Profile
Anita Del Mar Morales Cotto
When we think about horology, anything related to it really, we typically picture one of a few areas in the world known for its abundance: Switzerland of course, a few other countries in Europe in the like of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (although She has left the european community a few years ago,) continental United States (why that is will make sense in a minute) and Asia, notably Japan and China. There are a few other parts of the world becoming known for watchmaking in the sense that there are the occasional microbrands heralding from there, for example Brazil and Mexico. But this far, we have rarely spoken about Puerto Rico—us the global watch community taken together—and only once on Mainspring when we took a deep dive into the Santurce Collection Picúa. Because of this review, I got to first chat with José Salas, the co-founder of the brand, who told me a lot about Santurce Collection and its broad community of watch enthusiasts, and then of his wife, partner, and co-founder of the brand, Anita del Mar Morales Cotto, a.k.a. Anita Salas.
Evidently, I ought to have my own chat with Anita as part of our series Women in Horology, for even before we scheduled the interview, I had the feeling that I would be in for a ride—as will you. As we will see, Anita is a multi-tasking professional who runs two businesses concurrently, her own law firm in Puerto Rico and Santurce Collection, the watch brand and the community organization which enlivens the island with watch meet-ups and through unique collaborations with popular brands. Whenever you hear of high-achiever women in this world, you most likely picture someone like Anita who gets more done the more she has to do, who invests tons of energy and time as a multi-industry lawyer and as a part storyteller part designer for Santurce, along with being an integral part of the enthusiast community she and José have built together over the years. And saying that Anita is a high-achiever is anything but a criticism, as evolving and making a hole for herself in numerous male-dominated roles takes a certain kind of woman to achieve.
Anita del Mar Morales Cotto
A Bonafide Watch Nerd
It is fair to say that so far, whenever we profile women on Mainspring, we are often met with the following story: she had a parent, grandparent, or good friend part of the watch community who got her interested in horology. Or a boyfriend and sometimes a husband who is a watch enthusiast and collector who, slowly but surely, gets her interested in these wrist-worn machines we so adore through Instagram posts or attending watch shows. Rarely, if ever, the protagonists from this series of articles were already watch nerds before meeting someone else who is, thus making them bonafide watch nerds on their own merit. One of the rare such women we’ve recently spoken about is Marcella Dolan, co-founder of Stella Watches, who got into watches through her professional career without the help of anybody, and it is also the case of Anita who started collecting watches for the right reasons before meeting José. Imagine how dreamy it is to start dating someone who you won’t have to convert to your passion because she already is as passionate as you are about the same thing. It is the opposite of a dime-in-a-dozen kind-of-situation.
So indeed Anita was a collector before meeting her future husband and her career of enthusiast started back in high school when she bought a Casio Calculator for two good reasons: first and foremost, because it was a darn practical timekeeping device to use and a legible one, which she needed to have because she was taking multiple courses at the same time and needed a precise time-measuring instrument to jump back and forth between them. Second, because she was drawn to its futuristic design which matched her deep interest in mangas and animes she consumed with great intensity growing up in Puerto Rico. Hearing that she bought her first watch herself, I was curious to know if watch collecting was running deep in her family’s blood because it is highly unusual to hear of any teenager buying their first watch with their own money; usually, they are gifted their first watch by a family member. But the answer to that was a big “no.” In fact, she grew up in a modest family who couldn’t afford anything that could be perceived as being superfluous, and Anita was in fact the first person in her family to buy watches, let alone collect them.
The “right” and “good” reasons for her watch collecting can be understood by looking at the why she started buying them: (1) because they were practical tools to keep track of time and stay organized; (2) for she was attracted to their design which spoke to her with great intensity. These are the opposite reasons as to why other women typically wear watches, generally those which we categorize as being “fashion” watches, for they are looking to accessorize an outfit. (I don’t believe this is stereotyping as it is something many women have shared with me over the course of this series of articles.) Since the Casio Calculator, Anita has worn watches everyday with great dedication, so much so that it is normal for her to get a noticeable watch-shaped untanned spot on her wrist, which she’s proud of. Thus before meeting José, she had a small collection of five watches which she proudly presented to him and which probably sealed the deal for the guy: a Seiko, a Swatch, a Bulova, a quartz Hamilton Khaki, and the Casio of course, which made up her collection which she thought was pretty cool for a woman to have in her early 20s.
What She Does Tells Us Who She Is
There is a piece of information we discussed a couple of paragraphs up which gives us a clue already as to who Anita is and how she got where she is now. Buying herself a practical and legible digital watch in high school in order to juggle multiple classes and make best use of her time indicates something unique about her: she gets shit done and she’s motivated. I will never be able to speak intelligently about how it was for Anita to grow up in a modest family in Puerto Rico, however I can say with a great sense of certainty, based on the Casio story, that she doesn’t let anyone or anything dictate how she should do things and live her life. Which brings us to talk about Anita’s career: she’s a lawyer and runs her own firm in Puerto Rico. She has multiple specialties through which she deals with a variety of clients and many big fishes: immigration law, international tax law, and corporate law, advising foreign corporations on establishing operations in the United States, mergers and acquisitions, and helping local companies hire international talent. While international tax law has historically been a male-dominated field, she never allowed that to discourage her from pursuing it as one of her areas of specialization.
Parallel to her debut as a watch collector in high school, and her need to get a practical tool to keep track of things, Anita, through her career as a multi-disciplinary lawyer, has to keep tight schedules and handle multiple tasks at once, however stay focused and disciplined to the task at hand. Which she demonstrated during our one-hour interview during which her phone rang a couple of times, I believe clients of hers, demanding her attention which she promptly ignored to continue our conversation. That does tell you something about how dedicated she is to whatever she puts her mind to. I was honestly surprised to hear that she runs her own law firm as I had already gotten the idea that she’s deeply involved with Santurce Collection (which we will discuss in a minute), which she is, proving once again that she wears multiple hats with professionalism and sheer dedication. What she likes about running her own law firm and co-managing Santurce is that both bring her different challenges and operate in different realms: as a lawyer everything she does is organized and precise; with Santurce, she allows herself to be more flexible and spontaneous.
Santurce Collection: Her Passion Project
How lucky any of us would be that our partner is also a proper watch nerd and not someone who we had to convert to become one? As we know, Anita started her watch collecting in high school a few years before she met José, who himself was an avid collector already. Quickly, they started sharing this niche passion which now connects them to all of us globally and which allowed Anita and José to create their own community in Puerto Rico. As we touched upon in my review of the Picúa, Santurce Collection is more than just a watch brand but is, above all else, a community organization. The name of their passion project stems from a phrase that was coined amongst their friends when José fire-sold some of his watches and people would come to Santurce (where he’s from) to pick them up in person. The watches were considered such good deals that they began referring to them as “Santurce Collection” watches—meaning a timepiece that offered exceptional value. So whenever they or someone else in their group gets a great deal on a watch, they say, “I got myself a Santurce Collection." This phrase pretty much summarizes what they do and what drives them everyday to work with the watch community.
From what started as a way to describe a new purchase was born a philosophy based on community life which animates José and Anita on a daily basis. As mentioned above, Anita’s work for Santurce Collection is the opposite of what she does Monday through Friday (and most likely through many week-ends,) that is: being more free to think spontaneously and connect with others who share the same passion. But perhaps more importantly, to tap into her own creative side. Indeed, for as professional and organized and to-the-point she is as a lawyer, Anita is also an artist and invests as much of her time and energy to be a proficient one. Parallel to being a lawyer, she is a self-taught artist and learned to first design the mangas she grew up with, which transformed into materializing the couple’s ideas for watches. For example, José comes up with an idea for a new model and she materializes it through sketches through which she defines the core visual identity of the watch. And they have a very unique process: they start from a story, generally connected to Puerto Rico, which they develop and mature, thinking about every single element of the narrative.
Then she draws the illustration that would eventually go on the case-back before beginning the long and exhausting process of sketching out the entire watch.
She works outside in, meaning that she first conceptualizes the outer parts of the watch before driving her attention to what is inside and within. So from the case-back she goes to the case, then the hands and dial, and once they have arrived together at a happy place, they begin to think about the technical specifications and dimensions of the watch. Above all else, as noted already, they always start with the story, and they are very good at storytelling. Taking the Picúa as an example, their inspiration for it was the 1960s Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Barakuda, for which she designed the “El Jíbaro Buzo™” artwork featured on the caseback which depicts a Puerto Rican jíbaro—the island's traditional farmer—equipped with diving gear while carrying his tool of choice, the machete, blending Puerto Rico's agricultural heritage with its strong connection to the sea. They also infused the aesthetics of the watch with a particular charm that refers to the colloquial meaning of “picúa” in Puerto Rican Spanish, a term often used to describe a charismatic, flirtatious woman who is charming and full of confidence. Moreover, Anita makes unique contributions to the watches' designs and specifications.
For example, as much as José may have a larger wrist than she does (and I was impressed to hear that he can confidently sport 45mm diameter timepieces!), she does like to wear robust tool watches which they designed and spec’ed out to make sense for someone living in Puerto Rico—a small corner of our big planet which comes with its own share of difficult weather, including heavy rains and high temperatures, which require solid yet comfortable watches to wear. Which is why they first developed their watches to be worn on quality NATO-style straps which make them more easily wearable for her since she has a smaller wrist, and of course, more comfortable as she can easily adjust the length of the strap to match the climatic conditions. Anita also always had a thing against small and dainty crows which is why the Picúa, and its sibling the Tibúron, have massive and ultra grippy crowns and bezel assemblies I raved about in my review, which is not something we would typically imagine to be a requirement of a female watch enthusiast. This indicates, as her career as a lawyer already did, that she doesn’t hesitate to do what she wants and how she wants to get it done.
The Meaning of Watches
Whoever becomes the protagonist of a profile story must be asked about the meaning of watches to him or her; but this question feels even more important to be asked when we look at the life and story of female collectors, designers, artists and community organizers. (And of those who occupy many other roles in our niche watch world, for example marketers and influencers.)
For they bring once again a unique perspective to this hobby and one which remains generally rarely highlighted. For Anita, watches therefore hold a particular place and meaning which connects her to specific moments in time and to feelings she experienced when wearing them. Beyond collecting, she has always been drawn to watches as tools and as examples of thoughtful design and engineering. To her, a watch is more than a mechanism for telling time—it is an object capable of preserving memories, marking achievements, and connecting people to meaningful moments in their lives. Not only the now famous Casio Calculator she bought in high school but also every single watch she has purchased since forms part of that story. Her collection, which she says diplomatically is not “big enough” yet and probably never will be, reflects both her appreciation for horology and the memories attached to each piece. Every watch she owns thus holds a particular meaning for her, whether it is a Santurce Collection timepiece she helped design, a collaboration she and José created with brands such as Nivada Grenchen and Vulcain, or a watch she acquired over the years.
As we saw with the Picúa above, Anita and José strive to tell unique stories about Puerto Rico, their island to which they have contributed so much to create a strong community through RedBar chapters they have helped to mount, the events they organize each month to mark the release of new collections from a popular brands, or to simply to get watch folks together in a welcoming atmosphere. Whilst Anita is currently working on new collection destined to female watch enthusiasts and collectors—which doesn’t preclude current Santurce models from being unisex—it was delightful to hear the origin story of their newest releases, the Pitirre™ and Guaraguao™, named after two birds who are in perpetual war in the skies of Puerto Rico. Not only did the birds inspire the story behind these watches but they also defined how they would be sized and spec’ed out. But more importantly, through them Anita and José can tell another unique story about Puerto Rico. For Anita, watches are not only instruments that mark time or evoke memories, but also vehicles for design, engineering, storytelling, and cultural expression—allowing her to share a piece of Puerto Rico with the world.
The Importance of the Community
A few additional words must be said about the community Anita and José have built in Puerto Rico and the meaning of it to them and to her in particular. Throughout this article we have discussed Anita's determination and drive to establish herself in highly specialized areas of legal practice, including international tax law, a field that has historically been male-dominated. There aren’t many women who practice law globally speaking and even less so in Puerto Rico, however she has worked hard to establish a successful practice on the island through which she has created her first community. Then, as we know, with José she co-led an intense effort to create a strong watch community in Puerto Rico, by way of organizing monthly events (sometimes several per month,) helping build RedBar chapters whose memberships tally a couple hundred members, and their own watch brand of course. Being a women horological enthusiast in Puerto Rico she also feels that she has a responsibility to help more women get in the hobby, which she can do by being one of the two faces of the Santurce family, and by which way she can democratize horology to fellow female enthusiasts and future collectors.
Conclusion
There aren’t many women in horology even though we hear more and more often about the key roles they play, and have played in the past centuries, in our niche industry. Despite that, and regardless of the increasing number of women we see become influencers, journalists, and hold positions of power in watchmaking, it remains a male-dominated world whether or not you want to believe it. In two recent studies I conducted for Mainspring, brands have indicated twice that they overwhelmingly target male collectors ages 25 to 54 which is a trend that has to change. And the change starts, as you have probably noticed through the Women in Horology series, by highlighting the incredible contributions women are making right now to our industry. So it was an honor for me, a middle-aged white man, to be able to share Anita’s story, that of a driven and creative women, and to speak about her relentlessness in building a successful law practice, whilst investing as much time and effort in her passion project, Santurce Collection, through which she helps women join the community, designs watches which reflect the uniqueness of Puerto Rico and of her sensibilities as a collector and creative person.
Thank you so much Anita for your time and patience to bring this article to life.
Also, thanks for reading.