Liam Gebauer, 15, will head into his sophomore year at Steamboat Springs High School with a backpack full of books and a head full of visions of what his new startup watch company can become.

“I think I’ve always had that in the back of my head,” Gebauer said. “Being an entrepreneur, and creating my ideas, doing my own thing.”

He said the idea of building his own unique watch brand — an elegant line of analog watches that feature a classic look — came while visiting the town of Milan while traveling with his family in northern Italy last year.

“I wanted to see what time it was without checking my phone, so I spent 300 euros of my own money on a Seiko at a store there. When I got back to Steamboat, I decided to start building a watch brand to mark the moments that matter,” Gebauer said.

He believes that the one-of-a-kind watches featuring wood faces and traditional rotating hands will become popular gifts for those looking to mark special moments including landmark birthdays, graduations, holidays and anniversaries.

Gebauer said the watches offer a chance to break away from the technology that has come to define our lives. He was tired of looking at his phone to see what time it was, only to be distracted by countless messages.

“Every time I checked my phone, I just kept getting distracted by all these notifications,” Gebauer said. “I was like, this needs to stop, because every time I check the time — boom, 10 minutes have flown past.”

Gebauer also fell in love with the beauty and craftsmanship of the watches, and when he returned to the United States — and had conversations with friends about watches — he began to realize that there was a demand in his age group for watches.

Fueled by his passion for watches and business, Gebauer began a quest to develop his own unique brand. He reached out to several manufacturers before settling on a Japanese company that is currently working on samples for Gebauer that will arrive later this summer. The young entrepreneur will then launch a Kickstarter campaign later this fall in hopes of generating enough capital to complete an initial run of 300 watches in late-November or December. Those watches will be available for delivery in early 2027.

What matters in your community, delivered right to your inbox.

Sign up at SteamboatPilot.com/newsletters

The initial order will be divided into three watch models named after the woods they are created from. Those models include the Hinoki, crafted from the tan- to white-colored wood native to central and southern Japan; the Ebony, crafted from a dense black–brown hardwood; and the Padauk, crafted from an exotic hardwood known for its vibrant red-orange color and durability.

All the watches will feature a stainless steel wristband and water-resistant casing packaged in a simple, classic design. Gebauer said because the watch faces are crafted from natural wood, the colors will change over time with each watch taking on its own unique appearance.

Gebauer became the youngest person ever to be accepted into the Routt County Economic Development Partnership High Country Accelerator program. He completed that program when he made a presentation at the Boat Launch Celebration on June 12 at the Steamboat Social Club. Twenty-four startups applied for this year’s spring session that was hosted by the RCEDP and ran April through June. John Bristol, RCEDP executive director, said the application process was competitive and that Gebauer was among the top applicants.

“It’s certainly not the norm,” Bristol said. “He certainly wowed people last Friday at the Boat Launch where everybody presented their pitch. He had a great presentation, and I had several folks come up to me afterwards that said it was exciting to see. He’s quite the young entrepreneur, lots of energy, and it will be interesting to see where he goes with this business and whatever he may get involved with down the road.”

Gebauer said his experience in the group helped him realize that all the entrepreneurs in the cohort are in the same boat — regardless of age — and that the adults he worked with are not that different from him.

This journey has provided Gebauer with the opportunity to share his passion for high-quality watches and chase his dream of creating a business venture of his own. The journey also has been an educational opportunity that will benefit him for the rest of his life.

“If (the startup) doesn’t work out as I want it to, I think there will still be some success,” Gebauer said. “I’ve learned about revenue chains, the legal stuff of LLCs, and just talking to the manufacturer and talking to people — I’ve gotten better at that through the course of this accelerator. So I just think if I take nothing else away from this business, it will be a learning experience, and I think that is really cool.”