Our vision
behind the machine.

Why cross out Prototype?

When I was designing our first watch, I kept wanting to change things. Then change them again. One refinement led to another until the watch in front of me was almost completely different from the one I had started with. That process became part of what Mercier stands for: being willing to question your own design, even when you thought you had it figured out.

In that sense, every model is a living prototype. Each version is a finished watch, but it does not have to be the final word on that design. What I learn from making it, wearing it, and hearing from the people who own it can shape what comes next. The goal is not change for its own sake. It is to make the next version better.

I also never wanted our first watch to become a box I could not step outside. Mercier does not have to belong to one style, one case shape, or one design language forever. The name leaves room to explore a different direction when there is a reason to, without pretending every watch needs to be a variation of the last.

The strike-through holds those two ideas together. This watch has moved beyond its prototype stage. It is ready to be yours. But the thinking behind it is still allowed to evolve. Finished does not have to mean finished evolving.

There are personal references tucked into the mark, too: a nod to Alex Mercer in the video game Prototype (say our name wrong and you might hear it), and the crossed-out identity symbolism that inspired the line. The design philosophy gives those references a purpose of their own.