“I love history. I love the Filipino. I love watches,” says 34-year-old Francisco “Nico” Moreno. These words best describe why he is doing what he does. He founded Ibarra, the first Filipino watch microbrand, in 2014. Since then, his life has been all about designing and crafting fine timepieces.
An applied physics graduate from the De La Salle University, Nico did not start with a mind for having a business later on, more so one that is an extension of a personal hobby. Like many watch enthusiasts, his love for timepieces started with vintage.
Nico remembers how he got his first watch, which was partly because of his father who told him that it would be great to have a good watch since he works for a good company. “So I said, okay, and I fell in love with Bulova,” Nico recalls. “I love the brand Bulova. It is quite classic, and I’m a very classical person.”
Because of this love for the classics, Nico’s first watch was a Citizen-era Bulova—a choice inspired by his taste for classical films, especially those that had Frank Sinatra in them. Ol’ Blue Eyes, as the crooner from Hoboken was once called, wore Bulova watches. But, perhaps, the most interesting vintage timepieces that had ever been part of Nico’s collection were his two Estrella del Norte pocket watches. “I owned two, one was dated 1896—the year Rizal died—and the other 1910,” he explains. These watches have since left his collection.
Nico’s love for the classics and for the history of local watchmaking inspired the brand character and aesthetic language of Ibarra. Since its inception in 2014, Ibarra has had an interesting decade, including an episode when one (a Plaridel automatic) found itself on the wrist of former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017, who even endorsed it in a press meeting in Russia, which Nico did not even know about until some random stranger congratulated them on Facebook.
That same year, when the Philippines hosted the ASEAN’s 50th year meeting, the attending world leaders were each given a special Ibarra watch (with the ASEAN50 logo on the dial) as tokens. Ibarra also became the official commemorative timepiece of the 30th SEA Games, which was held in the country in 2019.
Ibarra, however, is not the latest in the evolution of Nico’s passion for watchmaking. In 2021, he moved to Japan to study business and also immerse himself more in the world of making timepieces—and where better to go than to Japan, which is arguably one of the best watchmaking countries in the world.
Continuing to hone his craft as a watchmaker, he officially put up a workspace in Tokyo in 2022, which is now known as Moreno Watch Studio. His first timepiece under this brand was the Kaminari, released in the same year, a watch born from more artisanal techniques (with some parts hand-finished).
“As an artist, I want to separate myself [from the business side of things],” Nico says, adding that it was an important step to becoming a true independent watchmaker. It’s a decision that is comparable to the story of Gerald Genta—one of the more renowned names in horology, famous for creating iconic pieces like the Patek Philip Nautilus, AP’s Royal Oak, and the Universal Geneve Polerouter—who opened his own brand to break away from the watches he was designing for others.
But as far as Nico is concerned, his inspiration for honing his craft, for taking his watchmaking skills to the next level, moving from an artisan to an artist, is Masahiro Kikuno. “He is my idol,” Nico explains. “I have met him. It was like a dream come true. He is on a totally different level—his philosophy, his outlook. I hope that, one day, I could be like him.”
In 2013, Kikuno became the youngest ever to be admitted to the prestigious Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI) at 30 years old. Now at 41, he is known for creating very artistic and highly desirable timepieces, which usually take him a year to finish—because he does everything by himself! Apart from Kikuno, Nico says his other idol is the Swiss Philippe Dufour, who is considered a master of modern watchmaking.
As a Filipino independent watchmaker, Nico has a lot of dreams for local watchmaking. He laments, for example, how the 1900s could have been an opportunity for Filipino watchmaking to have started (Seiko, for reference, started in 1881). Still, recognizing that there is a lot of potential for watchmaking to boom in the country, he remains hopeful.
“This is just the start,” an expectant Nico says. “We have so much to catch up on. We need industrial support for that. What makes Japan good is the ecosystem. The industries here (metal, glass, etc.) are strong. For us, it is not impossible but it will take a lot of people to work on it and also political will.”
At present, what keeps Nico busy is an upcoming collaboration between Ibarra and the Moreno Watch Studio, which he had on his wrist during the time of this interview.
“We are all laying the seeds for awareness for everyone. If I can do even more with Moreno Watch Studio, if it can help push other people to get into watchmaking—who knows, maybe we could have a Filipino watch fair?” Nico explains. “We may not be the light, but we can always be the spark.”