Loading summary
Transcript36 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign. I am David Vaucher. This is another one in our series of Chronopolis 2026 entries. And today I'm very happy, as always, to be talking French watchmaking with what some might call one of the standard bearers of French watches, that is Serica. So I'm very happy to be joined by Mr. Jerome Berguer and Gabriel Vachette. How are you both doing today?
- [00:26]
B
Very good, thank you.
- [00:27]
A
Fantastic. So, Cerica, it is a brand that I think a lot of people in the watch community may know at this point, but if they don't, what is Sarica and what does it represent for you?
- [00:38]
C
Sarica, Basically, we. I just want to say that we founded the company in 2019, so it's been a while. We're still a very young and independent watch brand, obviously, but we, we keep on doing what we strive for. This is precisely to create watches that are modern, that are. That are to us, that. That creates some magic. And this is for watch enthusiasts that we are obviously, to us, it expresses itself into creating watches that blend elegance with performance, but most importantly in a very singular design language. Our idea here is obviously not to recreate the past, is to learn from the past and then trying to express ourselves in a very creative, personal way, I would say. So Every single Serica watch is, I think, unique by its design, refined by its material and finishings and design and proportions, but also very performant. All the watches are obviously Swiss made, fully automatic. Most of them are Chronometer certified. Some of them come with an entire magnetic construction. Blah, blah, blah. The good stuff, as I used to say. Real watches. Yes, that's what we do.
- [01:51]
A
And Gabriel, so what are your thoughts in it and what's your role within the company in getting Sierra cup off the ground and also continuing on its trajectory?
- [02:00]
B
Made the brand in 2019, as Jerome said. And we have two different roles. We obviously work together every day, every single weekend. Basically. We see each other a lot since these past seven years almost. I'm more in charge of basically growing the company in terms of business, in terms of organization. I. It's. It's mostly a CEO job. We share the whole marketing, communication work together as well. We also like to create content ourselves. We've been working in the watch industry for many years before creating Serica. And we've been used to, let's say, highlight watches from others and of course what we do also trying to do it the best way possible. And we love creating, yeah, Concepts, image and trying to make those watches shine the best way possible. And we try to master it by ourselves. So basically we work together. Jerome is more on the product side. I'm trying to handle the, the growth of the company. We started together with only the two of us the very beginning. Now we have a team of almost 12 to 13 people. We have a boutique in Paris since a few years now, watchmakers in, in house, and yeah, a big team growing. It's a great adventure and we try to keep up the good work.
- [04:00]
A
So I'm gonna start with a. Or continue with a piece of trivia and I hope I'm right. But were you both part of the Rabier blog at some point?
- [04:08]
B
Exactly.
- [04:08]
A
Okay.
- [04:09]
B
That's, that's how we met, actually.
- [04:10]
A
So I'm, I'm a longtime fan of that blog. So great, great job, you guys, for when you did that.
- [04:15]
B
Thank you very much. It's, it's, it's another journey, but it helped us a lot in understanding the industry. It was a great way to be in contact with all the major players in this industry. And it was great. Ten years of meeting all those people and trying on a lot of watches, as you may know. And it helps actually to understand what you like and what you. What you sometimes don't like in watches, and that this is not 100% of the work of creating Serica, but I think it helped us to know exactly what we wanted by creating Serica.
- [05:06]
A
Yeah. So I would say, anyone out there listening, if you manage to meet Jom and Gabriel in person, it is clearly possible for someone to work on a watch blog and make the jump, and other people have since then. But I think you guys were some of the first to do it. So very happy to see it doing so well.
- [05:22]
C
I think it's not so much about being like, switching from one side to the other. It's. It's somehow something very. They say that very logical in a way. You know, like you first, you start like talking watches because you enjoy watches, and then you, you review, you photograph, you learn, you feel, you. And at some point, when the true enthusiasts, you try to understand why it works, why it doesn't, you know, it's, it's very easy to say, I like, I don't like. But understanding why it was allows you maybe to, to take the next step into your own hands and do it in a. I'd say in an educated way. And when, when you see, when you observe, when you try on like all the best watches that have been made in the past and today, you know, the modern and the vintage, it's I don't know. Like, if you keep asking yourself those questions and trying to answer them honestly, not from a marketing point of view, not from a branding point of view, but from a. From a wash, from a design standpoint, in a way, it's. Eventually you start understanding a few things. And I think that's what we did. Yeah.
- [06:37]
A
I'm going to go off on a quick sidebar before I go back into Sirica, but there is actually. Or I don't know if it still exists, but there was a hubby of podcast and a couple years ago you invited an architect on the show and I forget his name, but that is the one. That is the one. For anyone who listens to this show, if you can somehow find that episode and get yourself a transcript now with AI or something like that, or if you speak French, it is one of the best episodes I've ever heard on production design and sensibility. And. And the guest just has a really good way of describing what you just said, Jerome, which is understanding what you like and then trying to articulate how you like it, basically. And I think a lot of that philosophy, maybe you were designing Saraka at the time because it seems like all of the, all of those ideas actually came into your watches.
- [07:28]
C
I mean, Jules and I, we. We share a common appreciation for. For proper design, obviously. And when I say proper design is something that's. That's different, you know, not one of many, but one expression of. Again, it's like personality and singularity are two things that are, I think, very important when it comes to design. Right. But without ever forgetting that the reason why you do things, I mean, a watch, for example, or a piece of furniture or so many things, it's any kind of utilitarian piece of design. Let's not forget about the utility. Of course, we all aim to create beauty in a way, to create something different. But if it does not perform as intended in the first place, then you lose everything. Then you just. You're having fun, but you lose your. You lose yourself in the process. And by staying, like, very much grounded, by always, like, going back to the very essence of the reason why you designed something, then it's a. I mean, it's a good way not to get sidetracked, I think. Yeah, absolutely.
- [08:33]
B
The thing is that actually Jules is working with us and he actually designed the boutique that we have in Paris. And he was the first guy we asked for this particular job because, I mean, he understands. Yeah. And he brought, like, a lot of amazing ideas that actually makes this place very. The first place where you can understand the whole Serica universe and vibe physically.
- [09:10]
A
Yeah. And I think for the audience it's not so much like I'm not throwing these names out just to throw them out, but I think what comes out of this is that maybe up until a couple of years ago, French watchmaking might have been seen as very closed. And now there's a couple of brands that are being brought out more into the open. I think that's a good chance for us to talk Chronopolis and just maybe throwing it back to you, Gabriel, in terms of strategy and marketing, how important is it now? Because there are blogs, because there is the Internet to actually get out to these shows. And given the fact that right around this time mid April, there's not just Chronopolis, there's many others going on.
- [09:47]
B
That's a big one.
- [09:48]
C
Yes.
- [09:49]
A
So. So what was going through your. What's the plan in terms of overall marketing strategy and why specifically this particular one?
- [09:57]
B
Well, it's actually the first time we do an event in Switzerland. It might seem weird because we're very close and we do Swiss watches, but actually I think we waited for the right moment, but also the right partners to do it and when. So the, let's say three brands that co organized the show together with the Haystout team came to us and explained the whole concept. We immediately fell in love with it. Why? Because the concept is great, the name is amazing. The whole thing seems to be one of a kind. And the fact that it's in Switzerland, in Geneva the same time as watches in wonders is both very challenging because bringing people to the show, it's going to be especially the, the press and, and the, let's say the business guys from. In the Swiss industry, it's. It's going to be tricky. But, but they made it and I think that it's. For us, it was instantly. Okay, let's go for it. Marketing wise and business wise, we want to meet as many people as we can, of course from the industry, but mainly people that actually want to discover Sirica. That has never been the chance to try Watchison. And that's why we do so many shows within the year. We've been traveling a lot these past few months. Maybe it shows on our faces, but basically we've traveled in Asia twice in January and February. We're back from Dallas, we're going to the U.S. canada before summer. So there's a lot of different shows in the world. And every time we do this kind of event, we understand that trying watches on the wrist, it's essential to feel the product, to see how it fits, to have time actually to share the whole philosophy behind brands, behind the products. So I would say it's very important to do those kind of events. And Geneva is the first. So we can't wait to see like hopefully a lot of people coming in and we want to be busy from 8 to 8. That's the goal. Right. It's going to be long days, but the goal is to once again to meet a lot of people and explain Serika to everyone that might be interesting
- [13:03]
C
in the brand and hopefully be bound by the enthusiasm of Swiss people.
- [13:07]
B
Of course. Yeah.
- [13:09]
A
Well, I think just based on my small experience at the last watch show, I think if you're there 8 to 8, that might be a short day for you. So I have, I have no, no, no doubts that you will fill your calendars without any issues. One thing I want to talk about though is Sarica is a French watch company, obviously. But how, how important is, or maybe it isn't, but how important is the French aspect of Cereca as a watch company? Is, is French design something that you think appears in the watches? Or are you a watch company that just happens to be based in France?
- [13:42]
C
I would say, I'd say both. Of course we are French, of course we are based in Paris and being, I would say being surrounded by all the kind of like beauty, architecture, culture, paintings, everything that from. From birth basically, and living in Paris does necessarily influence our quest to create something singular and beautiful, obviously. But I wouldn't say French watches were French brand of Swiss watches, as you know. And this is important as well because not, I mean, the Swiss know how to make watches. You have calibers, architecture, and you kept doing it for the longest time. So even if France is obviously one of the cradle of watchmaking, for many years it has been, it is no longer or it is in a very different way than it used to be, at least from a manufacturing standpoint. So I do believe that combining the French je ne sais quoi, maybe that's a good movie with the reliability of Swiss classroomship. I mean, it's a great way to make watches bringing together like the creativity, not to say that Swiss people are not creative, but it's a different culture and you know, like, let's say the Latin and Germany culture in terms of how we translate many things, a vision, how we translate, I don't know, we express feelings, how we translate everything into design. It's very Different. So I think combining both might be a way to find the best of both worlds in a way.
- [15:28]
A
Well, I think the market has clearly seemed to have validated that strategy because your watches, they've I think done very well and they're certainly well, very well reviewed and I think that is a great place to round this interview out. You just released, or I say just, I think your most recent lease was, was a dress watch, which maybe not many people would have expected. So maybe just tell us a few words about that and if you could maybe not so much spoil any surprises that you might be showing at the show, but at least give us a bit of a hint as to what
- [15:57]
C
we might about the Parade. Yeah, it's not the latest release, but it's the latest new collection that we introduced last year. And it's true that it did surprise many people because for the first five years we very much focused on tool watches. But the idea behind Serica has never been to be a tool watch brand. It's always been to offer our vision of watchmaking through different kinds of watches, pieces, typologies of watches. And of course we do enjoy the field watches, the dive watches, the gmt, all those, all those romantic tools of the trade. But in this idea to combine the performance and the elegance, it's the exact same thing that we did with the Parade. We just flipped things around a little bit. Meaning that instead of starting with the very rigid frame of specifications, we did start with the shape, with the elegance, with the finesse. But we did not stop there. Once we had the beautiful, thin, unusual tapes, beautiful object, we did go the extra mile to try to make it truly convenient, meaning fully automatic and also reliable on an everyday basis, meaning truly waterproof. And if you combine specifications with this, any other shape, it's not something that you could find every day. You know, these are not the usual specifications of the dress watch. It's usually something that we, we all love, we all enjoy, but that's, we found out, doesn't get enough wear because of its fragility and its lack of water resistance in many ways. And what we wanted to achieve with the Parade was basically nice, dressier shaped, elegant case for every day. We wanted it to be a no brainer whether you are on a holiday, whether to get into a boat, whether you're planning on going to the beach and you can still look sharp because the watch itself can take it despite the message that it does send visually. Yeah, so it's something very different from what we have been doing so far. Prior to the release. It's also very unusual in terms of combination of shape and specifications. It's not something that you do see on the market much. So yeah, it did surprise a lot of people. But we're very happy that a year later passed the surprise, the token piece, the wandering. Many more and more people are coming to it while. But especially a watch that needs to be put on the wrist. As Gabriel was saying earlier, you know, it's very important to try the watches on the wrist physically, and the parade is one of them because you see the shape, you see the specs, you see numbers on the spec sheet. 41 by 35 by 8.2. What does it say? Not much because of the shape, you know, it's a lug less design. It's fairly unusual. So is it small? Is it big, is it thin, is it thick? It's hard to relate until you put it on the wrist. And when you do, I hope that the magic happens. And sometimes it does. Most of the time it does. For me, it does.
- [19:16]
A
So. So on that point, I presume you'll have plenty of watches to try at the show. Gabriel, will you and Jerome actually be there in person to meet people?
- [19:24]
B
Of course we'll be there. I actually just booked the tickets five minutes ago, so.
- [19:30]
A
Fantastic.
- [19:32]
B
So we'll be there with. With two of our colleagues trying to share time and we'll. We'll come with basically the whole lineup of Serica watches. Plus yeah, the, the new release that we, we presented a few weeks ago, which is 53:30. The diver with the. With the date now and yeah, sharing a lot of watches stories with, with everyone, of course.
- [20:08]
A
Fantastic. Well, if you guys have five or 10 minutes for me, I'll make sure and stop by the booth and then of course, all of our other listeners can come come talk to you guys and try out some watches too.
- [20:17]
B
Please do.
- [20:18]
C
10 hours a day so we'll find time.
- [20:20]
A
Fantastic. Well, look, all you listeners out there, I really hope you enjoyed this episode of the Real Time show with Jerome and Gabor from Saraca. We're very grateful they could spend some time with us. Thank you all so much.