That Good Watch Feeling

I’ve been trying to describe this feeling to my friends. It’s exactly the same feeling for each person-- the only thing that changes is the watch. I can call it a eureka moment but it’s less of an invention. I can relate it to how baby ducklings imprint on their mothers but it’s not that serious. Different for each person but we both know what I’m talking about. The feeling when you try on the perfect piece for you. That good watch feeling.

Jerome from Serica knows this feeling well. I spoke with him at Founder’s Fest briefly, as the jazz died down and the watches that weren’t sold out got packed up in their boxes. What a time was had. I asked Andrea Furlan in Geneva what his goal when he first started out was and he said something so perfectly translatable to the brand- that he wanted to know what it felt like, to be creating watches 50 years ago. This time, I posed the question to Jerome.

“I wanted to make it right.”

Jerome told me about how lucky he felt to have been able to try on a myriad of beautiful, classic watches within his lifetime— and how strongly he felt the difference whenever he placed the right one on his wrist. That good watch feeling isn’t easy to achieve. It definitely wasn’t for him. Forasmuch as I tried, I couldn’t weasel it out of him, what the secret was- how he got the diver’s bezel to turn so satisfyingly perfect on the 5303. All he told me was that it took him a very long time, and it was an incredibly tedious task. From what I can gather, Jerome was answering a question that no one else at the time was asking— what makes a good watch so perfect, each time you put it on? Trying the 5303, 6190, and 7505, though I spoke less with Jerome about techniques, I can see the choices he made that helped answer the question. Silky soft brushing, satisfying clicks and turns, enamel dials, and a fashionable, minimalistic approach to design. Jerome did not start Serica to make money. He started it to create something beautiful— and succeeded.

There are universal truths to Serica that no man can deny— from AR coating on the sapphire crystals, to the happy lack of branding on the dial. The proof is in the pudding— they are consistently out of stock. But the next time you’re in Paris or London or Melbourne or New York try one on. That good watch feeling is euphoric.