Fashion & Beauty

Watches that are ‘cool, hip and good for the world’

At the recent Art Basel show in Miami, guest P. Diddy got a nice departure present. Soho watchmaker Lawrence Leyderman, 31, spotted the rapper and presented him with a dark brown large-case watch from his Bedlam collection.

Leyderman, a native New Yorker and son of a watch-repair business owner, launched his House of Horology in September 2012. His goal was to be the go-to provider of high-end watches to men previously priced out of that elite market.

Steeped in the family trade since he was a teen, Leyderman knew exactly where to source the finest movement technology, Swiss crystals and Italian-leather watch bands.

This allowed him to manufacture for under $500 the same type of watch that competitors were offering for three times as much.

“I wanted my watches to be cool, hip and good for the world,” he said.