Actor Aldis Hodge is working on building a timeless legacy on the big screen and in the world of watchmaking. His goal is to have his own horology brand, A. Hodge Atelier. While there are very few details on when the brand will debut, there is already a website for people to subscribe to updates.
The former architecture student has always been enamored with the design of movement which led him to sketch the anatomy of timepieces and self-studying horology, the “City on a Hill” Showtime series actor told The Robb Report, a luxury lifestyle magazine. Growing up poor, Hodge said he would draw homes that he dreamed of living in with his siblings and single mom.
“I never thought that I would ever earn enough money to buy a nice house or a car. I thought that if I designed it myself, I could build it,” Hodge wrote in a blog for a New York City watch website. “Proper education – both scholastic and cultural – was the key. It was also my mother’s highest priority for us.”
Hodge’s mother’s words of wisdom and devoted perseverance are why he’s focused on pursuing his affinity for watches by launching his own collection, cementing a career in entrepreneurship that he’s thought about since he was 19 years old.
The Entrepreneurial Itch
“I always wanted to start a company that I could establish and pass down to my family—something where I could provide jobs, but also something attached to arts and sciences,” Hodges said.
Considered to be a niche market, global growth for luxury watches was valued at $7.18 billion in 2019 and is on an incline trajectory of 4.3% growth from 2020-2025. New companies have entered the sector, offering limited edition watches with authentic features to get a leg up on competitors and cushion their revenue in a time where high inflation is slowing consumer spending on luxury items. The supply of well-known brands and models, such as the Rolex Daytona and the Patek Philippe Nautilus, began to increase in April, causing prices to decline.
Building His Hollywood Career
With Hollywood keeping Hodge busy as he prepares to attend the premiere of his new movie “Black Adam,” a DC comic film adaption he’s co-starring in with Dwayne Johnson next month. No official launch release date for Hodge’s collection has been announced as suppliers for raw materials are scarce. Nevertheless, he’s made it a priority to keep production on schedule by hiring a manufacturing partner and growing his core team. Now that his design is complete, creating prototypes for his first model ‘Sed’ [pronounced ‘seed’] is at the top of his agenda.
“I’m planting from which the rest of the company will grow,” Hodge said. “And more so, a seed that I’m planting for my kids!”
How he Became Intrigued By Watches
His obsession with watches started in college. While a student at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. He was instructed to draw a watch.
“It was a wooden wristwatch with a wooden cuff-style strap. I’m not sure if the design was any good. That’s not important, though. What is important is the symbolism it carried,” he wrote in Hodinkee magazine.
“In my college classes, our primary focus was automotive and architectural work, but for some reason my mind drifted towards horological design – which they didn’t teach, so I taught myself. I became enthralled by the intricacies of watch movements and how they were composed,” he added. “In my mind, designing movements was kind of like developing a Tom Kundig house and building a 351 Cobra Jet engine inside of it. It seemed to make no sense yet, at the same time, made all the sense in the world.”
