. It's about selling high quality watches of
unique design that our customers are proud to own, distribute and wear.
It's what we here at Fotowatch are all about.
When my brother gave me that Timex Photo Watch all those years ago - he surely
had no idea of the chain of events that would follow or how his simple gift would
so greatly affect the direction that my life would take. Thank you brother!