Look out for these spacey watches at the Franklin Flea

Few entrepreneurs can say they got their business idea from their great-great-grandmother's diary.

When Lee Dowell was flipping through Rosetta Schmutz's journal, he found an entry about painting watch dials from her Swiss workplace. He was inspired to start his own custom watch shop. Dowell started Schmutz Watches, named after his familial muse.

Since 2015, Schmutz Watches has had a booth at the Franklin Flea, a quirky, trendy antique and craft market with 40 to 60 vendors that recently relocated its summer market to outside Reading Terminal Market.

Dowell, a Texas native, manufactures his timepieces himself and commissions artists to design signature works for the faces. When Dowell found Claudia Maccechini, a.k.a. Claudym, via Instagram, he was taken by her work. A Milanese artist who focuses mainly on miniature paintings, Claudym often calls on pop culture as a reference point in her art. When Dowell challenged her to come up with her own watch series, he asked her to avoid all things Star Wars so that Schmutz Watches wouldn't face any lawsuits.

Claudym settled on a tour of the galaxies, painting a new kind of starry night that can fit on your wrist. Her watch trio features dark, brooding skies and planets in orbit surrounded by the vacuousness of space.

Schmutz Watches, $300, at the Franklin Flea, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, outside Reading Terminal Market, Filbert Street between 11th and 12th Streets