Heritage Cinematic Ads for Independent Watch Brands

Reimagining Heritage.

I film the origin story of independent watch brands.

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Origin Films ◆ Release Campaigns ◆ Reel Cutdowns ◆ Campaign Stills
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01 / Selected Work

Films made on spec.

Spec films, cut before any conversation about money.

Spec Film / 001

Brew — Metric

Macro to three-quarter to overhead, jump cuts only, lettering held exact across every angle.

Spec Film / 002

Omega — Speedmaster Study

Macro cinematography and motion design across the chronograph mechanism.

Form Study / 003

Chrome Hearts — Form Study

Material forward direction and hand built object choreography.

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Work shown is produced in house for portfolio purposes, not commissioned by or affiliated with the brands depicted.

August Tietjen Los Angeles
02 / The Maker

I'm August Tietjen.

Creative Ad Director Los Angeles

I started this because I kept watching brands I admired get sold like spec sheets. Years of someone's life, flattened into case diameter and movement type.

Direction, motion, edit, and grade all stay under one roof. The cut you approve is the cut that ships, with nothing lost in a handoff between people who never spoke to you.

Every project opens the same way. I ask why you started the brand, and most founders tell me nobody has asked before. The answer is almost always the film.

Est. 2024 Based Los Angeles Focus Independent & micro brands Scope Direction, motion, edit, grade
03 / Services

How this works.

i.

Origin

A 30 minute call that opens with why you started the brand. You talk, I take notes, and the film is usually sitting somewhere in the first ten minutes.

ii.

Direct

Treatment, shot list, references. Art direction gets signed off before a single frame is rendered, so nothing expensive gets discovered late.

iii.

Deliver

Films, cutdowns, and stills in the sizes your channels actually take, on a cadence built around your release date.

04 / Begin

Tell me why you started.

Send a message or book the call. Open by telling me how the brand began.

A

Send a Message

B

Schedule a Call

05 / Frequently Asked

A few answers, before you ask.

Depth beats breadth. Working only in horology means I already know the language, the buyer, and the channels, so you are not paying me to learn your category on your budget. Independents also have the thing large groups spend fortunes manufacturing: a real founding story, still close enough to touch.

Where the film opens. Most watch creative starts on the watch, which means it argues specs, and specs are the one thing a competitor can match by Friday. Mine opens in the world your brand came from and cuts to the product on a matched texture. Your origin is the only asset nobody can copy.

It depends on scope, so I quote it on the call once I know what you have coming up. You get a package name and one price, never an hourly rate and never a surprise. Monthly retainers are available for brands shipping all year.

I am a production shop, not a media buyer, so your ad performance depends on your targeting and your offer. What I control is whether the creative stops the scroll, and that is what the work shows. Early brand partners get pilot pricing, and in exchange I ask for the performance data, so the case study cuts both ways.

Paid social and Reels, your product and launch pages, your release emails, and the top of your own feed. Everything ships in 9:16 and 16:9 with short cutdowns built specifically for paid testing, so one shoot covers the whole release.

A single spot runs about two weeks from signed off treatment to delivery. A release package is three to four. Launch campaigns take four to eight depending on how much origin footage the story needs. Tell me your release date and I will work back from it.

You are exactly who this is built for. Some of the best watches being made right now come out of a spare room or a two person workshop, and that origin is far more filmable than a corporate heritage department. Small brands also move fast, which means we can go from call to camera without a committee.

Your brand already has an origin. Almost nobody films it.

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