Our story

Our founder’s journey began in 2010, where military life taught him that reliable tools and time and can be the difference between life and death.

After having multiple watches die or break while in the Middle East, his frustration sent him searching for a watch that could withstand the daily pressure of his life and look discrete enough to blend into civilian populace-he found that nothing.

As he engineered and sketched out our first timepiece, The Vanitas, Arena Timepieces was born.


With a mission to create watches that would serve as reliable tools, combining functionality with refined design, built to withstand harsh environments and everyday life, these timepieces are a reflection of purpose and precision.

The name Arena originates from the Latin word arena, meaning sand. In a lot of latin translations, arena referred specifically to the sand they used to soak up the blood of the men that died fighting in what we now refer to as an Arena. 

The brand vision is heavily inspired by Vanitas art, a genre of still life paintings that emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries and haunting reminders of life's impermanence and mortality. The still life paintings often featured objects like crumbling sculls, withering flowers, and fading timepieces, which at the time were made using sand. 

To us, sand serves as a symbol of the unforgiving nature of time and the arenas of life’s challenges. 

We aren't in the business of beating time by pumping out fast, cheap products for a quick buck.

Here, we honor time, value precision, quality and deliberate decisions, which often requires one to slow down. 

Our timepieces are built for quiet professionals who demand reliability and refinement, whether in rugged environments or formal settings.


the story

DUST

TO

DUST

The brand

Vanitas paintings are a genre of still-life art that emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries, exploring the themes of life, death, and human vanity. These works often featured symbols like skulls, hourglasses, and decaying fruit to remind viewers of life’s impermanence and the futility of earthly possessions. By juxtaposing beauty and decay, they served as meditations on mortality and the fleeting nature of time, urging individuals to reflect on their purpose and embrace the present.

Vanitas

VANITAS