Summer 2015 — Avantist is incorporated in Singapore, home to the world’s most adventurous and sophisticated watch collectors
Spring 2016 — First watchmaking relationships established at Baselworld, the most important industry trade fair of the year
Summer 2016 — Strong partnerships formed with some of the watch world’s best design and manufacturing companies, who share the progressive and customer-centric values of Avantist
Avantist founder Keeran Janin meets with tennis legend Martina Navratilova for the first time at Wimbledon, who quickly embraces the idea of sharing her story with people who find her an everyday inspiration
Avantist receives the commission of a lifetime from a small group of business leaders from Brunei: Build a watch worthy of the world’s wealthiest and most famous watch collector, the Sultan of Brunei, that can be presented to him on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee celebrations
Summer 2017 — The Avantist Martina Navratilova Legend Series is launched at Wimbledon
Autumn 2017 — Avantist presents the Sultan of Brunei with a personalised tourbillon wristwatch designed entirely around his life and personal preferences
Throughout his Golden Jubilee celebrations, attended by world leaders and industry titans, the Sultan of Brunei wears his Avantist wristwatch
Our History
HistoryCraftsmanship
Avantist captures a moment in time with the art of Swiss-watchmaking.
- Made from titanium and stainless steel for lightness.
- Its movement, a 21-Jewel automatic calibre based on the ETA-2892 to ensure extreme precision and reliability.
- Materials from an iconic moment in history showcased in a Swiss-made Avantist dial, set beneath a toric sapphire crystal.
Our Founder
FounderKeeran Janin was born in the Sultanate of Brunei in 1981. He spent large parts of his childhood in Brunei and Singapore, among communities that strongly valued fine watchmaking and craftsmanship.
His educational background is in technology, which he uses to inform Avantist’s engagement and understanding of the new digital generation of customers. His first professional forays were in the area of jewellery and jewellery design, prompted by his early childhood interest in mineralogy. As a result, his leadership of Avantist is always defined by the significance placed on the wristwatch as a design object. In Keeran’s early adult life, he travelled frequently to Geneva, Switzerland, where his family was based at the time. Despite his years immersed in the horologically mature countries of his youth, it was his time in Geneva that ignited his deeper curiosity and interest in fine watchmaking.
One of his most vivid memories of this time is of walking down a street in Geneva with his father, and passing a watch retail boutique. As his father asked, jokingly, when Keeran planned to buy him a watch as a present, Keeran responded, “One day, I’ll make you one.”
Today, through Avantist, Keeran Janin aims to transmit the same spirit of youthful ambition and fulfilment to everyone who comes to the brand.
Avantist is a brand of personal stories, and Keeran works to bring each Avantist customer into the ongoing journey of the brand. He says, “Every watch we make comes with a warranty, but the real warranty is not the card that comes in the box. The real warranty is my phone number, which I give to every customer, and the assurance that I will remain available and connected to them at every step of their Avantist journey.”