Woman to Watch® Jennifer Zhang

Jennifer Zhang had an idea in college that would eventually compel complete strangers to donate toward kickstarting her concept into a successful business.

Jennifer came up with the idea for Rotate Watches back in 2017. She was in the middle of college and began watchmaking as a hobby and fell in love with the practice, but not with the inefficiencies. At the time, no such kit existed so it was very difficult for her to learn. Between the lack of learning material, plethora of outdated suppliers, incompatible/broken pieces, and lengthy shipping times, it was very discouraging for beginner watchmakers.

Jennifer ended up creating the kit she wished she had when building that first watch. She developed it over the course of 2 years and after graduating college, she worked full-time in tech sales until she mustered up the courage to quit and launch Rotate Watches which offers all-in-one kits to build a mechanical watch.

"I launched Rotate officially via Kickstarter in October 2019. It ended up being a hit, raising over 600% of our goal at $91K. That gave us the momentum to get in publications like the New York Times and work with retailers like Touch of Modern, Brookstone, and Fry's Electronics."

Almost 2 years in, Rotate Watches continues to expand their product selection to 5 different watchmaking kits and 20+ add-ons and accessories. They are continuing to grow their global retail presence now and have some exciting products in store for the future.