by Brent Robillard

An engineer’s approach to watches

I don’t remember exactly when Robert Valli and I first started talking on Instagram earlier this year. It was one of those slow-burn conversations that might not ever have occurred. DMs, after all, don’t always make it through. But, some things are meant to be, I guess. We began talking watches and photography, of course. But that led quickly to conversations about life. And, in both of our cases, the heavier stuff—family members battling cancer. Those chats tend to cut through the noise pretty quickly.

Robert is not an easy person to summarize. Talking to him feels like stepping into a moving train of thought—fast, unfiltered, and constantly shifting direction. There’s very little separation between how he thinks, how he writes, and how he builds things. It’s all the same stream.

And, as it turns out, that stream is exactly what fuels Outcast Watches.

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A Life That Doesn’t Sit Still

Before getting into the watches themselves, it’s worth understanding the man—because Outcast makes a lot more sense once you do.

Robert describes himself as a “hyper-competitive control freak, with no sense of moderation, and an extreme tolerance for failure.” That line alone tells you quite a bit. But his background fills in the rest.

He grew up in Pennsylvania in a household where engineering and art coexisted—his father a mechanical engineer, his mother an artist. Precision on one side, creativity on the other. That duality shows up everywhere in what he does.

From there, things get… unconventional.

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Field biology. Living in a tent for six months on an Apache reservation. Dog sled racing at a competitive level—eventually winning championships and racing in Siberia. Designing firearms. Building and losing a crypto trading empire. Running SEO businesses. Living in Alaska in a one-room cabin.

Yeah… it reads like fiction. But it’s not.

There’s a pattern in all of it: build something, test it hard, break it, fix it, repeat.

That same loop sits at the core of Outcast.

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Watches as a Problem-Solving Exercise

Robert is very clear about one thing: he didn’t set out to make “another dive watch.” He set out to solve problems.

That might sound like a throwaway line, but it actually defines the entire brand.

Outcast won’t win over collectors with heritage cues or clever reinterpretations. And it doesn’t pretend to offer superior finishing techniques or dial artistry. Instead, it leans heavily into function—sometimes to the point where aesthetics take a back seat.

And honestly, that’s part of the appeal.

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The website itself tells you everything you need to know. It’s one of the most intuitive watch builders I’ve used. You can spec out cases, bezels (fixed or rotating), dials, hands, and layouts with a level of control that feels closer to configuring a piece of gear than buying a watch.

So, that’s exactly what I did.

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Living with the Vagabond

The watch I built was the Vagabond, fitted with a triple-purpose bezel. On paper, it’s a bit of a monster: a 12-hour index combined with both elapsed time and countdown scales.

On the wrist, it’s… busy.

There’s no getting around that. Between the bezel and the dial—Arabic numerals at the cardinal points, a full military-style minute track—the watch asks for your attention.

But the busyness is intentional. I asked for it, literally.

This is not a watch designed to be admired across a room. It’s meant to be used, read, and interacted with. The case feels solid, the components are straightforward, and the Seiko movement inside does exactly what you expect it to do—reliably, without fuss.

And then there’s the price. Most configurations land under $500 CAD. This is a watch for people who do things.

Outcast also offers rebates for those who serve—military, law enforcement, first responders. It’s part of the ecosystem Robert has built. And these individuals actually cue up.

The “Shooter Watch”

Our conversations eventually drifted into something I hadn’t expected at all: what Robert calls his “shooter watch”: The Marksman.

Now, I’ll be upfront—I’m not a firearms guy. I don’t hunt. My exposure to that world is mostly secondhand, with the occasional Jack Carr novel thrown in.

But this watch caught my attention.

Functionally, it’s designed to do three things:

• Estimate the distance to a target
• Convert angled wind into usable crosswind values
• Translate MIL to MOA when needed

I won’t pretend to fully understand the mechanics behind it. But the people who do seem to take it seriously.

The watch has gained traction among Army Rangers, with dozens already building their own configurations through the platform. One such customer wrote: “It’s a fitting name for snipers. We’re outcasted a lot in the Army. We love what you do, man. Your designs are awesome.” The President of the Sniper Association has even allowed Outcast to use its emblem on casebacks for members.

That, in turn, led to the launch of the Rangefinder Edition on Kickstarter—funded almost immediately.

Again, this isn’t about broad appeal. It’s about solving a very specific problem for a very specific group of people.

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An Engineer’s Watch, Through and Through

If there’s a single takeaway from spending time with Outcast, it’s this: these watches feel like they were built by someone who doesn’t really care whether you like them.

That might sound harsh, but it’s actually refreshing.

There’s no attempt to smooth over the edges or soften the concept for a wider audience. The watches are functional, sometimes to the point of excess. They can be visually dense. They won’t appeal to everyone.

But they don’t need to.

Robert’s entire life seems to orbit around iteration under pressure—whether that’s racing sled dogs, designing mechanical systems, or building businesses. Outcast is simply the latest expression of that pattern.

And in a space where so many brands are trying to tell the same story, there’s something compelling about one that doesn’t.

Final Thoughts

It’s often said that the watch world has room for everything—from high horology to tool watches to novelty pieces. Robert Valli sits somewhere slightly outside of those categories.

Outcast just builds what its founder thinks should exist.

And whether you fully understand every scale, function, or decision behind it… you can feel that.

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About the author

Brent Robillard is a writer, educator, craftsman, and watch enthusiast. He is the author of four novels. You can follow him on Instagram.

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