Independents To Watch: How Papar Watch Co’s Anillo Unfolds a Personal Vision of Design
In a world of templated microbrands, Papar stands out by putting real life at the center of the design.
“I just think the lens needs to be shifted a little bit that [watches are] not unnecessary. It’s an opportunity to show personality. It’s an opportunity to show a deeper understanding of what functional design means. They are completely necessary.”
I don’t usually like to start an article with a quote. It feels like cheating, or at least lazy writing. But this one was too good to pass up. That’s Emily Blank, one half of the husband-and-wife duo behind Papar Watches, a brand I’m hesitant to call a microbrand, not because it doesn’t fit, but because that term has lost almost all meaning.
A few months ago, I had the privilege of sitting down with Emily and her husband Josh to talk about their debut release: the Anillo, a 36mm GMT with a sector dial, a lot of personality, and even more story. And while the watch itself is compelling, original, wearable, functionally clever it’s the emotional layering behind every detail that makes it resonate. It feels like a reminder that watches aren’t just tools or accessories, they’re little autobiographies.
The Story Behind the Fold
What struck me most about Papar Watches is that Joshua and Emily actually followed through on the fantasy so many collectors entertain. What if I had the keys to the castle? What if I could make a watch from scratch? They didn’t just make a watch, they made one rooted in their life, family, and worldview. The result is a design language that feels cohesive and personal in a way that’s increasingly rare.
Josh, a lawyer, and Emily, a creative director in tech, split their time between Mexico and the Berkshires. Josh had always been a watch guy, but one day they paused and looked around at their life. Between the mountains of Mexico, the quiet forests of the Berkshires, the deep well of culture and history they both carried, the wide-eyed curiosity of their two daughters, and their shared love of travel, they had a thought: What if we put all of this into a watch? The brutalist architecture of Mexico, the rhythms of their family life, the landscapes that shaped them. What if that could all be transcribed into a single object? The result was the Anillo.
The final tip of inspiration came from their daughters, folding paper airplanes. That simple act became the genesis of the Anillo’s folded, architectural bezel and ultimately the name of the brand itself, Papar. Or more precisely, a blend of the Spanish words papel (paper) and doblar (to fold). “We were watching our daughters make paper airplanes,” Josh said, “and something about it just clicked.”
The more we spoke about the watch, their story, the more it all made sense. They’re not watch people trying to create a brand. They’re people creating something meaningful that just happens to tell time.
And it comes through in so many aspects of the watch design, all the way to the smiley face on the back of the watch, a connection between the founding couple. “There’s a smiley face on the back of the watch,” Josh said, “along with the word eon. It means an indefinite period of time, but it’s also the initials of Emily and our daughters, Olivia and Noah. That felt like a really fun confluence of terms.” It’s these kinds of Easter eggs that make the Anillo feel like more than just a design, it feels like a keepsake.
Alongside the engraved smiley face and “eon” on the caseback, there’s a bold engraving that takes up most of the space: a simplified reinterpretation of the logo for San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. It isn’t subtle, but it’s not meant to be. It’s another personal nod from the Blanks, a visual reminder of the places and meaning they’ve poured into this watch.
The Anillo: Brutalism Meets Warmth
At its core, the Anillo is a 36mm GMT powered by a Miyota 9075 movement. It comes in two flavors: a stainless steel version and a rose gold PVD-coated version, the latter inspired by a Patek Philippe they spotted in Tokyo. Paired with a grey sailcloth strap, it has just the right amount of contrast to balance the warmth of the case with the industrial lean of the dial.
It wears compact but with intention measuring 43mm lug to lug, 12.1mm thick, and very much on the wrist but never overbearing. The sector dial adds intrigue, laser-cut with a moon-shaped second time zone display that shifts in color, purple to orange to red, as time passes. It’s the kind of detail you notice slowly, then can’t unsee.
And then there’s the case. Let’s just say this: I don’t care what category you want to drop it into… brutalist, modernist, avant-garde. It’s original. The folded bezel has structure and weight without feeling bulky, and it’s unlike anything else I’ve seen in this price range or category. “Mexico has a really rich collection of brutalist architecture,” Josh said, “and that was definitely a big source of inspiration when I was creating the watch.”
If I had to nitpick, it would be the crown. It’s a screw-down design to ensure the 100 meters of water resistance, which means you’ll need to unscrew it each time you want to set the time or adjust the GMT. It feels a bit small in the fingers, slightly undersized compared to the case, but its shape does help. The contour makes it easier to grip and turn, even if the proportions aren’t ideal.
Personal Design in a World of Templates
We’ve seen a flood of new watch brands in the last few years, many with similar silhouettes, spec sheets, and safe design choices. The Anillo doesn’t play that game. It’s not just designed, it’s lived in. Every detail feels intentional, shaped by lived experience rather than market research.
When I interviewed Thomas Flemming and Torsti Laine last year, two “watchmakers” on very different ends of the spectrum, I saw the same thing: deeply personal visions driving what they create. Flemming, young and hungry with a dream to start his own company. Laine, a finishing wizard trained under Voutilainen, crafting one-man masterpieces.
And now, the Blanks, Emily, a designer from big tech; Josh, a lawyer, with a design that, in its own way, brings soul back into watchmaking. We throw around phrases like “every watch tells a story” all the time, but in this case, it’s actually true. Not a manufactured narrative pulled from a press release, but a story that’s deeply and genuinely tied to the Blanks themselves. There’s something profoundly refreshing, and honestly, beautiful about that.