Interior Design, Photography & Watches | Jens Barslund
Beloved Watch recently had the pleasure of chatting with Jens Barslund about his passion for watches, photography and interior design. Jens is a retired Danish interior designer and photographer currently residing in Copenhagen.
What was your first luxury watch?
"My first luxury watch purchase was a Rolex Sea-Dweller 16600 in stainless steel. This was my first luxury watch. Of all the places, I bought my Rolex Sea-dweller on E-bay. There were of course many alarm bells ringing because this is not the right place when it comes to really expensive watches.
I bought it from a guy in London and at that time had a brother-in-law living in London who could verify the watch before I pressed OK on the keyboard ... I still have it but do not wear it as often. I've started to go with watches that are not so thick and robust."
What originally inspired you to create men fashion content with watches as the focus?
"I have always been fascinated by watches, I think it is amazing what one can design within a circle and 40mm diameter. It is almost even more fascinating how the many different movements are manufactured.
I am a trained designer and photographer, so it has been very obvious for me to use the watch as a reference. When I fall in love with a watch - my focus is clearly on the dial design and the materials around it."
What is your color selection process? I notice you sometimes stick with one color and other times discover an oddly satisfying marriage of a 3-5 color pallet.
"Nice that you noticed my approach to colors. I love colors and like when the expression around the watch stands out clearly. I use what I call monochrome colors (Monochrome : When an image is composed of one color or values of one color) - that is, when the color theme plays over a color, then you get what most people like and which makes your eye calm down."
"What I like to do, on the other hand, is compose colors with great contrast, like pink and green, then it starts to get "dangerous" and then I get a lot of dislikes on for example Tudor Watch club and Instagram. I like to push people's perception of the ordinary .. -and to be honest I do not love the safe choice .. in fact I hate everything that is mainstream."
How does lighting play a role in showing off a specific watch? Do you photograph indoors or outdoors?
"I shoot with my Canon Eos D5 and always take my pictures indoors and I always use daylight."
Which passion came first?
"My passions are photography, watches and fashion. My love for watches actually began before I became a photographer. I do not want to call myself a fashion man, but I like when things are different from the ordinary. I don't really know what came first - I think it all comes together."
What advice would you give someone new to photography?
"My best advice would be to take as many pictures as you possibly can and then find your style and not be afraid to experiment."
Favorite brand?
"I find it very difficult to choose because there are really many good watch companies. If forced to choose, I think my choice would be Tudor. I'm also pretty crazy about Nomos, Oris, Longines and of course Rolex - but I think Tudor is doing a lot of good things right now - and so is Longines. especially with their new Spirit - Take a moment to check out this new model with blue dial."
Perfect 3 watch collection?
If you could only wear one case diameter moving forward which would you select?
Do you see watches being apart of your life indefinitely?
