Crafting Clocks for a Tech-Free Bedroom with Lisen Båge from Båge & Söner

Join us for a captivating exploration into the resurgence of traditional alarm clocks with our distinguished guest, Lisen from Båge & Söner. Aiming to transform bedrooms into tech-free sanctuaries, Lisen shares her journey of creating these nostalgic timepieces. Inspired by travel memories and driven by a desire to eliminate digital screens, she embarked on a two-year venture with watch expert Federico Casado, culminating in a product that promises gentle awakenings over jarring smartphone alarms. Immerse yourself in the art of crafting these Swedish-inspired clocks, where nature, high-quality materials, and the concept of allemansrätten play pivotal roles in their design and charm.

Our conversation with Lisen goes beyond aesthetics and dives deep into cultural pride and craftsmanship. Discover how Swedish and Italian leathers, alongside rare clock movements, are meticulously chosen and assembled to create these premium products. As we navigate through this horological journey, we touch on how these clocks not only enhance sleep quality but also embody the enduring values of Swedish craftsmanship and sustainability. Insights into the challenges of sourcing superior components highlight a commitment to timeless quality, offering a stark contrast to the fast fashion and mass-produced goods often associated with Swedish design.

Reflecting on the broader dynamics of consumer behavior, we discuss the growing cultural shift towards online shopping and its impact on our perception of convenience and quality. The episode wraps with Lisen sharing valuable entrepreneurial insights and dreams of future collaborations, encouraging listeners to balance modern convenience with environmental responsibility. Through personal anecdotes and professional experiences, this episode promises to inspire and guide you towards creating a harmonious, tech-free home environment.

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https://bagesoner.com/en

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Episode Transcript

Blake Rea (00:01):
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of
Lonely Wrist.
Sing it in front of us.
This is going to be a first forus, but we do not have a
wristwatch company.
In fact, we have an alarm clockmanufacturer Borga Sonner, and

(00:24):
we have Lysin here going to betalking about the brand.
Incredible product.
Welcome to the show.

Lisen Båge (00:33):
Thank you very much.
Lovely to be here and thank youso much for having me on board.

Blake Rea (00:39):
Thank you for being willing to come on.
I haven't seen too many of yourother.
I mean, I've seen some of thearticles that you've done.
Is, uh, I haven't seen too manyof your other.
Uh, I mean, I've seen some ofthe articles that you've done,
but I haven't seen that you'vedone any podcasts.
Is this a first for you?

Lisen Båge (00:50):
uh, no, this is my third, but I mean third in four
years time, so it's not that Ido them every day that's like
it's been yeah that's I've beenon the.
Monocle one, I've been on.
Beyond Horology I've been on.
Oh okay, this is actually myfourth, because I've been with
Benke and Berns as well.

(01:11):
Okay.

Blake Rea (01:13):
As long as we're top five, I think, so I think I'm
okay with that, yeah absolutely.

Lisen Båge (01:19):
And the second I mean internationally.
This is very big.
So, thank you very much.

Blake Rea (01:25):
Thank you.
I'm curious about so whenever Ihad got my alarm clock from you
guys, I haven't thought aboutowning an alarm clock for a
really long time.
How did you decide to bringsome?
I mean, I I think this, this istechnology that we all not a

(01:49):
lot of people have these anymoreum so what?
What made you uh decide tostart an alarm clock company?

Lisen Båge (01:59):
the, the kind of the why it came from within.
I must say, I was so tired ofhaving the digital screen inside
my bedroom and I was caught upin it, just ate up my time, and
I didn't feel any better orwiser.
And plus, on top of that, yougo to sleep.

(02:23):
But I, like, I'm an early birdsleeper, and so I went to bed
and I said, ok, now I'm going togo have an early night in and I
have four kids, four sons, andso I have a busy, busy life at
home.
So I said, ok, I'll have anearly night in and then just

(02:43):
read, see if there is justanswer, that last text message,
or then there's the email, andthen the news, and then the I
mean all the social media, andthen, boom, an hour easily,
maybe two hours, and not anyvisor, and my sleep train kind
of passed.
So I felt an urge to justreclaim my bedroom with an alarm

(03:08):
clock and I couldn't findanything that I liked.
And so I looked around and, asalarm clocks haven't been on the
kind of cool market for a longtime, there was nothing really
fun to buy and I like nicethings and, um, I've been.

(03:29):
For a long time I've beenwanting to start my own company
and um, so it's kind of like adouble dream.
I, I, I met with federico casadoand together he has a watch
background and he has visitedmany of the big houses of the

(03:49):
clocks because he was workingfor one of the big chains here
in Sweden and he was Sorry,filip, du måste gå ut.
Close the door, sorry, that'sokay.
Okay, close the door, sorry,that's okay.

(04:11):
Sorry, we have to cut this oneout.
So, please excuse me.
So I was looking around foralarm clocks anyway, and so I
met with Federico, who was also.
It was just a good timing andwe started the journey together.

(04:41):
To you know, I had this ideafrom my childhood memories of
bringing back the travel alarmclock that I think many have a
reference to from theirchildhood memories.
Or an old auntie or someone hashad this kind of triangular.
Do you have?
Did you have one?
Do you know which one?
uh, no, no no because it's thetravel alarm clock which is like
a triangular one that you wouldstand up and they could fold
back into a little case uh, yeah, I know what you're talking

(05:01):
about, but, um, honestly, theonly alarm clocks that I've
owned have been the littledigital radio ones oh yes, I had
one of those when I was little,very cool waking up to the
radio I'd wake up to like themost gangster rap music every
morning when I was that young.

(05:23):
That's a bit of a rocky startyeah, it was why not?
but anyway, so I was, uh, wewere looking around and um took
us almost two years, and then alittle bit of covid as well
occurred during the time of, youknow, setting the design and
finding the right suppliers andeverything.

(05:46):
But I wanted to make somethingthat's that would last long and
would be something assustainable as you can be,
because if you make somethingthat's long lasting, it has a
long-standing value for both theowner and also the materials
they have.
A long lasting.
Yeah, you know I, I love thealarm clock.

(06:06):
I'm looking at it now.
Um makes me very happy everymorning when I wake up and and I
love my little procedure offlipping the little button to
the to the side the alarm on.

Blake Rea (06:19):
It's very nice yeah, I I have been thoroughly
enjoying mine, opposite to theharsh rap music I used to wake
up to.
It wakes you up very gently.
It's very weird because youknow the phone like I'm used to
waking up by the phone and thephone will just go crazy.

(06:41):
You know, blasting these crazysounds at you and you think,
like you know, you're having tolike evacuate, like the entire
city.
Yeah.
It's so obnoxious.

Lisen Båge (06:54):
Yeah, it's so obnoxious.
Plus it has also like nineminutes of snooze, I think,
which is a little bit on thelong side for me anyway.

Blake Rea (07:04):
Yeah, it hasn't.
It's something I didn't reallythink about.
You know, I didn't I didn'trealize that, uh, how important
it was.
You know, I mean, obviously Ithink about like the most
important way that I start myday is like I get my tea, I get
my breakfast, but how you wakeup is something I never really
like thought about.

(07:25):
And you know you talked aboutyour, your grandmother's clock.
It's kind of like theinspiration.

Lisen Båge (07:37):
That's absolutely the big inspiration, my
grandmother's clock, and I thinkI was thinking of the childhood
memories of sleeping peacefullyand I was visiting my
grandmother.
My grandparents lived inSwitzerland, in Lausanne, and I
was always, you know, cuddlingin her big, nice bed and she had

(08:00):
this nice alarm clock on herbedside table, which I just
thought of like peaceful, nicemoments, and that's how you want
to wake up, isn't it?
And also how you want to sleep.
You want to have your bedroomin harmony, not any disturbance
or trying to have that kind ofpeaceful dreamy place.

Blake Rea (08:27):
Yeah, so I think I saw the photo.

Lisen Båge (08:28):
that's the photo of uh on your on your website of
yeah, that's I mean, I'm notsure my grandmother would
approve of me putting it there.
She was also very, very chiclady, uh, but she, yes, that's,
that's my grandmother, suzanne,and my brother, my one of my
little brothers, carl, who'salso done the logo actually and

(08:53):
the packaging, and he's beenhelping me a bit, um and me in
that bed when we were do you?

Blake Rea (09:01):
do you still have the alarm clock, did you somehow?
No, no, that's sad.

Lisen Båge (09:09):
Unfortunately, it just kind of yeah, I'm not sure
it was working.
The last this was.
I don't know where it went, butit was not one of those.
I know that, audemars Piguet,it was not one of those big
brand posts.

Blake Rea (09:26):
Yeah, that's okay.
I mean, it kicked off yourpassion for horology, which is
you know, I think, what we sharein common.
You know, obviously today is avery digital world and you know
you talked about kind ofseparating the, the smartphone,
from the bedroom.

(09:47):
Uh, I guess what, what kind ofmade you believe in, you know,
this timeless value of?

Lisen Båge (09:55):
you know, physical alarm clocks, and you know I
think we are all reading moreand more in from researches and
from well-being, well-beers orwhatever, that sleep is really
essential for all well-being.
It's, I mean, if you want tolose weight, you want to keep

(10:18):
your, you know, you want to stayaway from all old dimension.
Uh, you want to, um, yeah,focus, you want to just well, be
in general, be happier,everything I mean.
We all know how that wonderfulfeeling of a good night's sleep
is kind of like, sets your wholeday in a good mood kind of.

(10:42):
So I think that's kind of myown.
That was my own kind of wantingthat.
But why I did just borge andsarna was uh, I wanted to make
something really really nice andI love watches and the whole
and the.
If you were looking on themarket, there's nothing you know

(11:04):
nice to buy.
With the modern.
We put a little light and asnooze to this kind of very
simple, disconnected, classicalarm clock.
But we did it, you know, withleather, tempered mineral glass,

(11:35):
nice metals, nice colors,decorated dials.
We tried, like you know, totake a lot of elements, as many
as we could, from the finewatchmaking houses into our
clock find watchmaking housesinto our clock.

Blake Rea (11:52):
Yeah, I, I like I said whenever um whenever you
guys had reached out to me aboutyou know, uh, like like setting
this up, I I didn't know whatto expect uh yeah and then, and
then I unboxed it and I was likethis thing is like a brick, you
know, yeah, so heavy.
And then, uh, yeah, I mean it's,I was impressed.
You know, a lot of times whenpeople reach out to me and they

(12:13):
send me something, or, uh, I'mnot the type of person where I I
want to go on and and endorse aproduct that, uh, I don't feel
comfortable endorsing.
You know, call it pride,integrity, whatever, um, but you
know, I don't, I don't goonline just to say negative
things about, about products,you know, and so if a brand

(12:35):
sends me a product and thishappened, you know, they send me
a cheap watch and I'm like,look like, I don't think I'm the
right type of creator thatyou're seeking.
You know, I'm not gonna go andread from this script and you
know, I just I don't have muchgood to say, so I just would not
say anything.
Um, and and yeah, I mean thisis like I said, I've been very

(12:58):
impressed, uh, and I, I love, Ilove sweden, I love sweden.

Lisen Båge (13:03):
I spent quite a lot of time in stockholm oh, you do.

Blake Rea (13:07):
You must come and visit us, yeah, yeah um, I, I'm
in the process right now of uhplanning, planning stuff for for
watches and wonders, and I haveto yeah, yeah, I have to, um,
go shoot some in germany.
And then I have to, and yeah, Imean, I'm sure when I'm coming
out of Germany maybe I couldstop by and see you guys.

Lisen Båge (13:31):
That would be a pleasure.
And we are just today signednew a new premises that we're
moving to in a month's time, sowow.

Blake Rea (13:42):
Yeah no, wow, yeah no .
And something that I noticedabout like spending quite a lot
of time in Stockholm is thelifestyle, like the quality of
life in Stockholm or just, I'massuming, in Sweden in general,
is so important to the Swedishmentality.

(14:04):
And you know, having like agood work to life, balance, like
eating healthy, like beingactive, like being in touch with
nature, like these are allthings I mean not as much so in
Stockholm but in other parts ofSweden, and obviously I mean

(14:29):
Sweden is known for having great, great design.
Um, I mean any, and you canwalk down like the gamla stan,
and then I mean you could prettymuch like every corner you see,
like, uh, like a niche productstore where it's like high
quality furniture or like highquality like clothing, or like
linens, or it is all likeswedish designed and gamla stan
is very much like that, becausethat's where you have the

(14:51):
ancient.

Lisen Båge (14:52):
A lot of handcraftsmanship is located
there.
It's the old town, it's sopretty and so so much harder
lots of tourists as well, but itbut it's really worth going.
But I agree, swedes are very Ithink it's called allemansrätten
that we love to go out innature and that's something that

(15:13):
we, that I love.
It's kind of essential in myeveryday life to go out, to be
outside to.
I walk, to work every day, Itry to stay in the week, as to
sports, and I try to be outside,I love it.
But I think also that reflectsalso in our in the product names

(15:35):
that we have um, it's the namethat are inspired from nature
and dreams, and um, you have anafternoon delight there, if I'm
not mistaken uh yes, yes, yes,exactly so the name was inspired
to have like an afternoondelight nap.

Blake Rea (15:55):
Maybe the song is that yeah, no, no.

Lisen Båge (15:59):
but you know, having an afternoon delight, afternoon
nap, but like an afternoondelight, like giving yourself a
bit of an afternoon delight, itwas kind of the inspiration for
the name.
But, like here, I have theFrench kiss, which is the same
that you have, but I have thered.

Blake Rea (16:16):
And that's got the gold face.
The gold plating or the goldmetal, yes exactly, that's got
the gold.

Lisen Båge (16:21):
Yeah, this one has the gold.
Yeah, this one has the gold.
And then I have also with metoday the Borgen Saaner with
Monocle, that we did a veryspecial edition.
I don't know if you want to.

Blake Rea (16:36):
No, I don't think so.

Lisen Båge (16:38):
So this one is limited edition and it has a.
California dial yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Good light on it.
So it has Arabic and Arabic andRoman numerals.
That's the traditional andsunray in the inner alarms.

Blake Rea (17:03):
I love California dials.

Lisen Båge (17:07):
And this one is actually called california
dreaming wow, yeah, it'sinsanely beautiful.

Blake Rea (17:15):
Um, what, what elements do you feel like make
your alarm clocks stand out?
I mean, obviously, when, when Ithink of an alarm clock, I
think of like a plastic, youknow digital square, with like a
radio and a snooze buttonthat's like the size of like my

(17:36):
cell phone.
Um, but to you, like, whatdefines you what an alarm clock
should be?

Lisen Båge (17:45):
Just Borg and Sander or Borg and Sander alarm clocks
.
I think that we have reallycaptured.
I think we've made it unique.
We found a uniqueness in ourclocks and they are all.
You can feel it from the weight, as you said yourself, but also

(18:07):
in how the dials are decorated.
They're not like just printed.
Like all other alarm clockshave printed dials.
This, this one, has a theapplied indices and patterns in
their inner alarm zone.
I mean, the whole dial isdivided in three different zones
, so to speak.
You have the outer and in therebut the inner alarm zone, and
then the outer part and then thedivider in the middle.

(18:28):
Um, also, the hands are, um,shaped a little bit.
Um, they're all.
It's all decorated and it'smade with.
We made it, make it in our.
We mount them all in ourworkshop.
We shape the leather Swedishleather, calf leather that we

(18:51):
usually work with, mostlySwedish leather.
We have a few models in Italianland, but it's all true premium
materials that age beautifully.
And now I'm so proud of ourclocks.
They are, I think they are oneof a kind and I think it's.

(19:14):
You know, in the old days theyused to have table clocks
everywhere.
If you look on the antiquestores there is a few table
table clocks, and so this is atable alarm clock, so of course
it's smaller, but I think thisis something that it's hard to
find nice table clocks ingeneral.

(19:37):
If you want, I I like to put iton my.
I always have one on my desk soI can focus on what I'm working
on, even though, of course, my,my, my computer, is connected.

Blake Rea (19:51):
Yeah, I have.
I have an entire studio here,so I have to stay connected.
There's a table here forshooting.
Ironically, my wife my wifedoes her nails over there.
She's got a little nail studioall right, love the family
business.
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's uh it'sfor person hers is personal, but

(20:13):
this is I mean yeah, I've gotlike 14 lights, I've got like
seven cameras down there.
It's wow, it's hard, it's hardto to have that kind of
separation yes, um it's hard,and, and you I read too uh, you
know.
So which of the elements arehandmade, you know.

(20:35):
You just talked about thepattern on the dial.

Lisen Båge (20:39):
I mean, is that done by hand or everything is um,
made, custom made for usaccording to our drawings and
everything.
So all the parts, but not themovement, the movement.
We have, um, added a snooze andalarm to it, but uh, that's off
, the it's nothing.

(20:59):
We buy it off the shelf as itis.
All other parts, the mineralglass, the gasket, the backside
what we do in our studio is whatwe mount them.
That's what we do.
So all the parts are madespecially for us in Asia and
then we mount them.
And we mount also the leatherswe make in our workshop.

(21:23):
So we do all of that in at theplace.
But, like you know, the minutehand comes and the alarm clock I
mean the alarm hand car they'reall in, we all mount.
So it takes, it takes a littlewhile to make one, but uh, it's
not as long as if you would havedone the movement yourself too.

Blake Rea (21:46):
Yeah, and that was something that I thought about
too.
I mean, obviously I don't knowmuch about alarm clocks or desk
clocks or anything, but wasthere a lot of options for
movements?
I mean, did you have like thishuge catalog where you like, oh
well, we can choose this or thator this?

(22:06):
No.

Lisen Båge (22:08):
There's a lot of movements around, but it's, we
are working with the one that wefound was absolutely the best
on the market for us.
But there is nothing to buy.
Actually, if you want to addthe snooze and alarm to to the
movement, there's lots ofmovements.
If you want to just have, youknow, a clock with no

(22:31):
functionality, just a normalclock, um, there you can, then
you can buy a lot.
But uh, on, on the alarm clocksegment, there's a lot in the
same kind of region, uh, andthere's no high.
There's a lot of um, themovement is actually not so um,
not so high.

(22:51):
You know high end, so it's avery good it's.
It's as good as it can get fornow.
It's, it's the best one wefound.
But there's a lot of sheepmovements around on the market,
so high quality alarm clockmovements is hard to find.

Blake Rea (23:10):
Yeah, I again.
I don't even know where tostart.

Lisen Båge (23:15):
There's a lot of like a lot of brands.
They buy off the shelf fromSwitzerland, or that's from
Germany, or Miota you know from,from Japan or so there's, and
then you can make your owndesign and you mount your, you
make your own design, which isbasically what we've done too.

(23:36):
But we took, we have, yeah, we,we bought.
We couldn't buy the movementfrom.
We have to buy it from Asia.

Blake Rea (23:45):
Yeah, we actually had another Swedish brand on the
podcast and they makewristwatches.
But they talked a lot in theirepisode about like what it means
to be from sweden and to havelike a premium product.

(24:08):
So I kind of wanted to ask yousomething along the lines of you
know, what does being a premiumswedish product mean to you and
how, how important is it to, uh, to bring your culture and your
pride into a product like beinga Swede?

Lisen Båge (24:33):
I think it means a lot for us to bring the Swedish
pride into our clocks and Ithink to be a Swede is you you
were mentioning it before but weare very aware of quality and
design, and I think that we, forme, it means a lot to bring a

(24:55):
product on the market thatpeople can enjoy and to enhance
the life quality of their sleepand their bedroom harmony, so to
speak, and I would love peopleto get inspired to to do that.
I think we it's a tough worldout there and we all live very

(25:16):
intensive lives um, I think, tobring a product that is both
beautiful and have high qualityuh to a market, uh, where, where
we all are needing this type ofum, I think we all would
benefit I'm not needing, but weall would benefit for from to

(25:40):
kind of maybe slow down a littlebit, to retake some time for
yourself in the day's 24 hourand to I I, for me, I made the
slogan it's time to reclaim yourbedroom, and it's just kind of
it's that's one room, but youcould also say it's a few hours

(26:01):
of the day's 24 hour when youare just disconnected and you
are with yourself, and thatenhances your quality of of you
life yeah, yeah, I, I um sorry,go ahead.
Yeah, you see what I mean.
I'm trying.
Sorry, my English is.

Blake Rea (26:23):
No, you're doing amazing.
Yeah, I'm assuming.
When you went down this rabbithole, you know what was your
sleep routine like before youdesigned an alarm clock, Like
you said you would go through,flip through the phone.
Yeah designed an alarm clock,like you said you would go

(26:53):
through, flip through the phone.
Um, I mean, a lot of sleepexperts recommend, you know,
removing device digital devicesfrom the bedroom.
Yes, um, what, what you know?
How?
Can you, uh, you know, advisepeople, uh, you know how to, how
to get out of those patterns?

Lisen Båge (27:13):
I think, uh, it's good to kind of maybe set a time
on when you said, okay, so it'snine o'clock, now, bust out, no
more, no more messaging oremailing.
It depends on how your daily,daily life is, but for me I try
to go to sleep at at 10, so at Imean even before nine, I try to

(27:35):
put my phone away.
Uh, I do put my phone away, put, put it on charge, or I just
leave it outside and then Iconcentrate on my kids and
myself and try to my hubby aswell, my husband, and try to.
I think that's a try to havekind of a good routine to not

(27:57):
bringing it into the bedroom isa good one.
Just putting it on the same spotevery day, okay, good, that's
kind of like my routine.
I put it there just outside myit's like in the hallway outside
my bedroom, and then go brushmy teeth, cut my hair, getting

(28:19):
ready for bed, read with my sonand then, yeah, go to bed but
and try to talk a little bitwith your husband about today's
routines In general.
I try to kind of also, afterwork, try to not look at my come
home and just look at my phone,try to kind of a little bit,

(28:39):
disconnect myself from theongoing, which try to kind of
slow things down a little bit,but I have four children and
they are 14 years apart, so it'suh, from the youngest to the
oldest.
Oh, my god and so, beforeactually launching the alarm

(29:00):
clock, my um you were asking,it's 14 years apart.
So while the 15 year or like 14and a half year olds were going
out for the first time and mylittle one was actually feeding
time still at night sometimes,and waking up, and I would be
caught up looking at the time,like did they come home yet from

(29:22):
going out?
And then, oh no, he's crying.
Okay, no, Okay, does he needeating or just a pacifier?
So I felt my sleep was verydisturbed from that.
So I think in general it's avery good routine to not

(29:43):
bringing it into the bedroom,but of course it happens to me
too.

Blake Rea (29:50):
What type of feedback are you hearing from customers
that are switching from moredigital alarm clocks or cell
phones?
I mean, I, I again, I wouldhave never jumped on this
podcast if I didn't feel like,you know, you had a great
product and, uh, you knowsomething useful.

(30:10):
And and, yeah, I, I've been, uh, I've been sick and uh, I, I
was, I had the flu over theweekend, and I had the flu over
the weekend and, uh, and it wasrough, it was, it was rough, but
, um, you know, I, I had turnedmy alarm clock off, um, and then

(30:36):
on Sunday, uh, I turned it backon and I woke up and I felt
like I was like much improvedand, mind you, I've been taking
medicine to knock me out.
But what have you heard fromcustomers that you know are now
using your product and you knowwhat's the feedback been?

Lisen Båge (30:55):
I'm so overwhelmed, actually, from many clients who
are customers who write to usand saying thank you so much.
I had we had a very fantastic,uh sweet australian lady who
wrote to us and she said thankyou, she bought a starry sky and
she said the starry sky meansthe world to me and she was uh

(31:17):
very unhappy before, and nowshe's uh having the starry sky
next to her when she goes to bedand she was feeling very happy
again with the starry sky andshe feels she's under the stars
with her starry sky.
So that was very sweet.
But in general, I must say ourcustomers are very pleased.
Uh, they are, um, we are.

(31:40):
They feel it feels like thealarm clock grows on them to
become their buddy, their littlefriend next to them on the
bedside table.
So you get a relationship toyour clock.
It greets you in the morning,says goodnight to you at night
and even though that's not howthey describe it, but it's like

(32:04):
if there's a clock that needs tobe serviced and they send it to
us and when can I have it back?
And I miss it so much and Ilove it, and so it's a very
close relationship.
I feel like Borg and Son, ouralarm clocks.
They are loved.
We have hardly any return rates.

(32:27):
There are no returns, I think.
I think we sold more than 1,400clocks last year.
I think we had 10 returns wowmax.

Blake Rea (32:48):
So that's um very high something too like, um, I
never really thought about and,uh, you know, I this whole past
year and I've moved and you knowknow I went through some family
, family tragedies and thingslike that.
But you know, during the moveand you know I kind of was like

(33:11):
taking stuff out my entire roomwas just looked like a tornado
had came through, and the onlypart of my room that wasn't like
a tornado or you know, like acrime scene, uh was my
nightstand and uh, the onlything that I keep on my

(33:33):
nightstand are my glasses, myring, my watch, and now my alarm
clock oh, thank you so there's,there's very uh.
It's one of the first things yousee, right when you wake up and
um, you know that that's thewhole reason why I got into

(33:55):
watches, um, and you know, nowmy, my dad, you know, my dad
passed away, but now I have hiswristwatch and the coolest thing
to me is now understanding that.
The second my dad woke up, thefirst thing he did reach onto

(34:18):
his nightstand and put his watchon, and so now I have the
ability to do that.
So, um, so, yes, I, I didn't, Ihaven't thought about these
things before.
You know, introducing an alarmclock, but it's one of the first
things you see before you go tosleep and it's one of the first

(34:40):
things you see when you wake up.
Um, and you know it's.
It's very special.
You know, the, the, the onlyyou know.
The only other things that cankind of fit into that boat are,
you know, like, maybe yoursignificant other, um, you know,
maybe your, uh, your animals,your pets, if you sleep with
your, your dogs or cats, butthere's not too many things on

(35:03):
that list that you can say.
Every single morning I wake upand I first thing I see is that
and um and so it, it has the all, the uh, all the key elements
to be important and special for,for the, for the rest of days,
you know which is uh, it's avery weird thing to think about

(35:26):
it is.

Lisen Båge (35:28):
it's one of those.
It's very, it's very preciousand and very beautiful.
Love how you, how you have yourrelationship with your dad's.
Watch it.
It's really beautiful and Ithink it's the same with the
clock it grows, you get arelationship and connection with
it and it's also kind of apeaceful makes you at home, like

(35:55):
you say you feel at home whenyou have it.
You set your eyes.
I wake up in the middle of thenight sometimes and I press the
little side button button and Ihave the little light.
It kind of settles me down.
It's only 4.15.
I can sleep a little longer.
Yeah.

Blake Rea (36:15):
I think the way that I feel about my dad's wristwatch
is the same way that you feelabout your grandmother's alarm
clock yeah you know, you want tobring that kind of like that
feel yeah, it's like.
I know, I know that he's nextto me.
You know um, you know it'ssituation's a little different,

(36:36):
but um but yeah it's, it's avery special thing.
And, uh, and you know, my, myfriend, uh, you know it's, it's
a bigger watch than I wouldnormally wear.
But, uh, you know, I saidsomething to my friend.
I was like, yeah, I mean, Idon't wear it as much as I was
wearing it yesterday actually,um, and and he's like, well, why

(36:58):
don't you wear it more?
I'm like, oh, it's a little bitbigger, but it's my dad's.
And and he's like, well, whydon't you sell it more?
I'm like, oh, it's a little bitbigger, but it's my dad's.
And he's like, well, why don'tyou sell it and get something
smaller?
I was like, no, how can I dothat?
This was his.
This was like, yeah, butanyways.
So yeah, the way that I feelabout his watch is the way that

(37:20):
you feel about your, uh, yourgrandmother's alarm clock.
It's one of those things that,thankfully, I I'm in possession
of it and I will never let go of.
I've got two of his watches, umand uh, and he was actually
borrowing one of my watchesbecause I was collecting watches
before, um, and and like my dadhad a hip replaced, like maybe

(37:43):
like five years ago.
And then, um, and then, so he,then his other hip went bad and
then, uh, he just started kindof getting like things back up
and running.
Um, and he was like Blake, likelet's go, you know know, to a
watch store and let's get awrist watch and and you know

(38:04):
what, what, what would yousuggest?
And it was like me, my dad, mywife, um, I took him down to to
my, my local watch shop and we,you know, spent hours just
picking something out and goingthrough everything, and so it's
really it's much deeper thanjust something that he owned.
And uh, and I remember too, uh,you know, my dad, as long as

(38:26):
the time was right, like hedidn't care, like if the date
was wrong or anything else, likehe just, and so, uh, every like
, maybe, like every like once amonth or something, he would you
know like, uh, call me, uh, andyou know, because of his
mobility issues, we livetogether.
Um, he would, you know, like,call me and you know, because of
his mobility issues, we livetogether.
He would like scream like Blake, blake, blake, like come change

(38:48):
the date you know, it's like Idon't know how to do it or like
my watch stopped running orsomething Like come fix it.
So then I would have to showhim how to like wind.
You know, take the crown outand wind it.
And you know, take the crownout and wind it.
And you know his bezel would beall like, like, twisted around.
It was a Breitling, but I'llsend you a picture of it.

Lisen Båge (39:10):
I'd love to see it.
It's cool yeah.

Blake Rea (39:17):
It's cool.
Are there any elements ofSwedish culture or craftsmanship
that you feel are kind ofdisappearing and if yes, how
does Borga and Soner preservethose elements, those ideals?

Lisen Båge (39:38):
I'm not sure if there are any elements that
disappear, but I think thatthey're just Swedish.
But I think in, I want toembrace kind of the nature and
the world of dreams, and I thinkthat's something that I'd like

(40:02):
when we talk a lot about, youknow, try to retake your dreams
and to do that.
That's why we put also all thenames.
It's like oh honey, for example.
You wake up and you're like ohhoney, example, you wake up and

(40:25):
you're like oh honey dreams, orforest dreams, or sea breeze, or
it's like the sensual, thescent, the scent, sensation, uh,
sensations as well.
French kiss could be someonewho just breezes a little kiss
on your tribute to mygrandmother.
She was french from origin, sothat's why we have the tricolor
with the french flag, you know,the blue and white red, yeah,

(40:47):
but I think, in in terms ofswedishness, nature is very
important to swedes, as you weresaying before, as we've been
discussing, um, but I'm not sureif there's any special thing
that Borg Sanner is bringingback.
I think that to start a companyand you start with doing a lot
of craftsmanship like you know,people that come to our office

(41:12):
are customers or like wow, did Ibuy a clock and you're doing
all of this here.
Did I know this?
It's amazing.
They are truly impressed and Ithink that's something to bring
back to understand that's beensomething for me too, while
bringing the Borgenshainer tolife to understand and to

(41:36):
respect the craftsmanship behindeverything, like all things in
general, actually, that there'sactually a person you know, even
though they're machined,machined, you know, machined CNC
machine or something, somebodyhas to do that and put it back

(41:56):
in their little, to be carefulenough to wrap it up and to
place it.
So it's all perfectly perfectfor for us to kind of build from
, or every leather that wechoose, that we see, okay, this
skin is a good part from the,from the, um, yeah, of the skin

(42:17):
that we can use.
So this is not so good, so wecan maybe have to save it for
something else.
Um, it's, it's, um, I think thenatural, the resources of
nature, is something that I'vebeen trying to think about when
we were building this watch, uh,this clock I mean the two to

(42:39):
respect that too likesustainability, it's very
important it's very importantand when you build a new product
, there is, I mean, of course,building a new product.
There is no way to I mean, it'snot sustainable to build a new
product because you have to doto break new elements, but in if
you build a product that willlast for a very long time and

(43:00):
you can repair it if the lightgoes.
It's a light bulb, you knowlights.
They break your lamps at homeSometimes.
You have to, kind of, you know,change them.
Sure.
It can happen and we've had someclients that, oh, my
three-year-old dropped mine onthe stone floor, the glass broke
.
Can I change it?
And yes, of course we can do.

(43:20):
It's the glass broke, can Ichange it?
And yes, of course we can.
We can do, because thecraftsmanship is we.
We own our, our workshop, wherewe can do everything, and I
think that's um, I'm very proudof that.
Uh, on how, how it's all comingtogether, I.

Blake Rea (43:39):
The question is a deeper rooted question than
maybe you know one would expect.
But let me tell you from myAmerican perspective.
Because when you think aboutSweden oh my god, I'm going to
sound so terrible for sayingthis, but we think about H&M, we

(44:02):
think about H&M, we think aboutfast fashion and cheap
furniture Ikea, butwell-designed we're like, oh
yeah.
We're like, oh, the Ikeafurniture is so trendy, it's so
cool, it's such a unique design,but it's cheap and it falls
apart.
It's such a unique design, butit's cheap and it falls apart.

(44:27):
And uh, obviously I've been tostockholm and what is so
different and weird is none ofthose things are embedded in the
swedish, like ethos, if that'sthe right word for it like it's
the exact opposite of whatsweden should be known for,
which is like artisanal, likehandcrafted, high quality.

(44:52):
uh, and I remember when, when Iwas in, when I was in stockholm
and um, and, and you know I'dwalk up and down, like I said,
the Gommelstern, like every day,and you know it was colder than
I expected.
You know I live in Las Vegas.

Lisen Båge (45:11):
So you don't want to come today.
It's like minus five andblowing.

Blake Rea (45:15):
No, thank you.
But I walked into H&M and, andyou know, whenever you know
you're like, oh cool, like I'mgonna go with some clothes, like
you think, like H&M, and inthis case like Zara or like
things like that, that are veryfast fashion, um, and they're
very cheap.
And when I went into the H&Mstore, um, like, uh, you know

(45:40):
there was nobody in there, right, and I mean it's huge stores
but you know they're not popular.
And then I met, um, like one ofmy I I met somebody there, like
I I was staying at a hostel and, uh, he was like a student and
he was like a swedish studentand he was like he lived in
outside of stockholm and hewould come stay at a hostel like

(46:02):
in stockholm, like during theweek when he was going to school
, and then he would like go backhome outside of stockholm.
And then he had said somethingto me.
He was like dude, like nobody,nobody, like shops there, like
you know, like let me show yousome real like, real, like
swedish clothing stores.
Yeah.
He like, he like took me aroundand um, and I mean I'll never

(46:24):
forget it, cause, uh, cause, notonly was it like super high
quality, but I mean the pricewas, was, was great.
You know, like everything Ican't he?
He actually worked at one ofthose clothing stores.
Um so the only reason why I'mgoing on this crazy tangent is

(46:44):
because you know people havethis, this american mentality
that you know swedish isexporting.
You know the garbage to us andhanging on, you know hanging on,
because maybe it's just me,maybe it's just me, but you're's
just me.

Lisen Båge (47:01):
But you're right, we have one of our big export
success companies are those twothat you were mentioning.
They are very big and verysuccessful, but I think both of
those are like all companies.
Nowadays, they have to thinkabout sustainability and try to
market themselves as moresustainability friendly.

(47:24):
But I think that Swedes are, Imean in general, in terms of
shopping.
I think a lot of Swedes arevery good at online shopping, so
there's not so many people.
It's very empty.
If you go into shops, yeah,it's very.

(47:46):
I don't know if it's the samesituation in america, but, um,
nope, no, no, I think we are, Ithink we're very digitalized
here, uh and uh, that's.
It's kind of sad in a way,because it's nice when people
come together.
It's, um, you know, you meetpeople and you interact and you

(48:07):
can feel um a lot.
But I think also, a lot ofcompanies have very big problems
with return, return rates.
When you buy online and youdon't, you know, doesn't, you
cannot feel and feel and see itproperly doesn't?

Blake Rea (48:25):
you cannot feel and feel and see it properly.
It's um, have you heard aboutso?
So at least amazon, right?
So so, yes, we, we are very, uh, prone to online shopping.
Yeah, um, but because of theway that the distribution is set
up for Amazon and it might bethe same in Sweden, I could be
wrong, but I can order somethingright now and in two hours it

(48:48):
can be at my door.
No matter what it is.

Lisen Båge (48:53):
That's amazing.

Blake Rea (48:54):
That's so fast, yeah, yeah, I mean, it'll be at my
door, even if it's one thing Iremember when I was sick over
the weekend, I didn't have theenergy to go, to go out and um
and and get medicine.
So I ordered some, somemedicine to my door and I was
there in an hour.
You know, I just ordered, Ijust ordered the one, the one

(49:15):
bottle of medicine, and it wasthere, like and uh, it was free,
it was free to get deliveredand it's like you would.
You know, this is a 20, youknow like, bottle of medicine,
like, and it was there.
You know, like it probably costmore to drive it over than um
isn't that a little scary?

Lisen Båge (49:32):
I think that people are that.
You are um.
You, I mean you are happy to.
I think instant delivery isfantastic.
It's like we can also deliverfood here.
I mean, you order online andyou get food and medicine was
supposed to be like that, but Ithink it's now.
It's overnight as well, now.

Blake Rea (49:57):
It's even worse because of the mentality that we
have and so like here, right?
So my wife, uh, my wife is fromeurope and and she kind of has
that like let me go in and trystuff on and uh, and let me see
if it fits.
And this and I'm like like letme show you how we in America

(50:21):
shop.
Like I'll go on Amazon and I'llorder like three different
sizes and it'll all come at onetime.
And then I'll be like OK, well,you can try on the extra small,
the small or the medium orwhatever, and then we'll just
take the other two back and thenso, yeah, yeah, returns are

(50:41):
insane here, um, and I mean, youhave places that that just
process just the returns foramazon, and then, because the
returns are such a big problemhere, waste is is insane, is
insanely bad here, and it's it'scheaper for amazon to throw the

(51:03):
products away than it is forthem to actually return it to
the manufacturer.
So what, what amazon starteddoing.
I don't know if this isamazon's doing or third parties
doing, but what they do is theygo in and they, they approach
amazon and they say, hey, I wantto buy all of your returns.
And then what they do is, uh,they essentially get pallets of

(51:28):
amazon returns and then, and youcan go online and look and see,
but then youtubers or contentcreators are going online and
buying amazon return palletsyeah and then opening them and
seeing what's inside and it's,it's.
It's like you could buy applereturn palettes or you could buy

(51:48):
.
There's a place here up thestreet, um, where you can go and
it's just big boxes of amazonreturns and this box is three
dollars, this box is two dollars, this box is five dollars and
inside, you know the $5.

Lisen Båge (52:00):
You don't know.

Blake Rea (52:01):
You're getting like.

Lisen Båge (52:02):
You don't know what's inside, or just buy
something for $5.

Blake Rea (52:05):
Yes, it's a huge box of stuff.
I mean you can pick through itand like I mean it's just the
most random things, and it'slike label makers or it's like
headphones, or it's like I meanlittle cameras or like little
like watch straps.
I mean like, uh, I mean littlecameras or like little like
watch strap.
I mean it's just the mostrandom stuff.

(52:26):
and and they have promotions too, where it's like you go on on
sunday and everything is 99cents and there is like, no
matter what it is, it doesn'tmatter, even if it's like 100
product, it's 99 cents, you know?
Um.
So waste is so insane here andwe've we've built that culture
right, because people expectsomething immediately.

(52:46):
Right, like I remember when Istill I still do this I still
enjoy to order something onlineand waiting weeks for it to come
.
Like I enjoy that.
That, that that process ofwaiting, um, but also do you
enjoy?

Lisen Båge (53:02):
it?

Blake Rea (53:02):
you do enjoy it, I do , I do sometimes.
Sometimes, um, but the, theamerican side of my brain is
like oh, I want this and I wantit now.
Like give it to me, like in 20minutes.

Lisen Båge (53:13):
You know it's like so I have these but it's also
the kind of I think it's um.
Of course, we all want it, itinstantly, and if you decided,
yes, I want this dress, orwhatever you're like I can't
wait.
But actually it's the longingand also once you have finally
chosen it and the longing, it'skind of that kind of feeling.

(53:36):
It's kind of nice, because ifit's a little longer then you
get even happier when it arrives.
If you order it and it comes,you kind of miss that kind of
like longing feeling in between.

Blake Rea (53:49):
I would agree.
It's something that, because ofthe I don't know if it's the
the way that culture shiftedhere, um, I mean, and I don't, I
don't understand some of it.
You know, like, I understand alot of it Cause, like, let's

(54:11):
just say, I'm traveling, or I'mworking on a project, or I'm you
know, I'm, I'm a filmmaker, soI always have to get new
equipment in, or, you know, newlenses, or or new mics, and
that's the type of stuff that,like, I need, you know
immediately yes um but then youknow the sentimental things I
wait for, you know, yeah, um,but yeah, and it's just an

(54:35):
example, like you know, um, Ihad one of my mics got damaged
and I I sent it off to berepaired, versus I could have
just went back to the store andreturned it and got a brand new
one, um, immediately.
But you know, there's this weirdkind of I don't know how to

(54:55):
describe it, but in someinstances I do, in some
instances I don't, but thecultural change, I've noticed it
and it's been weird.
It's been weird, for sure.

Lisen Båge (55:15):
But I think this kind of weight.
And we recently launched alittle puzzle.
It's a wooden jigsaw puzzle andit's like handmade and it's an
illustration.
It's called Beautiful EverydayMornings, but it's like a puzzle
that has nothing to do with ouralarm clocks, but it's kind of

(55:36):
also a thing of very highquality.
But it's also a thing when youdo a jigsaw puzzle, it's kind of
like you cannot sit and dodifferent things.
You have to concentrate and youcan sit and chat to one another
and you know where's that blue,please, or whatever it's.
It's a nice kind of beingtogether and staying present.

(55:58):
Um, you cannot.
Uh, you know you have to bepresent and you have to be there
when you do it.
And it's also kind of like youknow you can do that, you can do
the puzzle and then it willstay there.
It won't get the stuff.
I mean it won't be destroyed ifyou leave it and you go for a
walk or you make your dinner oryou go for work or whatever.
You come back and it's stillthere and you can continue.

(56:23):
Yeah, you go for work orwhatever it's.
You come back and it's stillthere and you can continue.
Yeah, it's, um, it's anotherlittle thing it has.
It's just a little bonus, it'sjust very limited, but it's.
It's in the same kind ofquality, uh, that borg and sarna
wants to bring into our lives.

Blake Rea (56:41):
Yeah, it seems like you're very focused not only
just on building qualityproducts but also connecting
your health and your mentality,or maybe health and soul.
And then I mean puzzle.
Right, a puzzle is a greatexample, and I didn't know that
you had created a product likethat.
But that's the type of productthat you, you work on with your

(57:05):
family.
So you know it's something thatcan connect your family Right.
You know cause we get lost inin in the world we live in.
You know I mean I'm doing this,I've got a million things going
on, my wife is doing that.
You know we're all crazy,running around like morons in

(57:26):
this world in a weird way, butit is nice to have something
that kind of brings us togetherand grounds us.
So it seems like you know yourbrand is more about that than
anything else.
You know, like being groundedand being rooted, um, in a weird
way I get that feeling it couldbe wrong, but just my outside

(57:48):
perspective yeah yeah, you'reprobably right, you are, um, I
hope it's not in a too weird way.

Lisen Båge (57:55):
I mean it's um, I think, um, I think in the world
that we live in now, I thinkit's.
I mean, there's so many nastythings going on in the world and
it's nice for us all to restour, our brains and our just,

(58:18):
you know, be here and now, sleepwhen you want to sleep, or work
when you work, or you know,just stay a little present and
present in the moment.
So I think that the kind ofword that I want to kind of get
the feeling, when you haven'tsaid it is kind of the jewel on

(58:42):
your nightside table, it's kindof like my, I want it to be the
jewel on your nightside table.
Wow, you get a little, makesyou a little happy, you're a
little buddy.

Blake Rea (58:59):
We, you know, uh, our , our podcast is not only about
the creative side of things, butyou know, we love the
entrepreneurial side of uh ofthe business, and then it's all
wrapped in horology.
So I have to ask what has beenthe biggest challenge that

(59:24):
you've faced?

Lisen Båge (59:26):
you know, launching an alarm clock uh a luxury
product, a luxury analog product, let alone in a very modern
digital world so my the biggestchallenge is actually to to put

(59:46):
the word I mean we had, I had anidea exactly on how, how I
wanted it to look, but to kindof actually bring it to life
took a very long time.
And to find the right movement,to find the right parts to make

(01:00:06):
the design and functionalitywork together, that was the
biggest challenge.
And then it takes a long timeto bring you know, to actually
to be someone out there in theworld, to get people to get to
know Borge and Sanne.
That's also a long.
It takes a.
I think now we've been on fouryears and um, uh, it's we.

(01:00:31):
We have black, you know blacknumbers.
We're making a small little um,uh.
Last two years has been good,uh, but making a small little um
.
Last two years it's been gooduh, but the first two years were
tough, tougher.
So I'm happy that I have a big,good family supporting me um,
behind the scenes, otherwise my,my kids wouldn't get any food

(01:00:53):
on the table.
Yeah, yeah that's important.
Yes, that is important.
So I think those two things arevery you know to can actually
build an alarm clock is reallytough.
And I know I spoke to one ofSweden's biggest company I mean

(01:01:15):
it's known for it's calledSvenstern and that is, they make
furniture and interior objectsof very high quality and very
typical Swedish design have youbeen there?

Blake Rea (01:01:28):
I don't think so I may have.
I may have, maybe not.
I will send you the link.

Lisen Båge (01:01:37):
It's a big inspiration and they have
beautiful things and is veryswedish, high quality,
everything that they do.
And of course, you can buyborgens on our alarm clocks
there, but they they usuallydon't bring in other brands into
their store, they make theirown.
They have josef frank, bigdesigner, and esther derrickson
who made all the patterns foreverything that they do and make

(01:01:58):
Very modern, very cool and very, very nice, and they tried to
bring an alarm clock into life,but that's one of the few
products that they couldn'tsucceed in.
It's actually quite hard.
Wow.

Blake Rea (01:02:20):
What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who are,
you know, not necessarilybringing an alarm clock to
market, but you know, anyproduct yeah, who are trying to
to start something, maybe aluxury product, um, you know,
take, take some of the valuesthat you have being, you know,
artisanal, high quality, um, andare just faced with a bunch of

(01:02:45):
challenges.
You know what advice would you,would you say to them?

Lisen Båge (01:02:49):
uh, I've been very, I think, um, you know, go it
will take time, so have time, atime frame in your body.
But, leah, talk to people andtalk to people to others that
are doing the same like you do.
I have a friend who ouracquaintance from start and she

(01:03:15):
did Eldvarm and she has been abig inspiration for me.
So find your inspiration.
They make you know fire thingsfor fireplace.
So find your um, find yourinspiration in the people, from
people around you or just anystar that you um, that you like.

(01:03:37):
So for me, eldvarm, lou LouisVarger has been a very big
inspiration for me, but alsoTyler Brulé has been a big
inspiration for me too.
He is international, he knowsquality and originality when he
sees it and he is a very big fanof design.

(01:03:59):
And I think, go for quality andalso, of course, it has to be
functional.
You have to make it work.
And maybe you know, if youcontinue on one path and you're
like trying to make it work, butthere is always a way, there is

(01:04:22):
always a way.
So you have to be stubborn, uh,and but maybe it won't go the
same path that you were thinking.

Blake Rea (01:04:27):
Maybe you have to go the path you know, take a little
turn and then you will getthere yeah, I come from a family
of serial entrepreneurs and Idid a podcast of
entrepreneurship and I don'tremember where I heard this, but
if it was my dad or my mom ormy.
I mean everybody in my familyhas their own business Like.

(01:04:48):
But you know, being anentrepreneur is like making a
walkway through a forest.
You know, like you're pavingthe way or creating a trail for
other people to follow, and asyou're walking through the
forest, you know like you'repaving the way or creating a
trail for other people to followum, and as you're walking
through the forest, you knowyou're getting hit in the head
with branches and all thatabsolutely that's.

(01:05:11):
That's what I think.
It was my, my father that thattold me something like that, if
I'm not mistaken.
Um, but every time somebodyasks me about that, I'm like,
you know, like, if you, if youjust stop walking, like you know
, you're still going to be stuckin in the middle of the forest,
you know.
So you got to keep walking youjust keep on walking.

Lisen Båge (01:05:33):
that's great yeah, absolutely.
But I must say, one of mybiggest inspiration and biggest
supporters is, of course, myhusband, and he has.
He's a fantastic entrepreneuras well, but he is.
He has one little one thingthat he says sometimes, because
I worry a lot and it's like 98%of worrying is just waste of

(01:05:59):
time, so stop worrying and justgo.

Blake Rea (01:06:04):
That is great advice.

Lisen Båge (01:06:06):
And I think that's a very good advice.
Actually, it is true.

Blake Rea (01:06:11):
Where do you see Borga and Sonar in the next five
, ten years, decades?
Are you working on new designs,new collaborations?
Do you guys have some tricks upyour sleeve?

Lisen Båge (01:06:28):
yes, I think we have a few more products uh up our
sleeve.
Um, we have absolutely a new,some new collaborations um going
on international umcollaborations uh with maybe
some an artist, maybe.
Um, we have uh clockseverywhere in the world and for

(01:06:50):
all types of um of uh of youknow, there could be a wall
clock, could be um other type ofproducts that improves your
life quality at home, butthere's always very, very high
with nice quality and nicedesign.
I hope, of course, that todaywe have a new workshop that

(01:07:16):
we're going to move to, whichI'm so happy and pleased about,
new workshop that we're going tomove to, which I'm so happy and
pleased about.
And, of course, I hope to openup a workshop in in the us uh
eventually and to expand mybusiness, because we are very
big in the us.
Actually it's one of ourbiggest markets.
I hope, I hope mr trump don'tput up too many big um wars.

(01:07:37):
I would say and yeah, tariffs,yeah, terrorists and stuff that.

Blake Rea (01:07:42):
Let's see, that's a whole another podcast episode.

Lisen Båge (01:07:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah no, we'll see for now.

Blake Rea (01:07:49):
For now, we are dealing what we have today right
, yeah my, my my, my, we've gotthis stream that we do, and
yesterday the topic ofdiscussion was like Swiss
watches, watch exports, imports,what are the tariffs going to
do?
And I'm like I don't even wantto talk about that.

Lisen Båge (01:08:10):
It's just not a topic I prefer to talk about.
We say 98% of worrying is justa waste of time, like your
husband said.

Blake Rea (01:08:20):
No point If you could do, and maybe this has already
happened.
Uh based on your your previousanswer.
But if you could design a clock, uh, like with a dream, like if
you could do a dreamcollaboration, you know what
would that, what would that looklike or who would that be with?

Lisen Båge (01:08:44):
oh that's a very tricky one.
I'd love to do something of acompletely different.
Could be like a completelydifferent, could be like a

(01:09:07):
mizone or something like aanother totally different brand,
but would do, we could dosomething fun together.
Um, they uh, also afamily-owned company which I
think are doing they.
They have their distinguishedroots and you could immediately
see what a Mezzone is.
I think that's a very somethingto.
I admire that, so that would bevery cool.

(01:09:30):
Also, there is a Frenchdesigner that I think is doing
very cool design and she iscalled gosh.
Now, I forgot the name she iscalled.
Oh, she's done restaurants andstuff and she makes furniture,

(01:09:56):
and I can write you the name ina little while.
Yeah, it'll come to me that'sthe way it always happens yes, I
lost it, but, um, they're verycool, cool, cool, um, but maybe
we could also do a little pillowmist or, you know, scent would

(01:10:16):
be, but we're thinking ofdifferent products.
But I think, in terms ofbranding, it's very important to
know what you want, to, thatthe things that come out from
Borgen Sand should still rhymewith what we stand for.

Blake Rea (01:10:31):
Very important to keep your core values.

Lisen Båge (01:10:34):
Yeah, to keep the core values very.

Blake Rea (01:10:38):
And make sure there's consistency among the products
and and make sure you know, uh,the way, the way that I think
about you, know a brand and acompany, a product is like every
product needs to, kind of, andyou look at apple as like a case
study, like every product is anexpansion on the previous

(01:11:01):
product or has utility thatintertwines with the previous
product.
So you know maybe it's just me,but, but keeping that kind of
mythos that that strategy isvery challenging, you know to
say, hey, this is an expansionon our current alarm clocks or
this has the same application orutility or whatever you know

(01:11:26):
and and so, yeah, it justbecomes challenging.
And I've seen like like so haveyou seen you've probably seen
the mechanical wristwatches thathave like like minute repeaters
and alarms and stuff like that?
Have you seen you've probablyseen the mechanical wristwatches
that have like like minirepeaters and alarms and stuff
like that?
Have you seen those before?

Lisen Båge (01:11:44):
What do you mean?
Mini repeaters?
You mean not the ones that areboth mechanical and digital.

Blake Rea (01:11:52):
No, no, no, so they're.
So, they're mechanical, butthey have an alarm function
built into a wristwatch.

Lisen Båge (01:11:57):
Oh, yes, yes, yes, I've seen those, yes alarm
function built into a wristwatch.

Blake Rea (01:11:59):
Oh, yes, yes, yes, I've seen those, yes, so like,
for example uh, uh, jj lukut has, uh, what they call the memo
box, and essentially it's analarm complication that you set
the alarm on it.
It's just got a little littlebell that rings yes like um, but
I can't remember if it was,also has one yeah, a lot of

(01:12:19):
brands have like a minuterepeater.
It's a very, very, very uh likehigh-end complication, um, but
I can't remember if it was jlcor patek but, they came out with
uh like, you know, like alittle, uh like, like like

(01:12:39):
phonograph or something orwhatever.
So, so, anyways, the wholeconcept is you put your watch on
it, the minute repeater, andthen it amplifies the alarm
uh-huh, so it will speak louder,yeah it captures the sound and
it makes the sound travel out solike um, you know, something

(01:13:01):
that just came to mind is like,you know, they, they were faced
with that, that that wholeprocess of like, hey, people
want to use their alarm to wakeup, right?
yeah so boom, you know a newproduct was born.
Oh uh, kind of cool uh coolwhat would you say is one item,

(01:13:21):
besides an alarm clock,obviously, that everyone should
have in their bedroom?

Lisen Båge (01:13:29):
Besides an alarm clock, I love to have a book to
write my notes on, to have abook to put my, to write my
notes on.
Either could be a diary or justyou know, things that I have to
do tomorrow, to-do lists orthings that I've been
experiencing during the day.
So I usually have, like one ofthese, like this is just nothing

(01:13:51):
that we do, but, like you know,one of these no lines, no,
nothing, and then I, I, I, Iwrite that is something that I
love, um, to have on mynightside, and then I write that
is something that I love tohave on my nightside table.
Also, if you have somethingthat you worry about, when you
put it in writing, it's kind ofeasy.

(01:14:12):
I get it off my chest, plusit's there.
So I remind myself tomorrow Iwon't forget it.
So that's something too.

Blake Rea (01:14:23):
All right, yeah, my it's.
It's so weird how I started tothink about all these things.
I used to do like I used to, Iused to journal, I used to write
um and I have a million penshere, but I think the only time
I I use a pen and now it's sucha shame to say, but it's what
I'm signing the back of checksto- mobile.

Lisen Båge (01:14:43):
Really, you know what I recently started.
My new thing is that I startedcrosswording it before I go to
sleep that's fun, though.
That's fun, yeah it could befun because a little bit of
brain, uh, brain gymnastics Idon't know, I do the simple ones
because I'm not so brainy, butthey make me feel uh, yeah, yeah

(01:15:03):
, it's better to have those umeasy ones that you, uh feel that
you are so you, you don't feeltoo uh, too, they should be easy
to solve yeah, so you get agood flow and you feel a bit not
so bad after all well, we havetaken so much of your time, and

(01:15:24):
I have one final question, andthis is probably the hardest one
out of all of them, but if youcould look back into history and
give a Borga and Sonner clockto anyone in history, who would

(01:15:47):
it be and why?
Hmm, oh, one of my most favoritehistorical people is Winston
Churchill.
Yes, he made everybody, youknow.

(01:16:11):
I mean it was not looking greatfor them, but he filled
everybody with hope and fightingspirit.
Maybe he would need an alarmclock to rest a bit in between
those.
He had a very busy life duringthe Second World War.

(01:16:33):
He was a very.
I think he was one importantpart of turning the World War II
to where we landed today.
I think that's my personalopinion, but it would be fun to
make him have one.
But yeah, there are many bighistorical people, but we should

(01:16:57):
have, like a Pablo Picasso, whocould paint one of the Borg and
Sönder maybe.

Blake Rea (01:17:05):
It's like melting off the table.
There you go.
That's going to be somethingfor your new office to have
somebody melting off the tablein.

Lisen Båge (01:17:15):
Picasso form off the table.
Yes, I have actually my brother, who is a painter, who's doing
all our um.
You know, did you see insideyour little booklet there's a
little drawing in the last page.

Blake Rea (01:17:27):
Yeah, I did.

Lisen Båge (01:17:28):
It was very cool all the illustrations inside yeah,
all the illustrations is made bymy brother, who is an artist
called gustav von arbin.
So I have three brothersactually lots of and three sons
and a husband lots of boysaround me.

Blake Rea (01:17:42):
I, I, when I, when I wrote this question, I, I was
thinking in my mind and I don'twant to answer, obviously for
you, but I was thinking like afull circle moment where you're
gonna say, grandma, yes imagineit would make her so proud, my
grandma and my grandfather hewas also an entrepreneur he

(01:18:04):
would be so proud.

Lisen Båge (01:18:06):
And my grandmother, she would have loved the french
kiss, the french kisses for her.
It's, um, it's, you know, thefrench colors of blue and white
and red, uh, and that's kind ofmy.
That was one of my first models, um, and it's a little tribute
to her she is proud.

Blake Rea (01:18:27):
Yeah, she wouldn't be , she is proud I hope so,
definitely I hope so.

Lisen Båge (01:18:32):
Yes, she, she was always on time and very chic and
always very considerate of meand my always very happy to talk
to her and my grandfather harry, they were yeah good
inspiration amazing I want tothank you for spending almost an

(01:18:56):
hour and 20 minutes with us.

Blake Rea (01:18:59):
I think we have an amazing podcast episode.
I cannot wait for this to bedistributed.
Um, obviously I have one ofyour alarm clocks.
I've been showing it throughoutthe whole course of the youtube
video.
Um, I am going to be working ona youtube video for this wow um,

(01:19:21):
so expect me to make somecontent about this, uh, because
in my uh, the pictures justdon't do it justice.
So hopefully I can do it somejustice with the video and, uh,
and share my experience withwhat it's been like to to
actually be an owner of one ofthese alarm clocks.

(01:19:43):
Uh, so expect that to happenvery soon, uh, in the coming
weeks.
Uh, and if you've you'velistened to this, if you're
listening to this podcast, itmay already be out by now, but
um, expect that and uh, andhopefully we can, you know, can
get down to Sweden, to Stockholm, and spend some time with you
and, once you've moved into yournew facility, and also work on

(01:20:09):
more video content there withyou, because we are always
looking for ways to get morefresh, unique content.
To get more fresh, uniquecontent I might be the only
watch content horology contentcreator to do something about an
alarm like a table alarm clock.

(01:20:29):
I'm not sure I haven't seenanybody else do it, but as
somebody who loves horology, wecan't forget about these things.

Lisen Båge (01:20:41):
So, so I appreciate me, uh, I appreciate you, uh,
you gifting me one thank you somuch, and thank you so much for
having me on the show, and I dolook forward to see what you do
to make of uh uh what, how youum uh film uh your afternoon
delight.

Blake Rea (01:21:02):
Yeah.

Lisen Båge (01:21:03):
A pleasure for me to be um speaking to you and, uh,
thank you so much.

Blake Rea (01:21:08):
Thank you so much and we will talk to you very soon
and come and visit.
I will, I will, I promise, yes,I promise.