The Real Time Show – Geneva Watch Days 2025

Guest: Manuel Emch (Kollokium, Louis Erard)
Hosts: Rob Nudds & Alon Ben Joseph
Date: September 5, 2025
Special Host/Guests in This Episode: Ariel Adams, Ben Clymer

Episode Overview

This episode, recorded live at Geneva Watch Days 2025, focuses on the artistry, innovation, and resilience behind the latest collaborations between Manuel Emch and his brands, Kollokium and Louis Erard. The discussion dives deep into the democratization of Métiers d’Art in watchmaking, the challenges and triumphs of creating hand-engraved pieces in Ukraine during wartime, pioneering new dial techniques, and defending the role of true creativity in the industry.

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Hand-Engraved Watches: Democratizing Métiers d’Art

(00:23–04:38)

• Launch & Reception: Manuel and his team launched a new hand-engraved watch, which quickly sold out. This is notable in an era when “limited editions don’t really sell out.”

  • “It’s gone, it’s sold out.” (01:05, Manuel Emch)
  • “I thought you were talking about wholesale price when you mentioned the price. And even that’s low.” (08:04, Ariel Adams)

• Resilience and Story: The hand engraving is done in Ukraine, initiated during the war. The process is slow, personal, and symbolic of resilience.

  • “It’s more than a watch, it’s a lifetime story. It’s about resilience, it’s about actuality, you can even call it geopolitics if you want.” (01:35, Manuel Emch)
  • “At the very beginning, they obviously needed generators for electricity, and they could only access it at night because it was restricted energy. So again, it’s the whole story.” (03:19, Manuel Emch)

• Collaboration Origin: Connection made through hi-fi icon Mark Levinson, who, after sheltering refugees, discovered the engraver via a shared interest in watches.

  • “One of the women showed him some pictures of a friend who was doing engravings. And that’s how we started the whole story.” (03:35, Manuel Emch)

2. The Art and Difficulty of Hand Engraving

(04:38–06:07)

• Technical Challenge: True hand engraving—especially in steel—is rare and arduous. Each case takes approximately 40 hours and is nearly impossible to fix if a mistake is made.

  • “Imagine 40 hours long. You need to create relief depth because there are different depths and there is no regular motif in there. One mistake and you’re gone.” (05:13, Ariel Adams)
  • “The most difficult thing there is is engraved steel...this can only be done by hand.” (05:14, Ariel Adams)

• Humanity in Imperfection: The beauty lies in the tiny differences and the touch that only handcraft can provide—contrasting with machine/laser methods.

  • “You look at it, you understand. It can only be hand engraved.” (06:00, Manuel Emch)

3. Pricing, Value, and Accessibility

(06:38–08:11)

• Value Proposition: Price point is CHF 5,450 / $10,000 (for US buyers, due to USD/CHF rate and tariffs). Exceptionally low for true hand engraving.

  • “It’s probably the best value proposition that we have done so far with Louise.” (08:11, Manuel Emch)
  • “There are not many that can still do it. Well, I have difficulties finding them for my jewelry.” (07:57, Ariel Adams)

• Market Impact: Sizable chunk of sales comes from the online channel, with high demand particularly from US collectors who appreciate the uniqueness and story.

4. Wood Marquetry: Bringing the Old Art to the Modern Watch

(09:52–10:49)

• Technique Explored: The podcast shifts to another Métiers d’Art—wood marquetry—explaining the intricacies and perfection required, especially in geometric (rather than organic) forms.

  • “When it’s geometric forms, which we did, the eye will catch any imperfections.” (10:27, Manuel Emch)

• Production Realities: Extremely limited production due to complexity, sometimes taking years for small runs.

  • “We’re talking five years for 99 pieces. He can make two or three dials a month. That’s it.” (10:41, Manuel Emch)

5. New Launch Revealed: Contemporary Gold Thread Dial

(11:03–13:32)

• Reveal & Features: Manuel unveils a new piece with a stunning textile-like dial using gold thread, engineered with a patented process.

  • “It’s a kind of contemporary Meti d’Art. Two engineers who transformed machines that were used for it, slowed them down and actually are threading gold needles.” (12:13, Manuel Emch)

• Availability & Craft: Limited to 99 pieces, recently launched, still available at time of recording. Each piece aims to push the bar higher in craft and complexity.

  • “Every watch has to be better than the watch before...in terms of crafts, it’s really pretty incredible.” (12:53, Manuel Emch)

6. Pushing Contemporary Art in Watchmaking

(13:52–14:15)

• Modernizing Tradition: Emch discusses breaking from “dusty” traditional motifs and making artisanal techniques relevant to contemporary collectors.
  • “In Metidar, it’s not just about democratizing the Metidar. It’s also to make them somehow contemporary.” (11:25, Manuel Emch)
  • “I love geometric forms because they give contemporarity.” (11:25, Manuel Emch)

7. Kollokium’s Creative Drops & Innovations

(14:15–18:39)

• Lumicast/Lich Block Dials: Innovating with luminescent ceramics, stacking dials, and patenting new construction methods.

  • “We developed that technique, which some people know it, Lumicast, which is basically casted super Luminova in ceramics.” (14:15, Manuel Emch)
  • “It’s one dial which is made out of 67 dials...when you know how complicated sometimes dial feeds are, it’s been very, very complex.” (15:53, Manuel Emch)

• The Drop Model: Releases structured around themed ‘drops’ each trimester (“Friends, Family, Fools, and Flippers”).

  • “Now Friends, Family Fools and Flippers edition. And it’s pretty cool.” (15:09, Manuel Emch)

• Pipeline & Strategy: Focus on innovation, new technologies, and a deep product pipeline (70 novelties planned over three years).

  • “For me the number one value of a company in the watch industry is its product pipeline.” (17:01, Manuel Emch)

8. The Watch Industry: Creativity, Challenges & Change

(18:39–22:23)

• Creativity Before Heritage: The conversation sharpens into a philosophy of product-first, with creativity and agility as the heart of future-beating watchmaking.

  • “I talked about product comes before brand comes before origin. We’re moving away from consumer good into a kind of art product.” (19:09, Manuel Emch)
  • “I think what will make us successful is the capacity to reinvent ourselves.” (21:45, Manuel Emch)

• Embracing Market Complexity: Industry disruption (tariffs, international issues) is framed not as an obstacle, but as vitalizing and forcing innovation.

  • “We’re a creative industry. And what creative industries are, is reinventing, is creating, is innovating...problems are there to be solved.” (20:41, 21:45, Manuel Emch)

• Empowerment of Collectors and Brands: The market’s shift means empowered customers, more direct interaction, and thriving off the challenge to “do better, take more risks, innovate, create.”

  • “The customer is empowered. Okay? Customer wants, the customer exchanges, interacts. It’s not about how good your distribution is…It’s about how creative, how agile, how innovative, how daring you are.” (20:41, Manuel Emch)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the meaning of the Ukraine engraving project:
  “It’s more than a watch, it’s a lifetime story. It’s about resilience, it’s about actuality… it’s been very, very challenging to bring over the cases to Ukraine.”
  — Manuel Emch (01:35)

• On the value of craft:
  “Imagine 40 hours long. You need to create relief depth because there are different depths and there is no regular motif in there. One mistake and you’re gone.”
  — Ariel Adams (05:13)

• On industry mindset:
  “We’re a creative industry. And what creative industries are, is reinventing, is creating, is innovating.”
  — Manuel Emch (20:41)

• On pushing for the future:
  “For me the number one value of a company in the watch industry is its product pipeline…not what they do today, is what they will do tomorrow.”
  — Manuel Emch (17:01)

Notable Timestamps

• 00:23 — Manuel Emch discusses how hand-engraved watches sell out quickly and their value proposition.
• 01:35 — Story behind the Ukrainian engravers and the human element of the project.
• 05:13 — Ariel Adams explains the difficulty of deep relief hand engraving in steel cases.
• 06:41 — Pricing and US sales breakdown; accessible Métiers d’Art.
• 10:27 — The challenges of wood marquetry with geometric forms.
• 12:13 — New gold-threaded dial revealed; technical description.
• 14:15 — Details on the latest Kollokium drop and “Lumicast/Lich Block” process.
• 17:01 — Manuel Emch’s philosophy on the primacy of a product pipeline.
• 19:09 — Watch industry as an art product, not a consumer good.
• 21:45 — On the perpetual drive for innovation and risk-taking in the industry.

Conclusion

This episode is a dense, passionate exploration of where artisanal craft and contemporary watchmaking intersect, as embodied by Manuel Emch’s work for Louis Erard and Kollokium. Highlighting human stories, technical milestones, bold philosophies, and a focus on the future, the conversation is a must-listen for anyone passionate about horological artistry, the meaning behind the object, and the direction of modern watchmaking.