This is
Our Journey
From a small workshop in Brooklyn to a purpose built 90,000sqft factory we’ve come a long way in almost half a century, assembling a melting pot of over 100 craftspeople all dedicated to creating our bold designs, applying our unique finishes and building a unique product just for you.
Back in ‘76
When Herman Abel formed Watermark, it was out of a passion for decorative metal finishing – a passion that still remains at the heart of the company today. Learning from him, we’ve gone on to create our vast collection of finishes, some of which, we’re proud to say, still use his original secret formulas.
Our inspiration comes from the architectural details and engineering structures around us – we select elements that are infused into our designs, which are often created in partnership with the architects and designers of our famous borough.
Everything we make is finished in our factory with a refined surface and attention to detail that only hand skills can provide, resulting in a quality of product that has seen us selected by some of the most discerning eye’s across the world – from W Hotel, New York to The Ritz Carlton, Shanghai.
V8 Engineering
Everything we make is built to last. Here we take inspiration from the famous American V8 engine – over-engineering our products wherever we can to ensure durability. Where others make their spouts from 18mm pipe, we increase our wall thicknesses to give 21mm. Where others apply one layer of lacquer to their finishes we apply two. Where others supply single walled handshowers we build them with a second wall to ensure surface heat transfer is controlled.
All of the waste brass from our production is carefully collected for re-use and we’re proud that the product we produce can be recycled at the end of its lifespan with a much lower energy inputs than stainless steel.
Unlike others all of our products are built from solid brass. We take the more difficult decision to source this from lead-free stock, even though this is harder to work with, because we care about ensuring that our customers receive unsurpassed purity of water.
Skillset Preservation
Whilst we use advanced computer controlled tooling to help us produce many of the numerous screws and fixings that our products need, we also still use a lot of machines from way back.
These machines can only be operated by skilled craftspeople who’ve been working them from many years and know their idiosyncrasies. But our abilities and care of these machines brings with it advantages, allowing us to create surface textures and one off orders that others cannot offer.
From the lightest of touches to the steadiest of hands –finishing is a process that can only be learnt through time and dedication. Every component we make goes through a unique cycle of hand polishing, plating and spraying. Some of our finishes can take up to 2 weeks and 80 pairs of hands to create.
Sealed with our Signature
Our assemblers are our eyes – working in made-to-order production means they need to always be on the look out for tiny imperfections and take the time to fettle the countless sub-components into place before sending an order for operational testing.
We don’t just sample check here – every item we make must pass through a series of water and air pressure tests to ensure the structural integrity of the product and its valves. That’s why we ship all of our products in tissue paper rather than foam, as it helps us to absorb any remaining water droplets in the item during transit.
We dedicate this site to all of our skilled craftspeople, bought together through a shared passion for metalworking and the unique beauty that can be created by the human hand.
Thank you.