By Tanya Ishikawa

Businessman Derrick M. Holmes believes history makes the man.
The Banneker Watches CEO, who created his watch-making company in 2004 by making clocks in the likeness of the original clock made by African American scientist Benjamin Banneker (see: US November 2006), is a History Channel devotee and self-proclaimed Egyptologist. He studies history not only as a life-long hobby but also as a way of understanding himself and his potential.
Holmes’ fascination has resulted in personal and business successes with Banneker Watches, his company honoring America’s first clock-maker.
“I believe in learning from history,” Holmes explained. “You can know yourself better if you know where you came from. That’s why history is so fascinating to me.”
Mary Hinton of Around the Bend Media in New York worked as a consultant with Holmes during the development stages of Banneker Watches. She described him as a humble role model who practices teamwork and networking, while capturing the attention of moguls and achieving the support of decision-makers.
“He studied everything that he needed to study,” she explained. “He read and researched Benjamin Banneker fully. That’s number one in a strong business – research. Number two, not only did he research Banneker, he researched his competition so he knew what he was up against.”
Hinton added, “He’s very passionate about the importance of knowledge. Banneker Watches is not just about an urban line. He’s able to bring out a look we can accept and love and be proud of. Through his designs, he’s given us inspiration. His watches, to me, are just phenomenal. Really, he’s drawn by a higher power. You can really see it in his designs.”

A Strong Belief In Roots And Community
Holmes was brought up with a deep connection to God and an understanding of the importance of his ancestors. He was part of a devout church-going family in Waterloo, Iowa, a large rural town of about 100,000. His father worked at John Deere, Waterloo’s major employer, and was active in many civic groups from the cub scouts to the NAACP.
Holmes was involved in various creative pursuits. He sang in church and school choirs, played drums and tuba in band, participated in football, basketball and track, and was involved in the Boy Scouts and the NAACP.
“He’s driven by helping others. He’s always wanted to do that,” said his sister, Renee Holmes, who lives near her brother in Aurora. “People are drawn to him, even without speaking, through his eye contact, demeanor and the way he dresses.”
History was Holmes’ favorite and easiest class in high school, where he was student senate president in his senior year. His passion for history led him to study his own family tree and arrange family reunions.
“The thing is, a lot of Black history is not taught in schools, especially in Iowa,” he said.
Holmes was accepted to Iowa Central Community College with a football scholarship, and graduated with a communications degree. His first company was Hollyrock Advertising. Coming to Denver in 1984, he moved back to Iowa a few years later to be with his father after his mother passed away.
Renee Holmes described her brother as a “won’t-let-a-no-stop-him” risk-taker with incredible inner strength and drive.
“As a teenager, he was not a 9 to 5-er. My parents tried to get him to get a job, but he always wanted to do his own thing and help mankind,” she said.
Moving back to Denver in 1998, Holmes had an epiphany. On the car ride from Waterloo he thought how great it could be to put professional athletes’ photos and signatures on watches. He was so bewitched by the idea that he began gathering business investments from his family, community and business leaders. Before long, he launched Marquee Watches, featuring athletes like Terrell Davis, Kurt Warner and Tim Hardaway, who would become his business partner.
Another epiphany occurred in 2001 when Holmes learned about Banneker. Holmes knew about Banneker’s contributions to the planning of Washington, D.C., but he was astonished to discover the historic figure had also built one of America’s first clocks out of wood by copying the inner workings of a pocket watch.
“I could see it, like Moses seeing the burning bush,” Holmes said of his revelation.

Dream Built Into Historic Accomplishments
By 2005, Holmes had gathered the right people and resources together and produced his first luxury watches with wood-based designs and information cards describing Banneker’s life.
“He’s ever-vigilant of the opportunities to engage people who can move the vision forward … to find something mutually beneficial,” said Banneker Watches vice president and board member Alfred Babington-Johnson.
A mover and shaker in Minneapolis, Babington-Johnson met Holmes through Minnesota civil rights activist and community leader Spike Moss, who had been Holmes’ friend and advisor for almost a decade.
“First, I really think that it’s important (that he has) a values base as far as his own approach to life, but also he has a business-oriented dream that allows us to build repositories of wealth in our community and that is accountable. Something has to be large enough to have impact,” Babington-Johnson said. “His dream was to create something that will bring pride to those who produce it.”
Babington-Johnson described Holmes as energetic, caring, respectful and charming, as well as a good communicator and storyteller. After one business meeting at a corporate headquarters, Babington-Johnson went to get the car and when he returned, Holmes had recruited a photographer, who just happened to be sitting in the lobby, to take promotional photos of his watches right on the spot.
Part of Holmes’ vision for Banneker Watches is to put a Banneker clock with a plaque about Banneker in every school in the U.S. He designed a mahogany, wall-mounted grandfather clock with a gold face displaying stars and constellations to honor Banneker’s full intellectual contributions, which include astronomy.
“Clocks are what students keep looking at while they are whittling away the minutes, waiting to get out of class,” Holmes said. “Birth, marriage, everything in our lives is connected to time, so I believe we need to pay proper homage to Banneker, and this is my way.”
To get the clocks in schools, Holmes is soliciting corporate contributions. International school and sports memorabilia-maker Jostens is the first contributor, agreeing to fund numerous school clocks, including at Banneker High School in Washington, D.C. Jostens has also made a deal with Banneker Watches to produce graduation watches and championship sports watches. And, in another deal, Jostens has signed on with Holmes’ other company, Esteem Enterprises, to produce hip-hop style graduation memorabilia.
As Holmes proudly noted, “We’ve been blessed and very fortunate. This is going to be a dynamic year for us.”
But, according to his peers, he is not done making history yet.
“I think the Banneker Watches piece will be a launch pad, but I think there is a much greater part to come,” Babington-Johnson said.
“He’s the person I will see on the cover of Fortune and Black Enterprise and on the Oprah show,” Hinton agreed. “He’s our future, one of our future leaders – a force to be reckoned with.”

The Benjamin Banneker Story
Benjamin Banneker was born in Maryland on Nov. 9, 1731. His father and grandfather were former slaves.
A farmer of modest means, Banneker nevertheless lived a life of unusual achievement. In 1753, the young man borrowed a pocket watch from a well-to-do neighbor; he took it apart and made a drawing of each component, then reassembled the watch and returned it, fully functioning, to its owner.
From his drawings Banneker then proceeded to carve, out of wood, enlarged replicas of each part. Calculating the proper number of teeth for each gear and the necessary relationships between the gears, he constructed a working wooden clock that kept accurate time and struck the hours for over 50 years.
At age 58, Banneker began the study of astronomy and was soon predicting future solar and lunar eclipses. He compiled the ephemeris, or information table, for annual almanacs that were published for the years 1792 through 1797. "Benjamin Banneker's Almanac" was a top seller from Pennsylvania to Virginia and even into Kentucky.
In 1791, Banneker was a technical assistant in the calculating and first-ever surveying of the Federal District, which is now Washington, D.C.
The "Sable Astronomer" was often pointed to as proof that African Americans were not intellectually inferior to European Americans. Thomas Jefferson himself noted this in a letter to Banneker.
Banneker died on Sunday, October 9, 1806 at the age of 74. In 1980, the U.S. Postal Service issued a postage stamp in his honor.
Source: The Banneker Center for Economic Justice at www.progress.org.

Further Reading On Benjamin Banneker
Baskes Litwin, Laura. Benjamin Banneker: Astronomer and mathematician. (Springfield, NJ: Enslow), 1999.
Bedini, Silvio A. The Life of Benjamin Banneker : the First African-American Man of Science. 2nd ed., rev. and expanded. (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society), 1999.
Brodie, James Michael. Created Equal: The Lives And Ideas of Black American Innovators. (New York: William Morrow). 1994.
Lewis, Claude. Benjamin Banneker: The Man Who Saved Washington. (New York: McGraw Hill), 1970.
Patterson, Lillie. Benjamin Banneker: Genius of Early America. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press), 1978.
Wilson, Ruth. Our Blood and Our Tears: Black Freedom Fighters. (New York: Putnam), 1972.