The Danish timepiece company, ‘REC Watches’ has been creating unique and distinctive wristwatches for over six years. Co- founders Jonathan Kamstrup and Christian Mygh spotted a gap in the luxury watch market and decided to celebrate the strong bond between classic motoring and luxury wristwatches, by merging the two trades into one completely new and unique concept.

REC watches is founded upon three basic principles, recover, recycle and reclaim (or REC for short). The Danish duo identify and recover salvaged motors rich in history, and recycle the depleted motors components (for example the dashboard mechanisms, leather chair material, and body metal), and reprocess them to produce luxury high end watches, which honour the classic motors original design.

Credit: REC Watches

“Most people would see a pile of metal, a ghost of a Mustang. We see the soul of a car and a story that needs to be told. I’m not cutting up Mustangs, I’m bringing Mustangs that are beyond repair back to life as a watch”

– Co-founders of REC

So far, the company has created thousands of one-of-a-kind watches from three particular classic car models, Porsche 911’s, Ford Mustangs and Mini Coopers. Not only does the company embrace a unique concept, it guarantees that every individual watch is completely distinctive. Each wristwatch is sold with a manual, authenticity certificate, and logbook that includes the actual VIN number of the salvaged motor, and a booklet, which contains a documented history of the recycled vehicle and its previous owners.  It is clear that the company puts its entire emphasis on the personal touches and remembering the classic motor that was once driven and loved!

Although REC Watches is a relatively new company, the duo has blown customers away with their attention to detail and sound quality timepieces. The pair have recently partnered with drifter and professional racecar driver, Vaughn Gittin Jr, to create new luxury wristwatches out of a salvageable Mustang RTR to add to the P-51 Mustang watch collection. The American driver couldn’t have been more pleased with the concept.

 “Cars and driving is an accessory, it’s part of your lifestyle, an extension of your personality, it’s amazing to look down and know you’ve got a piece of your car on your wrist” – Vaughn Gittin Jr

Credit: REC Watches and Prolog (bottom right) Vaughn Gittin Jr.

The collections

The company currently offers four collections:

• The 901 (made from Porsche 911’s)
  
• The P-51 (made from Ford Mustangs)
• The Mark I (made from Mini Coopers)
• The Cooper (made from Mini Coopers)

To view and read the watch model specifications in more detail, simply click on the collection labels above.

We’ve chosen to focus on the ‘901’ collection, which consists of three models, the 901-01, 901-02 and 901-03. Although you can choose the specific model, no REC wristwatch is the same, so some subtle feature differences may be visible on your purchase.

The 901-03 wristwatch features a unique grey textured dial with a day indicator (located at 9 o’clock), date indicator (located at 6 o’clock) and month indicator (located at 3 o’clock), and a power reserve meter (located at 12 o’clock). The intelligent creators designed the watch to imitate the rounded and smooth shape of the Porsche 911’s body, and appearance of a Porsche 911 dashboard.

Credit: REC Watches

The 901-03 specifications:

• Case: 44mm black PVD stainless steel case. Located on the right side of the wristwatch is the salvaged motors Vehicle Identification Number (proof of its authenticity)
• Calibre: 9100 with rotor decoration
• Movement: Mechanical self-winding
• Dial: Patina grey textured outer dial with seconds indices written in the iconic Porsche font, skeleton dial with luminous coated chrome and orange printed hands, and luminous coated hour markers.
• Strap: 24mm double crannied black calf leather strap with quick-release system. The black leather and orange stitching pays homage to the striking color scheme of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
• Retail price: $1,695.00

Are you amazed by the creativity and resourcefulness of REC Watches, and want to have a say in what classic motor they pay homage to for their next project? Click here and you’ll be taken to the official REC Watches voting page! The inventors have narrowed the list down to Willys Jeep, Alfa Romeo Duetto, Supermarine Spitfire, BMW M3 E30 and Triumph Bonneville. Get voting!