HISTORY
2014: The Birth of a Dream
The company’s founder Nico Moreno, a physicist and a manufacturing professional took on the dream of establishing Horology in the Philippines at 24 years old. The dream started with his keen interest in Philippine History and in the learning that private labels had existed in the Philippines as early as the 1880’s.
2015: A Learning Launch
Ibarra was launched in November 2015 after a year of conceptualization and planning. The company started with quality quartz watches that carried the brand’s identity. This was the first step in the founder’s commitment to develop horology in the Philippines.
2016: Taking Inspiration
After a year of learning in the industry, Moreno opened the Ibarra’s assembly workshop in Quezon City, Metro Manila. In the same year, Ibarra released its first Filipino-assembled automatic timepiece, The Plaridel. The Plaridel took inspiration from classic timepieces which Moreno redesigned to accommodate features that fit the specific category in the Philippines.
2017: The Sun and the Stars
2017 proved to be a breakthrough year where Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte wore the Plaridel. Known to be a watch collector, the Philippine President was seen wearing the timepiece in Davao City. This allowed the brand to gain popularity in the market as it was also chosen to be the timepiece of the ASEAN 50 Special Celebration which the Philippines hosted. This gave Ibarra the opportunity to represent the nation.
In the same year, Ibarra also released the Salvador World Timer which became the highest grossing Spark campaign with The Spark Project to date.
2018: Bayanihan
With the increased popularity and steady growth of Ibarra, invitations for collaborations came. One of the brand’s most significant collaborations was with Beebeelee’s One Box One Marawi Campaign. The online platform prides itself as the ecommerce platform for the Filipino. Together with Ibarra, a special Maranao-inspired collection was released to promote our Filipino Maranao Culture and he help communities affected by the Marawi Siege in Mindanao.
Ibarra also collaborated with Project Saysay, a non-profit organization that forwards Philippine History through Art and Education. The brand was involved in the production of portraits used for educational materials and posters that were distributed to various schools and cultural centers through the help of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
2019: Making History
For its 125th Founding Anniversary, the Pilar Masonic Lodge, one of the oldest Masonic Lodges in the Philippines and the primary lodge of the Philippines’ First President Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, partnered with Ibarra to release a special timepiece. This started a historic year for Ibarra.
In June 2019, Ibarra took a leap of faith by entering a higher category with its first heritage timepiece - the Sucesos Mechanical Hand Wind. The timepiece is a modern recreation of Dr. Jose Rizal’s wrist watch which was kept safe by the Rizal family for generations. With their permission, the timepiece made through the partnership of Ibarra with the Order of the Knights of Rizal for the Jose Rizal Model Student of the Philippines (JRMSP) Academic Awards Program.
The Sucesos is Ibarra’s first luxury timepiece that featured a Swiss Mechanical Movement and a case finished in the Philippines. This Filipino-assembled timepiece is Ibarra’s first creation that conducted a manufacturing process in the Philippines.
Ibarra ended the year on a high note by becoming the official timepiece of the 30th Southeast Asian Games that was hosted by the Philippines. 2019 had proven to be a year of full of history for Ibarra.
