Aggie Team, SPGBK Watches, Sees Exponential Growth in National Retail Market
For many entrepreneurs, a successful business starts with an idea driven by passion and strategy. For Kwame Molden ‘09 and Major Maurice Davis ‘09, a lifetime of friendship has been the glue that makes their business, Spring Break (SPGBK) Watches prosper. The company is a luxury, designer watch brand built on the love of historically Black colleges and universities, and the culture of Fayetteville, North Carolina.
“My business partner, Maurice and I wanted the SPGBK Watches brand to represent a positive and fun college experience, and we believe our products are the perfect watch for spring break,” said Molden. “It was key that we built something that was rooted in education.”
The two Fayetteville natives have known each other for nearly 30 years from meeting in preschool, attending the same high school, becoming college roommates and now business partners.
While attending North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Davis received his B.S. in Sports Science and was commissioned in the U.S Army. Stationed in Fort Meade, Maryland, he remains active with the military and has been deployed three times within 12 years to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Molden graduated with a B.S. in Information Technology from North Carolina A&T and received his MBA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. For more than 10 years, his career has been focused on operational excellence, process improvement and information technology.
“When I attended grad school is when I started to realize I wanted to start a business, so I would call Maurice to share with him my ideas and dreams,” said Molden.
“When Kwame would call me, I was still deployed overseas in Iraq, and I honestly didn’t have any hesitations about what he was sharing. I strongly believed in the vision of the business and the two of us invested equally in the company,” said Davis.
In 2016, the business partners launched SPGBK Watches online and continued to grow the business by launching new additions every month. The brand is known for its colorful collections and the signature bold neon green watch.
Of note, all of the watches in the product line represent and are symbolic of places in Fayetteville as a way to pay homage to their hometown.
“We wanted to design watches that were more affordable and much cooler,” Molden said.
In 2020, during the height of the pandemic and the spark of the Black Lives Matter movement, national brands sought products created by African American entrepreneurs.
SPGBK Watches secured a deal first with Nordstrom then leveraged its products with other major retailers. Its products are now in more than 200 national retailers such as Belk, Nordstrom, and Macy’s.
In February 2022, SPGBK Watches will be available for purchase in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Design Store.
“Having our products in national retailers is evidence of the high quality and sophistication of SPGBK Watches,” said Davis.
SPGBK Watches is working to launch a storefront, become a staple in the Black community, and advocate for HBCUs.
To learn more about SPGBK Watches, please visit www.spgbkwatches.com.
