Our Founder&Designer Merve Güngenci Özer
It was always a passion for Merve to create jewelry for herself while her father and family members focused on watchmaking and in fine jewelry business. Güngenci family has been dealing with watch repair, manufacture and sales since 1864 The watchmaking, which was started as a family tradition by her great grandfather Usta Adem in 1864, has been carried to the present from centuries as a result of the works and intense efforts of Master Adem in the field of clock repair and manufacturing. Her great grandfather, Master Adem, who was able to repair and manufacture every watch in a variety ranging from pocket clocks to large wall clocks, produced a wall clock with every piece of wood with his own means, this initiative is one of the early examples of local clock production in the Ottoman Empire. This wooden wall clock is currently in the Güngenci family collection. All family members are into the watch and jewelry making, repair and retail businesses.
Merve started her own brand Aquadan.co in 2020 to produce fashion jewelry with high standarts and quality with a strong look for the strong women all around the world.
Gungenci surname was taken in accordance with the surname law adopted in the first years of the Republic. As a reflection of the policy of purifying Turkish from foreign words in the early years of Republic, which has a meaning expressing the family profession, it was derived from the Turkish equivalent of the word clock, which was originally Arabic, and was taken as the family name in the form of Güngenci, which means watchmaker.