I create content about watches, and build the light to see them by.
The Collector's Compass
A newsletter for curious watch enthusiasts seeking meaning, not just market value. Essays on why particular watches matter: the makers, the histories, and the reasons people keep them long after the price stops being the point.
CompassA newsletter since 2025
Cardinal Aperture
Purpose-built display lighting for watches, collectors, and the independent watch industry. General display lights are made for large objects; a watch is small, curved, and reflective, and most lighting flattens it. Model D frames a controlled field of light inside a compact architectural form, so the lighting becomes part of the display.
- Product
- Model D
- For
- Watch fairs, brand activations, retail, collectors
- Status
- Piloting in New York, 2026
Writing on AI
- Mar 2025What AI Means for the Future of LightingReflections from LEDucation 2025 in New York
- Jan 2025AI Adoption in 2025: From Hype to Measurable ValueLessons from the AI Summit New York
- Sep 2024The Generative AI transformation is fully underwayWill you be a part of it?
- Mar 2024Is AI here to help us or hurt us?Or is it too soon to tell?
Startup Vietnam
Andrew P. RowanInnovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. A field report on Vietnam's startup ecosystem, from the founders building it to the policies shaping it. Foreword by Giang Lam, Managing Director of Rising Dragon Associates.
“A must read if you want to know about modern Vietnam.”Rachel Bui, Cofounder and Inaugural CEO, Australia-Vietnam Young Leadership Dialogue
Get the e-bookPlanetary Potential
Conversations with entrepreneurs, educators, and investors working in developing markets.
- Mariella BelliEp. 20
- Claudia QuintanillaEp. 19
- Diego Centurión TapiaEp. 18
- Carlos Rodrich PortugalEp. 03
- Prof. Manuel LópezEp. 02
- Thao P. NguyenEp. 01
Essays
On startups, leadership, and policy in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
About
Andrew P. Rowan is a New York writer and entrepreneur working at the meeting point of watches, design, and collecting.
He creates The Collector's Compass, a newsletter about the meaning behind watches rather than their market value, and is building Cardinal Aperture, which makes display lighting designed specifically for watches and is currently piloting its Model D in New York.
From 2013 he lived and worked in Vietnam, where he founded GKTA Group and partnered with the Finland-Vietnam Innovation Partnership Program to accelerate Vietnamese startups. He collaborated on innovation initiatives with the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and Vietnam's Ministry of Science and Technology and wrote Startup Vietnam. He was invited to Egypt and Indonesia as a guest speaker.
In 2019 he became the first Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Piura in Perú, funded by the Swiss Entrepreneurship Program. That year he also launched the Planetary Potential podcast, whose first season of 20 episodes focuses on Perú.
In 2022 he joined a seed-stage tech startup to lead community and content. He planned and hosted 27 live audio shows, public AMAs, and private member events with well-known guests, helped grow the company's social following and online community roughly fourfold, and wrote the playbooks the team used for public speaking, goal setting, and launches.
He graduated with honors from Sacred Heart University and holds a master's degree in international business from Hult International Business School.