Behind Serica's Design Philosophy with Co-founder Jérôme Burgert

You know it's thousands of watches on the wrist , historical designs , studies , vintage pieces that fed us and fed me my eye , because I do design the pieces . But if it had to be summed up into a very simple way , I'd say the true will to really give birth to , you know , to what I consider to be the real tool watches .

In a nutshell , you love watches , I do love watches and I'm sure we will agree , not only you and I but many other people around , that the golden age of watchmaking is not 2024 . It was basically between the early 40s to the late 60s , mid-70s to be fair , and during that era some people worked really well .

They gave birth to what we still consider today to be among the most amazing PCs in watchmaking . And if we talk about tool watches , to me these tool watches and we're talking late 60s , obviously , or early 50s to late 60s had something that has disappeared for a long time and that is very , very hard to come across a modern piece .

But I'm not talking just today , I'm talking about for the past 20 years , and that magic thing is blending the true characteristics of an instrument , meaning precision , meaning reliability , meaning water resistance , all of this but combining it with a beautiful object of design , because beauty means everything and it makes our daily lives much better , much better .

So if it's not beautiful or relevant , or if it doesn't have a personality , obviously you will be , I will be , you will be less eager to to crack a smile in the morning and put it on your wrist .

So it was truly about having a new dive watch , field watch , gmt watch that does not try to look like or embody anything else but serica watch and that blends the highest standards of performance with the beautiful finishing , with the most beautiful finishings , materials and and design .

And we're struggling to combine all these together and give birth to very unique pieces .

So essentially they brought it to my attention that there is on Alibaba or DHgate or some of these . Chinese websites copies clones of Serica watches out there .

Uh , because basically the hard work and the heart we put into serica watches every day is not open source , it's not open bar for those people to steal our work and make a quick bug out of it . You know . But in another way and friends of mine helped me realize that option one , I mean we can't do anything about it .

Those guys hide in China , in Australia , wherever , and if I wanted to fight them it would mean a lot of energy , a lot of time , a lot of money , and I'd rather spend these on building something than fighting something else . But it's also proof that we're creating something that stands for itself .

When you do create a design and you have a very minimalistic branding approach , like we do , I mean you can't see serica written big on the dial and people are copying these and branding them as homage . 5303 serica watches .

I currently now , thanks to Gabriel , I have the entire Serica collection . You have one of each in your possession right now . Yes , yes , for now , and I'm looking forward to doing some content about them . Obviously , by the time this podcast releases , it will probably already be out , but I have enjoyed my time with the 5303 .

The Field Watch is amazing , the 5303 , the GMT is such a I don't know how to describe it . I get this experience that not a lot of people are going to get . I don't know if all of your customers have all three watches Probably not , right , quite a few , but not all of them All right .

Yeah , there you go , but somehow the designs I'm trying to think of the best way I can describe this . I'm at a loss for words . Sure , sure , sure , take your time . But they're so integrated but they're so different at the same time , like it feels like a torch is being passed from piece to piece .

Well , I did not invent the vocabulary , because the vocabulary to me is what has been passed on to me , passed down from previous generation of watch designers . I did not invent the black dial or the rotating bezel , did not invent the GMT complication , or I did not invent any of this , but I'm trying to .

I'm trying to , yeah , to use those words and create my own language , my own poetry . It's , you know , the watch design is something that is extremely fragile . We're working on a very small scale and every tiniest hundreds of a millimeter that you change will affect the entire feel , look and feel of the watch .

So once you understand that , even if you use a vocabulary that dates from the 50s or the 60s , I mean , you can write something entirely different . It's , for example , what I did with the GMT coming up with a lollipop GMT hand . It's never been done before . These two-time 12 hours with the anti-meridian , post-meridian indexes never been done before .

It's those tiny little things that it's just like asking yourself . I read that not long ago about originality . Originality is not trying to be different . Originality is actually going back to the origin and that's what it is about .

You go back to the origin of the the question that's been asked and you answer this question with your own design , language and approach . Uh , building a GMT watch is not popping a Pepsi bezel on the diver's case . It's not playing with an orange hand or a red arrow hand . It's no . You go back to the origin . What's the origin of a GMT watch ?

It's displaying a second time zone with a day-night indicator , and you can do that any way you want .

You have a plethora of hand shapes for hours , for minutes and , surprisingly , for GMT hands , people stuck most brands stuck with a Rolex approach . But that's precisely what it is the Rolex approach . It's not for what it is the Rolex approach . It's not for Serica to use , it's not for me to use , it's for me to create my own .

So it's a very simple answer to that question . I did not . You read 12 hours on the dial oops , sorry here and 24 hours on the bezel . So if you want something that's easy to read , you need those hands to be different , because you don't read it with the same scale .

It doesn't have to be red , it doesn't have to be orange , it doesn't even have to be a different color , it just has to be distinctive , slightly different . So I just changed the infill , which is not even super luminova , because the 24-hour bezel does not glow . So having a hand that points to nothing in the dark doesn't make sense .

And it's just by by asking myself those questions that I found the most simplistic possible answers , and it gave birth to a watch that looks , hopefully , nothing like a 1675 . Hopefully .

So , as you know , everything now is automatic . Obviously it's Swiss , it's chron , obviously it's Swiss , it's chronometer , certified , it's waterproof . That's for the specs , basically . And now for the design language .

What we came up with is , if I have to tell you what a Serica watch is in one sentence , it's a singular and sophisticated , waterproof , swiss chronometer . That's what it is and that's what we built basically .

So , in terms of design language , I would say singular as different and sophisticated , because we don't want something , we want to answer the question with design , but we want to answer the question in an elegant way . You know what I mean . But we want to answer the question in an elegant way . You know what I mean .

Designers often say that the most simplistic answer is always the best , and I tend to agree . But at some point , when you have an answer that is simple , then you still need to give it birth .

You still need to give that idea and that answer a tangible form , and there are many different ways to do that and we try to make sure that the Serica ways have always that little extra knack of ooh .

I think he had the polar or the storm gray or something with him in his possession , one of each , I think yeah and uh , he was like yeah , this , you know , this is the new 6190 , this is where we're headed , you know , and I was like man , you know , and we featured the 6190 , california , in our best of show article .

Um , I don't want to push you , but I'm sure you're going to expand the lineup soon .

You know , when you bring , especially in watchmaking , when you bring new designs to the table and we experience that because what we do is different so it needs time to be , I don't know to be understood , to be accepted to be .

If I , if we go about designing many different things , if we go into 10 different directions , if we go into 10 different directions at our very early age , then how could I have the pretension of asking anyone to know and understand what a serica watch is ? So it's . I mean , it's obviously for us to send a message out there .

This is our proposition , this is a serica watch , this is what we do . But then you know , and I , that a message gets lost in translation in the process and , like you can send 100 and maybe 10% will get to you .

So I need to make sure that I don't send too much , because I want this message to be extremely relevant and clear and , as a designer , my approach to design is extremely purpose-driven , as you might have understood , and if tomorrow you ask me , or today , because today's the day if you ask me any question about the relevance and the reason of any hundreds of a

millimeter of one of my watches , if I do not have an obvious , clear answer , then that would turn me into a very sad person . So I try to think about our lineup as something that will last in time . It's like watches , I mean , they evolved but they did not change .

For anyone who bought a Serica field watch five years ago , they still own very much a Serica field watch . Of course , now we have a few dire variations . The case has evolved slightly . It's now automatic , quarter meter certified . It's thinner . It's the material evolved . It changed , but it's not a different watch .

I can no , I don't have any here but if you put them side by side it's still very much a Serica watch and that's what I'm trying to create . You know , a design language that will last in time and is easy to understand , and it's taking off slowly .

But if you do not design with the ambition of creating something truly special and truly timeless , it does not happen by mistake , it's a magical thing , but it just doesn't happen by itself . You need to be self-aware . I think , as a designer , that every choice you make will have an impact on the life of your watch , and you know , I've been .

We created the company five years ago with Gabriel , but designing watches and owning my own watch company and offering what I do believe is a great watch has been on my mind for the longest time . And I started designing , drawing watches when I was what ? 12 , 13 , 14 years old .

So fast forward 20 years later , when I finally had the guts and the right associates to do so , I I did take it very seriously , and I still do . You know , creating something to me is truly a responsibility . I'm it's funny my , my brother just just , uh , just just bought me a book recently and uh , it's a small book , but I do design .

Why beauty is key to everything . By alan moore , I think , and by reading the book I was yeah , obviously , I mean that's the that the drum conversation I have with my friends . You know it's a , but it is . I mean , beauty is key to everything and as a designer , your responsibility is to bring to life an object of beauty .

Of course we're talking micromechanics , we're talking purpose-driven instruments , but it still needs to be a thing of beauty and when you put that into people's lives , starting with mine , it makes the world a little bit of a better place . I don't want to flow into something too philosophical out there , but that's the very reason why it's not just a tool watch .

It's much more than that . Of course I'm still a 15-year-old kid , deep down wanting to be James Bond . Of course , when I put my watch on a wrist in the morning , I feel a bit more like it . People will find it funny , probably , and then I hop on the metro and I go to work , but it doesn't matter , you know , because that's the idea .

A mechanical watch is not something that will save our lives . It's something very it's not . I don't want to say it's outdated , but it's not the instrument it used to be , obviously . So why do we wear watches ?

But then you have the high polish chamfer on the lugs and then it , it goes straight down to like a brushed gradial pattern , like right to where the bracelet meets , and I was like you know , that's just , it's just , it's just clean , it's just unique , it's , it's refreshing .

You know , I mean you , everybody who's listening , you have to get hands on one of these things to see what I'm talking about . But , um , you know you , you can tell , like , just the everything was thought out and um that a rather obsessive mind did the work .

Yeah Right , we didn't talk too much about the reason behind it , but it was my understanding that you guys started off and I mean now you're all in on the SoProd train .

And obviously we were rather inexperienced with the manufacturing of mechanical watches . So we purchased actually from friends who had another brand , we purchased a batch of 500 ETA 2801 movements and we started working with that .

But then , at the very end of the very same year , eta , which is part of Swatch Group , announced sorry guys , not selling to anybody outside the Swatch Group . So it didn't really help , right , yeah , so then we worked briefly with STP as well , which is part of the Fossil Group in Switzerland , and it did work .

Don't get me wrong , but partnering with someone it's obviously about what they can offer and the quality of their product , but it's also about relationship , about how you get along with the human people behind it and how easy and nice it is to work with them .

And we did meet the Soprod team and their owner , mr Rodriguez , which is a very nice guy who appreciates very much what we do .

And having Soprod Calibre housed in Serica watches and working with them it's been a breeze and it truly felt like partners , not just a provider , meaning when something goes wrong , they're here to help and we work together , and that I like very much . And the caliber we used in the entire collection right now is the M100 .

So it's a caliber that's been around for a long time . It was previously named the A10 , a10 II , then evolved , like many evolution , until the M100 . But the bottom line is this movement is great for many reasons in my opinion . It's chronometer , certified , it's automatic , it's been around for , yeah , 20 plus years , so it's reliable .

And , most importantly , years so it's reliable . And , most importantly , you know when you design sports watches , you want something that's tough , that's reliable . You want a workhorse of a movement , especially for us . I mean , we go with the elaborate finishing , then code de genève and everything , but we have solid case back .

So it doesn't , you can't , you can't see the movement anyway . So this is not a Westminster carry-on , it's just a workhorse of a mechanical movement . And the M100 is thinner than most Meaning .

If you take any 11.5 line movements , that's the diameter , wide on the caliber , that's what is used usually for sports watches , and if you go to ETA or if you go to Sellota , these movements will be 4.6 millimeter thick . If you take the M100 , it's 3.6 millimeter thick only and one full millimeter in watchmaking .

It's a mountain actually when you do design everything around the movement . So it allowed us to work on three different directions for the three collections that you have in hand . Obviously , I discovered the M100 when we did the GMT , because the M100 is the base caliber for the C125 . So it's basically M100 with the GMT module on top of it .

So it's basically M100 with the GMT module on top of it and even with the module , it still enabled me to design a 12.3 millimeter thick GMT watch , which I enjoyed very much because it made for a very , very pure and very sleek case profile . Then I was wait , wait , wait , wait , wait . What happens if I put this in a diver ?

So it was not an easy thing , because you know you want to keep the same case , well , the same thickness . You don't want to make it any thicker . You need the crown to remain perfectly centered . And I was like but can I work on an anti-magnetic cover ?

And it still took us time and people don't realize , oh , this new movement , and there is , but it's , it's a lot of work . I mean , I , I did those technical drawings maybe 10 times , sending them to the guys . I'm not an engineer , I'm the , I'm the poet with the pen .

And so we could manage , by keeping the 12.2 millimeter thick case to add the magnetic cover . But it's not just the cover , right , it's the cover , it's the inner case ring and the dial itself that are now manufactured in what we call people call it soft iron , but it's or mu metal , it's basically iron and nickel .

I like the message to be clean and relevant . So it's like okay , now it's time for the field watch to get the COSC treatment in a way , and this movement being thinner , we could actually add the rotor upgrade to the new M100 caliber and still manage to chop down almost an entire millimeter and a half of the case profile , including the crystal .

So we dropped down from 11.8 down to 10.4 millimeter thick and I mean you have it on the other side of the screen . So , you can tell people , you put it on the wrist and it's I mean , it's a 200 meters water resistant watch . It's a beautiful watch and it's super thin . So it's again .

It embodies everything I love about watches the robustness and the elegance .

You know , because of your price point , I'm assuming you have no choice but to stick in that model .

Um , but something that was super surprising is is just how like compact I would say the package is . Um , I've noticed it very much so with the field chronometer , um , how it wears , how compact it is .

Um , you know , I I have a relatively I would consider small wrist , you know , below seven inches um , but it's it still feels like it has a big personality , it does , and that's something that's so , is so it's so different to me .

Um , and you know , obviously , the way that I worked is I got the , the field chronometer , and I got the gmt , the travel chronometer , and then , after I , I said to gabriel , I was like dude , like I'm missing one watch here , like , just send me another one Because I want to show the entire brand , the entire portfolio .

It's much more challenging to do with other brands than it is for a brand like yours , where I get three watches out of the entire portfolio . Correct , but ever since the 5303 came in , this , one won your heart . Yeah , I just haven't took the other ones out .

Um , but then you know , the 5303 , just I mean just swooped in like overnight and put , put the chronometer , the field chronometer , to sleep for me for some reason , um , but I have different personalities for sure . Yeah , yeah , and I mean I like the practicality , like the hours and minutes on the bezel , like something that like I had never .

But the fact that the , the ratio and the , the game of proportions that stay within each watch makes each time an ensemble that's very easy to wear on the wrist and with a similar presence , again , it's it's a very , very fragile thing yeah , it's .

Okay , like , when we got into collecting , like I was always had my sights set on , like you know , the big boys , the Pateks and all that and JLC and Vacheron and all that . But he actually went into the micro brand space , okay , and like he was like I mean he loves micro brands , so we kind of meet in the middle , um .

But but something that I mean is so surprising to me is is the functionality ? I mean , it's simple but it's functional . And you could tell that I don't think this is understood by a lot of designers . They're just like okay , this looks good on paper right ?

I used to be a watch journalist for for some time as well . So I've been , and that's how my I got educated as well . You know I , from the early watch fairs in switzerland at the age 14 to the auction houses at age 23 or 40 or 30 , I had the opportunity and the chance to put on the wrist so many of these watches .

I've seen a lot , I put a lot on my wrist , I owned a few and that gave me the knowledge of it . That's what a proper watch should look and feel like , and to me , it's the only way to understand how it should feel .

I mean , you can learn about watches online and you read and you see pictures , but the weight of the watch , how light interacts with different finishings , how curved lugs makes a watch feel on your wrist , and so on , it's something that needs to be experienced , and you said earlier I don't think that's something every watch designer thinks about or is aware about ,

but the reality , from my experience , is that not every designer who gets asked to design watches is a watch designer . I mean , you said it looks good on paper but not on the wrist , and that's something that only a watch person can know and experience and know how important it is .

I don't know if I had to compare with architecture , because it is some kind of architecture . We talk about the architecture of a movement , of a case , and it's something of beauty , we said earlier but it's something actually functional in the first place .

So if you can't read time in a split second , if it doesn't feel comfortable on the wrist , then it's not good enough .

He's been known for designing what appears from a distance very simple houses , concrete , blocks of concrete with wooden floors sometimes .

And at the end of the day you say , yeah , sure , I mean , any five-year-old kid can draw a square , sure , but you cannot draw the perfect square until you know everything about the Roman architecture , the Renaissance , until you stepped into a church , see how the light go through , feel actually step into the space , because architecture is designing a space .

And it's the same for watches . I mean , that might seem simple . Yeah , of course , you put a round instead of an arrow , a circle instead of an arrow for GMT hand , sure , but it's not that easy . It's like you cannot do that unless you've done all the work and the journey that leads you here ?

You know like not to to toot your own horn , of course , but something something from an idea that you're , that that , like you're so proud of , that , now exists beyond the finished product . Sure , sure , sure . But it's .

when I want to go , I start drawing . And then I start drawing , I put something on paper , on the computer , and then I need to step away for a few days , sometimes a week , sometimes two weeks , and then open it again . And then I see differently and I was like , okay , this can be improved , this can be better .

And until I step away from the design , come back to it and I'm just like a little kid with my eyes , like , okay , that's going to be great , that I want on my wrist , that I see harmony in this design From the first second . It strikes me as harmonious design and it answers every single question that needed to be answered .

That's the only time like when I have that , then I will go . I will move forward into the production of a sample , for example . I will move forward into the production of a sample , for example . And designing the GMT watch is something rather difficult because obviously Rolex did create something in 1954 with a very strong design language .

We talked about it earlier again the Pepsi , orange and red , blah , blah , blah . So it was about finding the answer .

But even I , like right now I'm bragging about yeah , you need to go find the origin of the question , but I did not at first and for the longest time , like I could see , like quickly , I had the idea of the two times 12 and the entire meridian plus meridian . So that appeared on my watch .

I was like that's great , it's singular , it uh , it answers the question , it's easy to read , it's great . But then the , the uneven split , was not there from the start . The uneven splits of the , of the bezel , you know the day night indicator . And for the longest time I tried to do something . I want to do something very refined and elegant .

So I was like maybe we can just work on different finishing . Polish ceramic and circular brush ceramic could work . I tried that , but it was not , not , not easy to read , not easy enough to read , uh .

And then I couldn't get through the fact that when you split the sixes into two parts , then you need a third color , right , because you need something that contrasts with , for example , in our case , the black and the white .

So you need to add something like Rolex that it was gray , I think , is it gray or white with the GMT Anyway and I did not want to add a third color . I just wanted the dash of earthy orange for the GMT hand , but I did not want to add any because I didn't want , I was afraid for the watch to look quirky and like too much information .

Then you don't understand , like you miss the entire point , you don't see the whole song . So then I was okay , what about ? We do not divide the sixes ? What happens ? So you have the choice between making a longer day or a longer night , and we all busy men , we all live in 2024 , where everything goes way too quickly .

It was like , yeah , my day is much longer than my night . I look tired , I know I don't sleep enough , nights are short .

So , okay , it's a positive thing to have a longer day segment , because when you see your day on 24 hours , like I have more time , that's daylight , that's activity time and anyway , the transition from day to night is not a switch at 6 am and 6 pm .

It's very subjective , depending on where you live , where you reside in the world , what day of the year it is . So having an even split , if you think about it , it doesn't make much sense anyway to start with .

And then for the longest time the GMT hand was an arrow and it looked okay but it didn't look Sarah kind of , and for a month I was it's great but it's not it . It's good but it's not it . I need my own shape , but I did not want to add any quirky shape that comes out of nowhere , because I'm here to build on my own design language .

I'm not here to find another solution out of the blue when I need one . After many , many weeks and months about not seeing it , I looked at the 5303 and I saw the shape of the index linked to the minute track . You know those satellite hour indexes and if you just rotate this 180 degrees then you have a lollipop hand .

So that big , broad lollipop design was already present in the 5303 . And then I put it on my design and I was like I giggle , like a little child . I was like fuck , that was it . You know , as simple as it seems it was here . It was here all the time and I couldn't see it .

So that's a tiny little design thing that I yeah , that I'm very happy about , for sure , because now it looks like a serica how ?

I'm still a kid . That's what got it all started , you know . So , obviously , when we started the company , you always start with what you love most , and we started with the Field Watch and the Dive Watch , the GMT , and right now Serica obviously looks very much like a tool watch brand and that's what we do . That's who we are , that's for sure .

But in the future , obviously , I'd like to show people that Serica does not only know how to manufacture two watches . I mean , we make sports watches because even if tomorrow we set ourselves on designing a dress watch , a shaped watch , a super slim watch , I still would want this watch to be somehow waterproof , somehow life-proof in a way .

But are many , many , yeah , there's so many directions , of course I want , I want to build women's watches like smaller , smaller watches . I want to have a chronograph , a serca chronograph . I'd love that . Dress , dress watches , I love that too . So there's still a long way to go .

You know , like that , to me the future is already full of so many things that we can do and that still will be very Serica Before I run out of ideas into building Serica . That's a long way to go .

You know , to me , like you've noticed , we're not into limited editions , we're not into collaborations , as you said , because too often it looks to me from the outside like very , very artificial ways to drive sales and to tell people this is not going to last long . There are just a few of them .

If you want one , you need to buy it quick , and that's not the way I want to sell Cerica watches . I know selling a watch to someone who will realize the next day like , oh , I shouldn't have because this watch is not . Wow , this watch is not offering anything special value-added . And finally the watch is in the drawer .

It goes back to the market , to the secondhand . He wants to ditch it . I'm not interested in that . I want people to come to us because they understand the quality of our watches . They understand what is it we do , how relevant it is , the quality of our watches .

They understand what is it we do , how relevant it is , and just how joyful little mechanical objects can get into their lives and keep ticking for the longest time . And once you understand that , then don't rush , because a Cerica watch today will still be a Cerica watch tomorrow and the day after .

So there is no rush there should be no rush into purchasing a mechanical watch anyway . It's not a t-shirt , it's not fast fashion , it's not instant gratification is choosing something very intimate that will remain with you for the longest time , saying that we all have more watches and wrists , obviously , but uh I don't know .

And what that does , I've noticed , at least in my opinion , is it takes the attention away from their core offering , of course , and yeah it , I would say . More often than not you have people purchasing watches for the wrong reasons like you said , you know all this is limited 250 pieces . I gotta buy it like . I'm not sure if I like it .

It looks good on the internet . I'm not sure I'm just gonna buy it , you know um , and then , yeah , they get it , and for whatever reason , it just it doesn't get worn you know , not as appealing as in pictures and oh too bad , but it's uh , yeah , it's not .

And again , you know , as long as I work and design something and it's not shared with the world , it's mine , I can still correct it , I can still , change it , I can still . But once it's out there , there is nothing I can do .

So if I put anything out there in a hurry , if I rush , and it's not exactly as good as I once envisioned , then of course I'm not going to be the only one who notices it . You will not that someone else will .

And it was like , okay , serica , now they try to sell us watches , and of course I enjoy selling watches , because if I do not sell watches , the dream ends and I cannot keep on creating . And it's at the very economical game in which any entrepreneur and company owner has to face , but it doesn't give birth to the same watches or to the same anything really .

If you create something , if your drive is I need to sell watches , I'll make a watch . It's not the same watch , as I want to create something special and I will put it in the life of someone and it will make him happy . It's not the same , not at all . I got interviewed recently by a student .

She was at business school and she was asking me questions about my approach , the market , the needs of blah , blah blah , and I was like the answer is the question is wrong , but I'm going to give you my answer still . Something , a service , a product , anything , really .

Do not think market , do not think profit , do not think like , of course it's part of the thing , but you cannot start with that . Think about what will this object , how will it impact the life of someone ? Because when you give life to an object , you make it for people , for someone that will adopt this idea , this object , in his daily life .

How can it impact positively his life and why would he come to me to get it ? And if you think like that , you don't make the same choices Because when it comes to okay , I can do that it's cheap and I make more money . It was like whoa , whoa , whoa , whoa . What about this way ?

Of course it's way more expensive , but it will be funded on the long run . What difference will it make to the final product in the life of the wearer ? Oh , it will make like very , very simple , very simple example here those do you have any of those Serica's ball straps ? Yes , on the GMT right . Yeah , yeah , I do , I have it on .

I have panerai , like I have a panerai watch , and I mean my rubber strap is like 10 millimeters alone . You know like uh , thick and and yeah , you know it's , but it also looks so unique . It looks like um I don't really know how to describe it like , because it's textured in the in the most unique way , like it looks .

It's very tough to find the , to have the right grain and everything , but it's the only way to be able to , to like to work on the strap that that is that thin and yet rugged and resistant . If you don't do that , it stretches and gets fragile .

So that's why usually people okay , I want to sell a strap that doesn't come back , so I'm going to do a thick layer of rubber or FAM or silicone whatever , and I'm going to make sure it's stuff .

And then , and then you go around the whole day and you're smelling like vanilla on your wrist , like like a baking show . It gives me the worst headache . Um , thank you for not doing that , by the way , it's like , not our thing , not our thing , not our thing .

I think I already know the answer , but I'm going to ask it anyways what is your favorite watch release and why ? And I think I'm just going to guess that it's the 8315 , the travel chronometer .

You know , I'm not , I'm not the kind of guy who changes watches every day or two or every week or every month . I , I like to spend time with my watches , I like to , to create memories with these watches , otherwise it's , I mean , it's not really my watch until I've been wearing it for a long time . That's how I feel .

Um , then I , I wore , I wore the 5303 for the longest time as well , but for the past year , for the past year , year and a half since the first prototype of this one arrived , um , it's been very well , like the . The camera is camera is reversed , it's a bit I don't know . Yeah , yeah , okay , here it is . It's a .

Yeah , it's been very , very much my watch . But I , I tend to , I tend to wear garments in a like earthy , organic shades of Browns , uh , whites , uh , greens . So this really goes well with most of my outfits anyway , and it got this subtle different . I don't know it's . I like the H-15 a lot , plus , I get to play way too much with the 24-hour bezel .

But my twin brother lives in Colombia , in-laws are in Vietnam . We work with the US a lot . My mates from university are in Japan , so you know I always want to know what time it is all around the world like calling them working . So to me it's very I don't know part of the GMT . Complication has always been something I've been fascinated with .

It's long distance traveling , it's different cultures . It's , uh , different cultures . It's uh , yeah , you have , it's the world on your wrist , and how could that be not cool ?

I mean , obviously , I've had them for a few weeks now and hopefully I'll have them for another few more weeks because I'm taking . I'm taking a a trip next week and I wanted to take the entire Serica portfolio because I'm going to a watch club meetup . So , I was just going to say everybody wants to see your brand , everybody wants to see him .

How could I say no to that ? Yeah , yeah . So a lot of people are going to get to see them , and so last week I'm working on a video for glashuta original . Okay , yeah , great and and they sent me a cq for press right .

So I've got like an eleven thousand dollar , twelve thousand dollar cq divers watch sitting there and I have it for like uh , like five days or something or , like you know , like four days , like a small period of time . But you guys have essentially sent me your , your entire

portfolio . I'm like here , just send it back whenever and you would think , based upon the time I have with the cq versus the time I have with your watch , is you think logically that I would wear the cq right to experience it while I have a shorter period of time with it .

But you know , here I , here I am , you know , with the 5303 , like and I I just I haven't , I haven't taken it off and the best compliment ever man , it's something that I do . I change watches all the time .

I literally change watches because I have every dream watch Not to toot my own horn , but I have every little boy's dream of watches , so I can grab any of them , you know , at any point , and uh , and I keep everything in my safe , right so , but there's , there's a watch that I will sleep next to right and and yeah , since this has came in , like it's very

rare for me to wear a watch for three days in a row , like it's impossible , it never happens .

No , no , no , no , no . What's at the end of the day and the end of your life , because tomorrow we'll all get there Like what watch will be more important ? The one you choose to wear every day or the one you wear once a year , like at New Year ?

You know , is it the watch that your friends and your family , and maybe your sons and daughters , have seen you wearing during your entire life Like the most ? Or is it that great thing that stayed at the safe and , for me , the ultimate ? That's what it is .

I mean , I might not have every little child's dream watch in the safe , but , uh , but I have a few . I have a few sure , sure , sure and I mean I do not feel that as they're at the safe and I do not feel the need to . I don't feel any better wearing an old sub or an old speedy or even something like .

And I do wearing these because they tick all my boxes in a way . You know , and that's the ultimate test , because the daily beater , the so-called daily beater , is the one you pick in the morning and put on your wrist . It's the most intimate watch , it's the most important to me .

So making that daily beater a real beautiful watch you know , it's just , it's a sentimental value is everything . But when the sentimental value applies to a real nice , beautiful thing , that is fireworks man , it's just , it's just too good , you know .

I know that sounds so weird to say but that , that , like you know , obviously when I got married I was like I'm you know . I can only get married in one watch . Right Like so yeah , yeah .

That was a speedy Um and and so yeah , like I like if , if anything were to happen to that watch , like I would just be devastated because it not only was it the watch that I got married in , but it was the first luxury watch purchase that I made . So you know , like , I had this one .

Yeah , like the like , it was my first grail acquisition , right , um , and then I've just spiraled from there like into a crazy abyss . But , um , it's a challenging thing because I want to wear a lot of these watches that I have , but I don't want to lose that importance that comes with owning them you know , does that make ?

Good luck , good luck with that . Some of them are like yeah , I like to go to my museum sometimes as in the safe I open and that's nice . I clean them . I like to wear them . I like to wear them . That's nice . I clean them , I like to wear them . I like to wear them .

And if I don't , I feel that this beauty , this instrument , is kind of like wasted . No , it's like it could have a very adventurous life , and it's actually already in a nursery home . That's how I feel about the watch . Of course , I would not swim and dive and I would not travel to Brazil with a Patek .

I'm not stupid either , sure , but if I , yeah , I don't know it needs to get some wrist time , otherwise it gets lonely .

, I know I'm gonna start putting watch on my ankles and necks and stuff now . You know , like rihanna and stuff , um , but but no , like there there's . You know I'm not . I'm not just saying this because you're on the podcast , but I'm trying to to expressively say what I've thought about for over a week now .

You know how to bring to words , you know , I knew you were coming on the podcast and you know we've been planning this for a while . Um , but how I could explain romantic and charming and familiar about your watches ?

There is no sharp angle in any fonts and when trying to explain that back in 2019 , I was telling my friends , like yeah , because a functional instrument is not good enough , I , I want romance , and you said the word romantic and the romance is to me that's what it is , because it's a very special emotion and feeling that you get out of wearing this watch .

It's , it's not just a tool that tells time . It's , of course , it is a tool that tells time , but it also carries I don't know , a dream , an era , a story , something that is yet to be created and lived with the watch , but it's ready to take it on . You know , it's like give me , give me memories , I can take that .

You know , in a way , I don't know if it makes sense .

You know , okay , I like the panerai , I like the , the , the arabic , you know the loom , like the sub-second boom . You know I like the crown guard and then , okay , I like the , the um . You know the uh the date . Just you know , I have a date just with the fluted bezel , jubilee and the cyclops and the . You know the uh the date .

Just you know I have a date just with the fluted bezel , jubilee and the cyclops and the .

You know the green romans , the , the wimbledon , and like um , and so I , I find I find little things that I appreciate about watches , but there's never , like , after I wear a watch , like I don't generally get full , you know what I mean , like I'm trying to bring that so it's like you like you get like , after a while it fades , like the emotion kind of

fades .

You plop down , you sleep in the same place that you , you fell into um , and so all the watches that I own are like snacks you know like I'll pick up a snack because I'm , you know I want to feast , you know I want to put , you know I want to eat a little something right I hear , but but , but something that's weird and I can't believe .

I'm comparing your watch to a meal um but but , but no , like I I feel like full , you know um , when I'm wearing I mean specifically the 5303 um Because , like I said , I mean it's just I don't know it .

Just it satisfies me in multiple different ways that I haven't been satisfied before , especially like the way the bracelet integrates to the case , like and just the comfort of the bracelet . I mean the bezel , I mean it's just so good . And yeah , I mean the case architecture , like how robust it feels while still being a compact package , arguably .

And yeah , I just I don't know , I didn't know it's so . That's my rant .

And again it's coming back to what we said earlier beauty it's like beauty . An object of beauty is a work of love . It starts from a vision , it starts from a will , and then it's like doing your homework and doing the work like till the very end , till you're very satisfied in each and every tiniest little detail that will compose the entire thing .

And , and again it's like we're talking watches , obviously , but it works just as well for a meal . You want a beautiful meal or you want a crap one . You want a beautiful relationship or an ugly one . You know , it's the same thing .

Really , it comes back to beauty , because those values , this love , that's what has been put into the design , into the watches , into the brand , into everything that we're trying to get out there .

And I'm happy that people feel it and see it , because it's my job to think about all these tiny little details , it's my job to choose and to send the message out there . But there is absolutely no guarantee that it will be understood , you know , because it's so intangible .

I mean , obviously the design choices are tangible , but what's behind the , the intention behind it ? It's , it's in , it's into thin air , it's not , it's not printed on a page , you know it . It's just something that is felt . We talked about the romance earlier .

The fact that people can feel that and the fact that it echoes louder and louder and that this nuance , these subtle little things because a serica watch is not a loud watch that it's recognized in a way , it makes me really , really happy .

You know it's , and right now we've been doing not collaborations , but we I met so many amazing people since we started Serica , people that I would have never met otherwise , for sure . We we make watches for the , the US Secret Service in Paris . We did watches for École de Guerre .

We're working on some special projects , but the fact that those guys from intelligence agencies and high-end government protection departments they see that when I design a watch again , we're going back to James Bond . But that's who I wanted to be as a child and I was like , yeah , what would James Bond wear today ?

I mean , if you want to impersonate elegance within action , you don't think Jason Bourne , you think James Bond , right , yeah , yeah , yeah . And that's what I'm trying to convey with the watches as well . But the fact that these guys I did not knock at any door , I did not go there trying to sell them , my watches . They all came into the shop .

I was like that's what we want , that's why we want . So it's kind of a full circle and it's uh , I mean it's great . I couldn't be happier about that what ?

He bought a Rolex because of James Bond and he showed up at the casting with his own personal watch . It was a Rolex . So that's the power of such a timeless character that still makes every little boy fantasize about his life .

Right now , we have only one boutique in Paris and we sell watches online , obviously worldwide , but not so many people , as you said , have the opportunity to feel the watches in a medal and pop them on the wrist , and I think it's a shame .

So in the next decade , yeah , if I was to see Serica boutiques worldwide where people can actually get in , hear the story , spend a good moment , get to know firsthand and see and touch and feel the wonderful watches that are yet to be created , that would be a very bright future for us , for sure . And it's not so much about I want to make more watches .

No , it's true , I want to share the love with more and more people , because , of course , there are a lot of relevance in this offering , into what we're trying to create , but most future Serica owners do not know the brand just yet . But most future Serica owners do not know the brand just yet .

So I think the next decade and the next , it's about keeping working equally hard in order to keep on producing like , staying true to our vision basically , and never to compromise with this , but then also to make the world know more about Serica watches , and that will go through making them actually be able to see the watches for real , for sure .

Is there anything you feel like we did not talk about that you want the listener , the audience , the customer to know that we did not talk about ?

You know , it's very important for me to share the very reason why we do things , because that's that's how you understand more . You know , like a watch , like anything else , is only understood by the knowledge you had of it . Like , of course , you have the first visual contact with it .

I like it , I do not like it , but sometimes , like I don't really like it , but maybe I I'm missing something , maybe I don't understand it . And then when you know the reason why it was born this way or what fueled the creative process that gave birth to such a thing , then you start liking it . I don't know if you're into music as well .

And the example I usually take when I'm at the boutique with people it's you know , and it happened to me , you know , for the longest time , because my dad was , and still is , a really big jazz fan .

I was fed with jazz music for my earliest days and it's a music I still listen to a lot these days , and so I used to listen to Billie Holiday , for example , and Lester Young . And you can listen to my man and it's a great tune and you can hear suffering .

You can hear it's like plaintive , it's very deep , it's very powerful , and then , like where did it come from ? Is she just like a great interpreter ? Like what did she go through ? And then you learn about her life , and then you learn about the relationship she had with Lester Young , which is the very guy blowing the horn in the back when she sings my man .

And then you hear something else entirely . So I think back to the watches . I like seeing a Serica watch online as okay , it's pretty fine , and then you get to learn what's behind the passion that was fueled into a watch .

You get to learn what's behind the passion that was fueled into a watch , the work that was necessary to achieve something as great in the metal that it once was in my little head . And when you know all that process , I think you see something differently .

It's not just oh , it's quirky , oh , it's different , oh , I don't know , it was like it can turn that into oh , but it actually makes sense , and that's the reason why it's important to tell the story .

Oh well , this watch has 300 meters of water resistance , it's a 40 millimeter case , uh , it's got super luminova and it's seven thousand dollars , you know , or whatever , right um and and beyond that , um it . It doesn't do the consumer any . It's like you know . It's just like a white , a white sheet , right like .

You can go online and look at your favorite car and see , oh , it's got this size engine , it's got that , uh , but until you drive it like you don't know and you , you do get a lot of driving , you know , at these boutiques , right , getting hands-on , um , but you know a lot of the .

The stories about cars get lost within the manufacturer , right , because the manufacturing processes are so vast there's there's so complex , right ? Um , I mean , I can't interview , like the , the owner of audi , like the original owner , like the original out .

why you exist , why you're unique , how your approach is different , seeing your passion , seeing your creativity , getting to experience that with you through outlets like ours , is very important to us .

Thank you very much .

Thank you very much everybody , thank you so much , bye .