NEW YORK, May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- OnDeck
(NYSE: ONDK), the leader in online lending to small business, today
announced that Vortic Watch Company of Fort Collins, Colorado is the OnDeck Small
Business of the Month for May 2018.
The OnDeck monthly series spotlights the achievements of successful
small businesses and how they are thriving as a result of receiving
capital quickly and responsibly online.
Founded in 2013 by R.T. Custer
and Tyler Wolfe, Vortic Watch
Company is a small batch wristwatch manufacturing and engineering
company intent on revitalizing watch manufacturing in the
U.S. Vortic is the maker of The American Artisan Series, a
customized wristwatch dedicated to the historical preservation of
American pocket watch movements. The company was recently described
as "The Craft Brewery of American Watchmaking," by WatchTime, a
popular wristwatch industry magazine.
Friends since college, Custer
and Wolfe began their business journey by researching custom watch
options. Quickly, they learned that not a single watch company
manufactures the internal timekeeping components of a watch, known
as movements, in the United States. Sensing an opportunity,
the duo continued their research and soon stumbled upon the
movement craftsmanship of the antique American pocket watch.
"The movements are precious remnants of American watchmaking
manufacturing history," says R.T. Custer, CEO of Vortic Watch Company. "Tyler
and I decided to bring them back to life and that's how Vortic
Watch Company and The American Artisan Series was born."
To get started, Custer and
Wolfe put their concept and approach on Kickstarter and raised
$40,000 to buy a 3-D printer and
initial inventory. The partners then set forth on the manufacturing
process.
"Manufacturing in the United
States and purchasing equipment is extremely expensive.
At first, we raised capital through traditional equity
investments, but that only got us through product development. You
can have the best product and a great website, but if no one knows
you exist, it's all for nothing," says Custer. "That's when we turned to OnDeck for
the financing we needed for marketing and advertising. We obtained
enough capital to ignite widespread interest and awareness about
Vortic. Thanks to OnDeck and our marketing partners, we doubled our
business in a year."
Vortic Watch Company first received capital from On Deck in
2016. The company has renewed several times and recently paid off
their balance in full as of March 2018.
"R.T. and Tyler are great examples of small business owners who
not only think big, but also think smart," says Andrea Gellert, Chief Revenue Officer, OnDeck.
"Vortic Watch Company has become one of the most innovative
watchmakers in the country by utilizing capital from OnDeck to meet
specific business needs at critical stages in their growth. We are
proud to play a small role in the success of this remarkable
company."
The custom-designed American Artisan Series watch from Vortic is
completely made in the United
States. The glass on the front and back is Corning Gorilla
Glass similar to what is used on iPhone screens. The other metal
parts are machined in Colorado at
Vortic's facility or at a domestic manufacturing partner's site.
The leather straps are hand stitched in Florida, and even the buckles are cast
specifically for the company.
"We're quite proud of the case engineering system we created,
but the true value in our watches is the antique pocket watch
movement," says Custer. "Our
experts search the country for old pocket watches and many of the
movements we find are orphans, tossed away when their original
precious metal pocket watch case was scrapped. We like to think
that we're saving a historical mechanism from being forgotten and
in the process, celebrating the great American watchmaking
tradition."
After locating the original pocket watch movements, Vortic's
professional, Rolex-certified watchmakers go to work on restoring
the mechanical workings. It takes three to five movements on
average to create one wristwatch due to the inability to use some
for reasons of age, quality, and parts availability. Vortic has a
steady supply of antique movements, but estimates it can only
produce up to 1,000 of these one of a kind watches per year.
"It's a very difficult and expensive process to locate and
restore one of these movements," says Tyler
Wolfe, Chief Manufacturing Officer for Vortic. "Each watch
has a story, not just from the historical movement, but also from
how it's made. The watchmakers that work for us are artisans and
there aren't many watchmakers left in the
United States that have the ability, and the patience, to
touch these vintage movements. Thankfully the watchmakers we employ
love what they do and share our passion to save as many of these
movements as possible."
The American Artisan Series by Vortic Watch Company is available
online and in select retail stores. Watches are priced between
$1,000 and $5,000 depending on the rarity and quality of the
piece as well as the case system options chosen. Vortic has a Watch
Builder on www.vorticwatches.com that allows customers to choose a
specific, antique pocket watch movement from a small selection, and
design the rest of the wristwatch around it, all online. When an
order is placed, Vortic builds that unique piece, one at a time,
just for that specific customer. For more information, visit
www.VorticWatches.com
The Small Business Customer Spotlight series from OnDeck is
designed to reinforce the vital importance of small business
owners. Every month, OnDeck spotlights the achievements of its
small business customers and how they are thriving as a result of
receiving capital from OnDeck. To learn more, visit:
http://www.ondeck.com/smallbusinessspotlight
Since its inception, OnDeck has provided more than $226 million in capital to small businesses in
the State of Colorado.
About OnDeck
OnDeck (NYSE: ONDK) is the leader in online small business
lending. Since 2007, the company has powered Main Street's growth
through advanced lending technology and a constant dedication to
customer service. OnDeck's proprietary credit scoring system – the
OnDeck Score® – leverages advanced analytics, enabling OnDeck to
make real-time lending decisions and deliver capital to small
businesses in as little as 24 hours. OnDeck offers business owners
a complete financing solution, including the online lending
industry's widest range of term loans and lines of credit. To date,
the company has deployed over $8
billion to more than 80,000 customers in 700 different
industries across the United
States, Canada and
Australia. OnDeck has an A+ rating
with the Better Business Bureau. For more information, please visit
www.ondeck.com.
OnDeck, the OnDeck logo, OnDeck Score and
OnDeck Marketplace are trademarks of On Deck
Capital, Inc.
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