For Simon Wolf V, CEO of Wolf 1834, preserving legacy is everything
As the fifth generation custodian of his family's box making business (the finest in Europe for nearly 200 years), Wolf chats with Esquire about the importance of legacy, and why a Wolf is the only way to protect your watch

WHEN I MEET WITH Simon Philip Wolf V, the CEO of watch box-making business Wolf 1834, on the upper floors of the Four Seasons in Sydney, heâs wearing a watch he found at a flea market. Itâs a Marvin from the 1960s, fastened with a shiny leather strap that, he guesses, probably costs more than the mottled yellow watch itself. âBut I love it, and I want to put it somewhere really safe,â he says. âThat’s the connection we’ve been able to make with our customer: that if I’m going to store something I love somewhere other than my sock drawer, it’s going to go in a Wolf.â
As the Roman numeral in his name suggests, Wolf is the fifth-generation custodian of his familyâs company, which has been making boxes to store watches and jewellery since 1834. His familyâs origins trace back to Hanau, Germany (a small town east of Frankfurt), where his silversmith great-great grandfather, Philipp Wolf I, had set up a business producing boxes for traders. Finding success among the merchant class, the subsequent generations expanded into Sweden and then eventually the United Kingdom for manufacturing, with each succeeding generation contributing innovations that would place the family as Europeâs premier box maker. Wolfâs grandfather, for instance, created the ballerina music box.
Like any dynasty, thereâs a natural calling to follow in the footsteps of your forebears. And in Wolfâs case, it was a well beaten path. In his early 20s, at the request of his father, Wolf was sent to the factory in Wales to learn the ropes and gain an appreciation for the craft. His learnings on the ground provided the necessary perspective on why a company like his familyâs survived for so long, but also the time and distance to develop a taste for what he could achieve himself. All the while, Wolf admits, things werenât so rosy for the business.
âIn the â90s, we were pretty much out of business for a while because we were forced to close our factories in Sweden and England,â he tells me. âBut with my father and his tenacity â and I was still quite young with my get up and go attitude â we just kept going.â His fatherâs example inspired his own vision for the brand: a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial grit that, Wolf believes, is whatâs kept the company around for nearly two centuries, and, indeed, at the top of its game.

In a few hours, Wolf will host a party celebrating his lineage. Itâs on the roof of the Museum of Contemporary Art where he will also unveil the brandâs latest collection to the Asia-Pacific market: five limited edition watch and jewellery boxes, individually designed to represent what each generation of Wolf brought in their 190-year history.
Thereâs a silver plated box for Philipp I, then a brown trunk-style jewellery box for travelling matriarch âIdaâ (the wife of Philipp II who took over the reins after he passed away). The third, a wooden music box, he designed in collaboration with his wife, a textile designer, who conceptualised the embroidered Swan Lake mise-en-scène with a ballerina turning in the centre. (At the London anniversary party at the Royal Opera House, 300 in attendance, Wolf tells me, gleefully, âImagine this box human-size and me coming out of it.â) The âPhilippâ, after Wolfâs father, is designed like a briefcase of the 70s, the kind youâd see in the hand of a Wolf of Wall Street-type.
And itâs perhaps Wolfâs edition that takes the greatest leap: a series of watch winders constructed in earth-tones of apple leather. Itâs the culmination of what Wolf had set out to achieve when he assumed the reins in the late 90s: to bring a competitively innovative brand into the 21st century.

His edition, titled ‘Earth’, features winders that run on a 24 hour cycle, allowing activity for six hours and then inactivity for 18 hours. In his line of work, this thoughtful design element should seem intuitive for the highly-specialised world of watchmaking. But there was a gap in the market, which Wolf quickly filled. To double down, Wolf seemingly perfected his winders to be the smallest of its kind. âIâm highly competitive,â he admits. âI now know that for someone to come out with a smaller watch winder that travels is actually going to be incredibly difficult because I made mine as small as possible. And I don’t think anyone else can beat us [at that].â
On a regular day, Wolf is in his woodwork studio at his home in the English countryside, a scene probably not too dissimilar from Philipp I in the 19th century. But embarking on a world tour that will next bring him back to the US (where he spent 22 years cultivating the brandâs presence in Los Angeles), Wolf thought it was high time to not only introduce his singular designs to the Australian market, but the legacy behind them. âWe are creating something where you will be safeguarding your jewellery, your watch inside. Thatâs what we make for you, and that is protecting your legacy.â
Learn more about Wolf 1834’s 190th anniversary collection here.
Related:
The summer of dress watches is coming
The watchmaker empowering the next generation of environmental heroes