Why Every Rifino Watch Is Named for a Real Place

I did not want to name these watches after made-up words that sound vaguely Italian. Every name on this site is a real place, and every place means something specific to me.

Rionero and Vieste are the easiest to explain — they are my family's actual paternal and maternal hometowns, 110 miles apart in Basilicata and Puglia. My grandfather's people are from the volcanic highlands around Rionero. My grandmother's side is from the Adriatic coast near Vieste. Those two watches are paired together in the La Famiglia bundle for exactly that reason.

Misano is named for the circuit on Italy's Adriatic coast, Lampredi for the engineer behind Italy's first V12. Monopoli is a seaport town on the Adriatic where locals fish and the Puglia region vacations. Cortina Chrono is named for Cortina d'Ampezzo, deep in the Dolomites, where early aviators once navigated the alpine valleys by sight, long before radio guided them.

None of this is marketing copy written after the fact. I picked the places first, then built watches that felt right for them. That's also why every watch still in the lineup is one I'd actually wear myself — if a name did not earn its place, the watch did not either.

— Matt