Jason Lim founded Halios in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2008 as a one-person watch design studio. The brand name comes from the Greek word for 'sun' and the early catalogue centred on dive watches with vintage-influenced proportions: the Halios Tropik (a 39mm Submariner-style diver), the Holotype, and the Bluering. From the start the brand operated as a direct-to-consumer microbrand with very small production runs - typically a few hundred watches per release - and sold primarily through the brand's own website.
Through the 2010s Halios grew into one of the most-coveted microbrands globally on the strength of two design hits: the Seaforth (launched 2017), a 41mm dive watch with multiple dial colour options and an unusual depth rating choice (200m or 1000m, sold separately), and the Universa (2019), a smaller 38mm dressier diver. Both watches sold out within minutes of release; secondary-market prices climbed to 2-3x retail for the most-desired colour variants. The brand's response was to switch from first-come-first-served sales to a lottery allocation system, randomly selecting customers from a pool of registered interest.
Today Halios produces about 500-1,000 watches per year across the Seaforth, Universa, Fairwind (the brand's GMT, launched 2022), and the Puck (a beadblasted dressier interpretation, also 2022). The lottery system continues. Lim remains the sole employee; design, development, supplier management, customer service, and shipping are all handled personally. Movements are Seiko NH35 for entry-tier and modified Soprod or Sellita for higher-tier references; cases are CNC-machined in China to Halios specification with assembly in Vancouver.
