Split Watches
20(SOMETHING)• Date added
26 January 2026
• Date added
26 January 2026
Split Watches is a premium UK watch brand founded by industry veteran Ed Margulies, created to encourage vulnerability and connection in a world driven by status and tradition. Rooted in Ed's personal journey of overcoming trauma and fostering open dialogue, Split serves as a catalyst for meaningful conversations around mental wellbeing.
London-based creative agency 20(SOMETHING) brought the brand identity to life, rejecting outdated notions of prestige and championing authenticity and collective strength.
Client
Split Watches
Year
2025
Creative Director
Will Thacker
Designer
Rory Stiff
Casey Highfield
The brief was to develop a brand strategy centred on honesty, openness, and genuine human connection. Steering clear of typical luxury aesthetics, 20(SOMETHING) crafted a visual identity using intentionally fractured imagery, physically distorted with ink rollers, scrapers, and scalpels. This treatment reflects the complexity of personal struggles and the strength found in shared experience. Typography and graphic elements embody Split's belief in vulnerability, blending tactile imperfection with contemporary elegance.
A website was developed as both an e-commerce platform and a community hub promoting empathy and solidarity. Vibrant, nuanced photography captures authentic moments of human connection, reinforcing the brand's mission. Every element of Split communicates that luxury can be meaningful and a watch can be a symbol of solidarity and support.
"Creating a brand that lives on someone's wrist every day required both sensibility and sensitivity. The idea of moving between blur and focus became central to the identity, inspired by early conversations with Ed and realised through Federico Parra Barrios' typeface, Exposure. This theme runs through packaging, photography, print, and 3D elements, reflecting a constant interplay of light and shadow, clarity and obscurity."
20(SOMETHING)
20(SOMETHING) is a strategy, design, and communications company set up to grow with the changing world. A world of new ideas from a new generation: navigating the new internet, questioning convention, and reimagining culture. They explore those without partners, helping solve problems and guiding them towards today's most exciting opportunities.
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