pOrtahl® was founded in 2020 by Jordi van Staveren (left) and Alain van den Donk (right). We started pOrtahl® because we believed that watch design had come to a standstill.

It was impossible for us to find something untraditional that we liked, without it being completely different from what we were used to in a watch.

The heritage brands have shown us what to love in watch design. However, their beautiful designs, once bold and refreshing, have since become a dime a dozen.

New brands either blatantly copied the heritage brands under the guise of "homage watches" or tried to differentiate in peculiar ways. From overly complicated new ways of reading time, to complete snowglobes and other wild contraptions.

We became inspired by high-end watch customizers from around the world, often referred to as 'watch artisans'. Like these artisans we aim to challenge the status quo by rethinking classic watch design to fit modern design standards.

Our designs embrace the boldness of these artisans, incorporating all the best features and sourcing all the best materials we can find, in order to offer remarkable watches at an affordable price.