Job description:
SwissIQ is a premium watch strap and band brand for luxury watches — Swiss-sourced material, built for owners of Rolex, Omega, Cartier, Tudor, Grand Seiko and Seiko.
Almost everything a customer will ever know about this brand, they will learn from a video. There is no retail store, no showroom, no salesperson. The product is small, tactile and expensive-looking, and it either reads that way on camera or the sale does not happen.
This is a founding-team hire. There is no existing video team.
You are the person behind the camera. You make the footage exist.
We already have someone planning the calendar (Social Media Manager) and someone finishing the output (AI Creative Designer). What we do not have is anyone who can actually shoot — properly, with control over light, focus and framing, on a macro subject where a 2 mm shift ruins the take.
Where this role starts and stops: you are not responsible for the posting calendar and you do not own the brand's creative strategy. You are responsible for the fact that, on any given week, usable footage exists.
You will shoot in three very different situations
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Tabletop and macro, in-studio — the strap itself. Texture, grain, stitch, edge finish, buckle. This is precision work.
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On-wrist and lifestyle, on location — real people, real watches, real environments. Cafés, cars, offices, water, streets, travel.
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Talking-head and founder content — clean audio, clean framing, run-and-gun, often with one hour of the subject's time and no second chance.
You will frequently be a one-person crew: you carry it, you light it, you shoot it, you record the audio, you back it up. On bigger days you will direct a small set.
What you will actually do
Shooting
- Product and macro video of straps and watches: texture, grain, buckle detail, light travelling across rubber and steel, water and motion
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On-wrist sequences across dozens of watch references — Datejust, Speedmaster, Black Bay, Submariner, SKX, MoonSwatch
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Lifestyle and location content: outdoor, natural light, real environments, travel
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Founder and talking-head content with clean, usable audio
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Behind-the-scenes, unboxing, packaging and fitment demonstrations
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Fast, volume-oriented social content — several set-ups a day when the calendar demands it
Lighting, sound and set
- Own the lighting setup. Continuous LED, modifiers, flags, reflectors, controlling reflection on polished steel and glass — this is the hardest technical part of the job and it is not optional.
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Record clean audio: lav, shotgun, room tone, levels checked before the take
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Set dressing within brand rules: backgrounds white or light grey, no props. If a shot needs colour, we add a strap, not an object.
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Handle product with care. These are straps that fit watches worth lakhs. Gloves, cloths, no scratches — the technician's handling protocol is enforced.
Travel and location
- Recce locations, or arrive prepared when you cannot
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Handle permissions, timing, light windows, and the practical realities of shooting on an Indian street with expensive gear
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Pack, carry, insure and account for equipment on trips. You are responsible for the kit you take out.
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Multi-day domestic trips; international shoots are a realistic possibility within the first year
Post and delivery
- First cuts and quick-turnaround edits: 9:16 social cuts, short-form assembly, simple colour, sync to music
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Log, label, back up and hand over footage in an organised structure the designer can actually work from — not a folder called new final 2
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Maintain the footage library so nothing is ever shot twice
Required skills
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Camera craft. Full manual control. Exposure triangle, shutter angle for motion, frame rates, log profiles, white balance, focus pulling — and you can explain your choices, not just recall your presets.
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Macro and product video. Shallow depth of field on a small subject, slider/probe or macro lens work, focus stacking or focus pulls at close range. This is the single most-tested skill in our process.
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Lighting. You can light a reflective object — polished steel, sapphire crystal, glossy rubber — without blowing highlights or catching your own reflection. Strong natural-light ability too.
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Audio. Lav and shotgun mics, monitoring, room control. You know bad audio kills a video faster than bad picture.
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Editing at a working level — Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve. You cut your own first passes.
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Gimbal and stabilisation — smooth movement, and the judgement to know when a locked-off tripod shot is better
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Vertical-first thinking. You compose for 9:16 as the primary format and protect for 16:9, not the reverse.
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Physical reliability. You carry the kit, you set up before call time, you shoot in heat, and you finish the day.
Strongly preferred
Drone with DGCA licence, or willingness to get one · colour grading and LUT work · own working camera body and glass · photography competence alongside video · interest in watches, cars, gear or design · Hindi/Marathi for location and crew coordination · valid driving licence
What matters more than gear
Taste — cheap cameras have made footage cheap; judgement about what looks expensive has not. We hire the person whose reel looks the most expensive, regardless of what it was shot on. Volume without decay — you can shoot four set-ups in a day and the fourth is as good as the first. Prepared, not improvised — batteries charged, cards formatted, backup done the same night.
Brand rules on set
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No props. Backgrounds are white or light grey. Colour comes from the product.
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Shoot on the watches people actually own, not on generic or unbranded watches
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Handle every watch and strap per the technician's protocol. A scratched lug is a real financial loss.
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Every shoot is backed up to two locations the same day. No exceptions, ever.
Qualifications
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1–3 years shooting video for brands, an agency, a production house, or as a full-time freelancer
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A showreel is mandatory. 60–120 seconds. No reel, no interview. Drive link, Vimeo, YouTube or Instagram all acceptable.
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Alongside the reel, send one unedited or lightly-edited raw clip so we can see what comes out of your camera before anyone fixes it. This matters more to us than the reel.
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Formal film education welcome but not required. Self-taught candidates with a strong reel are treated identically.
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Passport mandatory, or application already in process
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Based in Mumbai or willing to relocate before joining
