The BlumSafe Origin Story and Our Philosophy
I was a casual watch collector when I conceived of and launched BlumSafe in 2016 (note: watch collecting always starts casually). Nearing the end of a successful career in finance, I became a bit obsessed with coming up with a solution to secure my watches in a manner and at a price point not offered in the marketplace.
This built-in, wall safe specifically designed for watch collectors has begat a family of US-designed and manufactured safes, secure display cabinets and related concealment furniture. Due to our product line’s unique form factor and innovations, over the course of time we have grown and attracted a broader set of customers beyond my watch collecting brethren — people seeking to protect and display a broader range of other valuables and collectibles.
But I digress — back to watches, where it started (this is an “origin story”, after all).
I didn’t know how large my collection would grow and evolve. I liked displaying my watches to admire and appreciated easy access. However, I was painfully aware that even in the most secure of households, an expensive watch left on the dresser in a glossy rosewood winder could easily disappear in the presence of otherwise trusted individuals –like a housekeeper, a plumber or even your teenager’s visiting friend. Not to mention burglars.
I also liked the ability to swap out my watches daily, depending upon my mood or activities, or who I was meeting with (e.g., keep it simple and not extravagant when meeting with commercial bankers). The use of watch winders would keep my watches “ready”, and designing this as a built-in wall or cabinet safe for my dressing room made my watches easily accessible — easy access that my out-of-the-way, floor-mounted safe did not provide.
Our founder is a “value-oriented”, self-made man, and a tinkerer, who does not like spending money needlessly.
Balancing easy accessibility, winder technology and security, I decided that a built-in wall safe was the way to go — but it had to be deeper than normal wall safes in order to accommodate watch winders. So I started shopping for deep wall safes that fit these characteristics, and at a price that was reasonable for the product delivered. The category virtually did not exist.
I was dismayed by the high cost and imperfect solutions that were available on the market for both casual or committed watch collectors and felt that it made little sense for a watch owner to pay a minimum of $5,000, $10,000, $20,000 or more for a watch winder safe — money that could instead be put towards purchasing that next Rolex, Grand Seiko, Vacheron Constantin, Sinn, Bulgari or perhaps a more exotic novelty, like a Ressence, that I had my eye on (no, I have never developed an interest in Pateks, and blew my chance to get at a reasonable price the one boutique edition AP I really liked, six or seven years ago – he who hesitates is lost). And anyway, none of them were available in a wall safe solution.
So I had to build a wall safe myself. But what about winders?
I had noticed over the past decade that the Boxy brand had been very successfully selling a highly reliable, affordable and modular watch winder with a high quality, belt drive Mabuchi motor. The uniquely modular nature of the Boxy winder also gave me the ability to customize my safe as my collection grew (do our collections ever shrink?) and to individually set winder settings for each watch. I felt that most watch owners would feel the same way I did, and decided to make Boxy part of this creation.
As I completed my product due diligence, I concluded that if I distributed our product with a direct-to-customer web-based sales approach, my unique, deep wall safe could be manufactured and sold for significantly less money than the very expensive, predominantly free-standing safe solutions currently on the market.
The steel door BlumSafe was born, which was followed by the display door BlumSafe. This was my youngest son’s idea, who suggested, quite rightly, that a lot of potential customers were satisfied with their home security versus the outside world, and wanted to enjoy looking at their stuff with their friends, while still maintaining a level of protection. And after our display door BlumSafe came our heavy duty Class B Burglary fireproofed BlumSafe Professional and our range of unique concealment products (the Electronic Screen, The Mirror, and the Concealment Cabinet), and related accessories.
As we have grown, we are constantly improving the quality, design and adaptability of our safes to new uses. In that regard, in 2021 we brought safe production onshore to the US in North Carolina and Minnesota, resulting in our feeling better about our products and ourselves (while also enhancing sustainability). Finally, an important part of our company DNA is to strive to provide you with the best and most honest customer service possible, treating you as we would want to be treated.
We will always try our best.
