Indy logistics guru mixes hobby with supply-chain expertise to create heirloom-quality watch brand

Once upon a time, our relationship with consumer technology started and ended with how we could tell time. In the 1800s, your pocket watch or your wristwatch might have been the most complicated and vital piece of technology you owned, and folks passed them down over generations as signature artifacts of the original owners. Today, watches or the personal devices we use to tell time are unimaginable complex and versatile, compared to a century ago, but they’re surprisingly disposible. Their obsolescence is practically guaranteed within five years. No one is bragging about refurbishing and wearing their father’s iPhone as a cherished keepsake.    Adam Fleddermann approached the watch-making industry from two directions. He brought a deep respect for the role mechanical watches used to play in business and family life while leveraging his up-to-the-minute professional expertise in logistics. Over a few years he turned a hobby into a family business, designing his own watch models, sourcing parts from the global supply chain and arranging to have them assembled by artisans in Kokomo. His brand of watches inspired by German culture is known as Fleddermann Von Rieste, and one of the latest models is a limited-edition timepiece licensed by Purdue University using several of the school’s signature design elements. In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Fleddermann discusses the entrepreneurial origins of his Indianapolis-based company during the pandemic and his drive to create sophisticated timepieces that can survive to become multigenerational heirlooms. He also discusses finding the right entry point when nearly everyone owns a device that tells time and the high-end watch market is populated with several well-established brands.