Welsh-themed designs from talented watchmaker

That's not to say he has much spare time, as the math teacher fills his none teaching minutes with something unexpected.

The 31-year-old, who lives in Mold, has grown up with a passion for watches, and has now created his own.

The watch, designed and handmade by Jan, was fully funded on Kickstarter in 12 minutes (£10,000) and reached double the expected goal in under three hours. It is currently more than triple the original target. He will be delivering over 100 watches to 19 different countries around the world.

But let's dial it back to where it all began.

Jan, originally from Poland, moved to Wrexham at 13, attending Rhosnesni High School and Yale College, before moving on to study maths at Aberystwyth and a PGCE in mathematics in Chester.

The 50p watch that started the timepiece passion for Jan Sarnowsk.

At about 14-years-old, a friend of Jan's mum took him to a car boot sale, where he found an old watch.

He said: "I was fascinated. I paid 50p for it and I still have it now.

"It didn't work but over the summer I went to see my granddad, who was a very mechanical person.

"He explained to me how they worked and took me to a watchmaker to get it fixed. And that spiralled into research about watches ever since, becoming my biggest passion since I can remember."

First watch made by Jan Sarnowsk in 2011 at 17-years-old.

Jan, who does everything himself (occasionally with some help from his fiancee) from designing and assembling the watches to photography and marketing, also has his own collection of timepieces, currently more than 70. He admits: "I'm not very good at letting go of watches, I'm much better at buying than selling."

As a collector he's developed his own taste, admitting that taste can be expensive at times, resulting in him often buying broken watches he would then fix.

But he adds: "A watch is more than a thing to tell the time. It's about something you wear everyday, something you can pass on.

"I own watches that were worn by my grandfathers for 20 or 30 years of their life, and for me that's massive.

"It's something that accompanied someone I loved, everywhere they went, in whatever they did. It's a romantic connection with those watches."

Jan Sarnowski at work watchmaking.

The watch Jan has debuted is Y Derwydd (The Druid). The longest part of the process is also his favourite, the designing, before he assembles each watch individually. By the nature of the material of Y Derwydd, the dial is made from malachite, a type of stone, every watch will in turn be unique.

Jan, also head of Year 8 at the Maelor School in Penley, said: "This has been my passion since I was a child. I've been making watches for myself every few years, and then I got convinced to do this by a friend who owns a successful watch company.

"She saw this one and said 'this is the one you should offer to people', so I did. But I never expected it to even be half as successful as it turns out to have been.

Y Derwydd/The Druid watch, designed and made by Jan Sarnowski.

"Now my aim is to make Welsh-themed watches that are affordable. And I plan to service all the watches myself, in perpetuity for anybody who needs it. I'm making spares to keep these watches going as keepsakes.

"So hopefully one day it will be something someone does pass on after many years of wearing, looking good and still working well."

• If you would like your own Y Derwydd watch, you can find full details via the Kickstarter, which runs until 4pm on March 30. After this the watch will never be sold again, and Jan will move onto the next model. Visit: tinyurl.com/2vnhu3kr