the name

raconteur

Raconteur is a French word which translates into someone who excels at telling stories, a storyteller.

"For me, Raconteur is a tribute to the greatest adventurers and storytellers of our time- those who have helped us broaden our imagination and made us eager to discover and explore."
- Simon Heins Founder

the roaring twenties

hemingway

I have always been fascinated by history and particulary the 1920s. Here I find a lot of inspiration for my designs, and especially for the Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway lived during the 1920s, an era often referred to as the roaring twenties and most commonly defined by its exuberant decadence and artistic exploration. As a rugged explorer, Hemingway captured the very essence of what I wanted Raconteur to represent and inspired me to my very first watch design -
The Hemingway Automatic.

VOYAGES EXTRAORDINAIRES

JULES VERNE

Jules Verne was a great inventor and visionary. He set ideas and wrote about many important inventions and discoveries that we now cherish. He envisioned future inventions like submarines, planes, helicopters, and skyscrapers as well as the usage of hydrogen as an energy source. He also wrote about how to reach and explore the moon, the north and south poles and the deep seas.

the great

visionary

Verne's scientific attention to detail, along with his sense of exploration and visionary thinking inspired my second collection. By fusing elements of the past with modern craftsmanship and machinery, I have tried to capture the spirit of Jules Verne’s literary worlds stretching from the bottom of the oceans to the moon and beyond.

amelia earhart

On June 1, 1937, Amelia Earhart took off from Oakland, California,
on an eastbound flight around the world. It was her second attempt
to become the first pilot ever to circumnavigate the globe.

an avation pioneer

Lady lindy

Amelia Earhart was an American aviator pioneer who set many flying records during her lifetime. She became the first woman and second person ever (after Charles Lindbergh) to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. In June 1937 she set out to circumnavigate the globe in a Lockheed 10E Electra together with flight navigator Fred Noonan. After more than 22,000 miles flewn they mysteriously dissapeared somewhere in the central Pacific Ocean. The plane wreckage was never found, and was officially declared lost at sea. Her disappearance remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.

earhart

who am i?

the founder

My name is Simon Heins. I’m born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, and have a strong passion for great watches, design, and photography.

In 2018 I decided to quit my job and embark on a journey to create my own independent watch brand: Raconteur.

With Raconteur I will always try to offer my vision of timeless horology. While I often let myself be inspired by the past, I always try to create something new, not just another homage.

To me, a watch is not just a tool, but a piece of jewelry that tells a story – A Raconteur.