Why We Made a Watch Case Out of Bananas, Hemp and Bacteria (Yes, Really)

A few months ago, someone on our team went looking for a decent watch case — something to actually keep their watch in, not just toss it in a drawer with the loose change. What they found was the same thing you'll find if you search for one right now: rows and rows of "vegan leather" boxes that are really just plastic dressed up in a nicer name, or genuine leather ones that don't sit right with a brand built around not harming things.

So we didn't buy one. We made one.

The problem with almost every watch case out there

Here's the thing nobody really talks about — the box your watch lives in probably outlasts the trend cycle of three watches. It's not a small purchase, even when it feels like one. And yet it's usually made from whatever's cheapest to mould: PU leather that starts flaking within a year, hard plastic that will be sitting in a landfill long after everyone's forgotten which watch it held, or actual animal leather, which comes with its own baggage.

None of that sat well with us. If you've read anything else on this blog, you know Tessa's whole thing is choosing materials that don't leave a mark they can't take back. A watch case felt like the obvious next thing to fix.

So what's it actually made of

This part's a little unusual, so bear with us. The base material is bacterial cellulose — grown, not manufactured. Specific bacteria are fed a sugar-based solution and over time they produce a dense, fibrous cellulose mat. It sounds like something out of a lab (it kind of is), but the end material is strong, biodegradable, and doesn't touch a drop of petroleum.

On its own, though, bacterial cellulose needs a bit of backup. So we blended it with three plant fibres:

Banana fibre, pulled from the stem of the banana plant — the part usually thrown away after harvest.

Hemp fibre, because hemp grows fast, needs almost nothing from the soil, and adds real strength to whatever it's woven into.

Sisal fibre, the same tough plant fibre that's been used in ropes for centuries, now doing a quieter job holding a watch case together.

Put those four together and you get a material that isn't trying to imitate leather or plastic. It just looks and feels like itself — a bit textured, slightly different from piece to piece, because nothing about it came off an identical mould.

We're not pretending this is available on a shelf yet

This is where we should be upfront: you can't walk into a store and buy this today, and you can't even order it and have it show up next week. It's in pre-booking.

Here's why. A material that's grown rather than manufactured doesn't scale the way plastic does. You can't just speed up fermentation because a batch sold well. So the first run is small, made carefully, and reserved in advance — ₹999 to hold your place, which comes straight off the final price when you pay the rest. From when booking closes, it's about 8 to 12 weeks before it reaches you.

We know that's a longer wait than clicking "buy now" on a plastic case that ships tomorrow. But there's something to be said for waiting on something that was actually made properly, instead of just made fast.

Reserve your Tessa Watch Case →

A few things people have asked us

Is it actually sturdy enough to protect a watch, or is this more of a novelty piece? It's built to hold up. Every piece goes through quality checks before it ships, and bacterial cellulose composites are genuinely strong for their weight — the plant fibres woven in add further reinforcement rather than just decoration.

Why not just call it vegan leather like everyone else does? Because most "vegan leather" is polyurethane, which is plastic. We didn't want to solve one problem (animal leather) by creating another (more plastic). Nothing in this case is synthetic.

What happens after I pay the ₹999? You've secured a spot in the first production batch. That amount comes off your final bill — it isn't an extra charge on top.

Can I get this anywhere besides your website? Right now, no — it's only available through pre-booking on tessaworld.in. We're working on getting into physical stores across South India, so keep an eye on our Instagram if that matters to you.

If this is your kind of thing, you might like the rest of what we make

The watch case didn't come out of nowhere — it's part of a bigger habit we have of picking materials that don't cost the earth something to make. If you're curious, we also make reusable menstrual cups in medical-grade silicone, cork yoga mats harvested without cutting down a single tree, sturdy canvas tote bags meant to replace the dozen plastic ones sitting under your sink, and a few smaller everyday things like pocket tissues.

You can look through everything at our shop.

As for the watch case — it's a small run, and we mean that literally. If you want one, now's the time to say so.

Reserve yours for ₹999 →