Out of the Garage, Into the Field: The Nodus x SBWC Blueprint for Watchmaking with Purpose
An interview with Wes Kwok, Nodus Watches & CJ, Sketchy Boyz Watch Club
INTRODUCTION: THE SOUND OF ORIGIN
Wesley Kwok met Cullen Chen in 2007, not in a studio or showroom, but in middle school—two kids drawn together by distortion pedals and a shared obsession with guitar riffs. Cullen was already known as the serious player in the room, and Wesley, the new kid, showed up ready to test that reputation.
Introduced by a mutual friend, Wesley knocked on Cullen’s door and asked to jam. Cullen said he’d be over in thirty minutes. Most would’ve shrugged it off. Cullen showed up—with his full rig. They played Metallica and Megadeth for hours. That was day one.
They started a band that night. Built guitars. Recorded albums.
And years later, after college called, sending Wes to the East Coast attending Berklee and Cullen on the West Coast at USC, they founded Nodus. You can almost see the MTV/VH1 branding for "Behind the Music." But luckily for our sake, it was the first episode in *Behind the Watch*.
As you will see throughout this conversation, music—the art, the beat, that rhythmic hum—stays with our two founders and is evident in the way that Nodus as a business works: willing to take a risk and put something out there, only for it not to reach #1.
Wes and I spent close to three hours over two days chatting... according to the odometer, over 20,000 words were shared - don’t worry, you’re not reading an intro to a three hour paper. But during this time, Nodus’ newest offering, spawned from a collaboration, the Sector Deep Pioneer sold out. Not letting that news slow us down, we covered incredibly important topics like; John Mayer and why when one attends Berklee it is an unwritten rule you shouldn't graduate if you want to make it big. We spoke about cars and the two different cultures—me, East Coast Southerner vs. West Coast Southerner (California)—which, believe it or not, gives us a great analogy for what Nodus is on the way to doing.
And naturally, after some additional off-roading, we ended back at watches. And much like music, there is a culture that exists and defines eras. So, Wes and Cullen launching Nodus wasn’t so much a business pivot, as it was a return to form. It was getting the band back together.
Now a few years into this, that same instinct for building—hands-on, heads-down—became the foundation of Nodus. What started as music turned into machinery. And where most brands begin with a business plan, Nodus started with a shared language of craft and obsession.
Their watches aren’t just engineered—they’re played, stress-tested, and refined like an instrument. And that ethos carries straight through to how they design, experiment, and collaborate across the independent watch world.
So, depending on where you are and when you read this…if it is “Feet up Friday” or not, I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
I. FRIENDSHIP FIRST, THEN FUNCTION
CJ - SBWC: Alright, should we get down to it? Naturally, how did we get here? Let’s start at the beginning.
Wes - Nodus: Cullen and I met in 2007—that's when it all started. I was the new kid in school. Cullen had already made a name for himself. According to pretty much everyone, he was the only serious guitar player around. That meant something. At that age, if you found someone who *got it*, someone who didn’t just mess around but actually cared about the craft—that was rare.
We were introduced on day one. After school, I tagged along with a mutual friend to his house, knocked on the door, and said something like, “Hey, I play too—wanna jam?” True to form, Cullen just said, “Alright, I’ll be there in 30 minutes.” I figured I’d never see him again. But half an hour later, he showed up—with his amp, pedal board, and guitar in hand—and we played Metallica and Megadeth for the next three hours.
That was it. From that day on, we were best friends. We started a band that same night. And in a way, starting Nodus was getting the band back together. We built everything from scratch—our guitars, our albums, our early Nodus prototypes. Cullen had this natural product intuition. We both learned the business side as we went. We coded the website, handled all our own photography, and even did the assembly and regulation of movements ourselves. Nights were spent experimenting, troubleshooting, and reworking ideas—not just in notebooks, but in real time, with real materials.
It wasn’t about getting to market fast—it was about getting it right. That spirit of total immersion and resourcefulness, born in teenage bedrooms and garages, would lay the foundation for how Nodus approaches not only watchmaking, but innovation at large.
II. THE THREE PILLARS: NODUS AS A NODE
Today, Nodus is more than just a watch brand—it’s an intersection of design, collaboration, and disruption. Wes describes the company’s mission through three foundational pillars:
Pillar 1: Design Lab – A playground for co-creation with military units, content creators, and other watch brands. If you’ve ever wanted to create a watch—something that speaks to your world, your story, your mission—the Design Lab is where that starts.
You don’t need to be a brand. You don’t need to have manufacturing contacts or an operations team. You bring the vision—Nodus takes care of the rest. Here is a quick look at the process.
- Concept Phase – You come in with a strong idea. Maybe it’s inspired by your unit, your craft, your crew, or your history. Nodus helps shape that into a working design, no matter how raw the starting point is.
- Design Approval – You’ll get detailed renders to review. This is where the concept becomes real—and you dial in the finishes, case shape, dial language, and mission.
- Production – Once everything’s approved, the team moves into production. Prototypes can be built if needed, depending on the project.
- Delivery – When the watches are finished, they’re assembled, tested, and shipped. That part stays on Nodus’ shoulders—you don’t have to worry about logistics.
Projects usually run between five to nine months from kickoff to delivery, and the door’s open for both private and public collabs—whether it’s a 12-watch drop for your crew or a wider public launch.
Past collabs have ranged from automotive legends to field photographers to special mission teams. If you’ve got the story, Nodus has the means to make it wearable.
Pillar 2: NodeX – A modular innovation platform, starting with their adjustable clasp and evolving into a broader toolkit for functional design.
Pillar 3. Intersect – A community-driven watch event, giving the enthusiast community direct access to the brands pushing the envelope.
Nodus means "node"—a connection point. We want to be at the center of the industry. Even if someone wears a Raven or a Fairwind, we want our innovations to be a part of that.
This mindset is more than metaphor. It’s strategy. From the start, Nodus has prioritized purposeful, iterative innovation. They don’t chase novelty for attention—they look for solutions that actually serve the people wearing the watches.
III. DESIGNING FOR THE FIELD, NOT THE SHOWCASE
One thing became clear in our conversations—Nodus watches aren’t made for the safe queen collector. They're made for people who *use* their gear.
When we say we want feedback, we mean it. We talk to EOD techs, doctors, climbers. They’re the ones who tell us what needs to be built. That kind of dialogue with real users is where some of their best ideas start.
They’ve fielded requests from club members, from former operators, and from watch geeks with real jobs to do. In return, they’ve built the kind of products that hold up.
For example, the guys that make up Sketchy Boyz Watch Club - they want watches they can trust in an unpredictable world. If a bezel pops off while you’re breaching a door, that’s a liability. You don’t stop mid-fight to retrieve a piece to your watch.
That’s why our designs prioritize durability and reliability. We’re not making desk divers.
That real-world relevance is part of what makes the Design Lab so compelling. Behind the redacted text and quiet rollouts are some of the most function-driven watches being made anywhere in the U.S.—and often for specific communities with specific needs.
IV. WHY INNOVATION MEANS TAKING HITS
Innovation comes with risks—and sometimes those risks come with consequences. Nodus isn’t shy about that. Look, not everything works on the first try. Our clasp had issues at first. But we fixed it. We own that. We send replacements. We iterate. That’s what Nodex is about. It’s not a perfect product—it’s a platform for growth. It’s a rare thing to hear a founder talk openly about failure. It’s even rarer to hear one embrace it as a function of progress. And that’s the ethos here: Nodus doesn’t treat R&D as a hidden cost center. They make it public. They make it collaborative. And they improve it through real-world use.
V. FROM MICRO TO MACRO: WHAT COMES NEXT
The future of Nodus isn’t about getting bigger. It’s about getting *better*.
We don’t want to scale for the sake of scaling. We’d rather stay nimble, keep innovating. That means doing smaller runs, testing ideas, and licensing out what works. The Tesla charging port analogy fits—If you drove an EV, you were limited in only using that company’s charging capabilities/stations. Tesla comes along and says this is silly and helped standardize connection points - Nodex is the plug everyone else can use.
Their commitment to industry-wide elevation—not just brand growth—is rare. Their events, collaborations, and innovations speak to a deeper purpose: changing the way the watch world works. We want to be the R&D department of the watch industry. That’s what drives us.
EPILOGUE: ON PURPOSE AND PARTNERSHIP
CJ - SBWC: I am of the mind that not everything you do has to make money. This idea has gotten me in trouble in the past, but sometimes if you are a part of a larger “something” and you have a way to help…to aide in the continued growth and evolution, you make that move.
Wes: Exactly. You move the culture by doing what’s right, not just what sells.
The Nodus x SBWC conversation didn’t just cover bezels and battle scars—it covered belief. Belief in transparency, in iteration, in making tools that matter.
And at the end of it all? You get the sense this is just another jam session in a longer setlist.
Keep an eye on what comes next – they’re just getting started. Sketchy Boyz Watch Club is proud to be part of this next chapter.
#SBWC #Nodus #ToolWatchesThatWork