In this episode of The Analog Explorer, I sat down with Jérôme Burgert, designer and co-founder of Serica Watches, right off the floor of the inaugural Vancouver Timepiece Show. Serica is one of those brands that has been on my radar since day one thanks to its minimal, purposeful aesthetic and the rare balance it strikes between elegance and adventure.
For Jérôme, good design isn’t about chasing trends or copying vintage cues, it’s about capturing emotion through form, all while building something that can take a hit and keep ticking. “Why choose between pretty and robust?” he asked. “When you don’t have to choose, it becomes the watch you just reach for every day.”
“Why choose between pretty and robust?…When you don’t have to choose, it becomes the watch you just reach for every day.”
-Jérôme Burgert
That philosophy shows up clearly in the 5303 dive watch. Complete with its unique twin-scale bezel (that I adore), combining hour and minute tracking on a split-material ceramic and steel insert, it’s a tool watch that doesn’t shout, but definitely speaks.
We dug into Serica’s design ethos, from sterile dials to intentionally restrained branding. The goal? Make the watch speak for itself. “If I have to slap a big logo on it to be recognized…” Jérôme said, “it’s not good enough.” Instead, Serica puts design through its paces until it’s strong enough to stand alone, whether worn under a suit cuff or strapped over a drysuit cuff.
Serica’s current catalog stretches from robust field/dive watches to the refined yet capable Parade 1174, a watch that Jérôme wears daily as it earns the kind of patina only a year of real-world wear can create. Even with the abundance of polished services, he sees patina “…like wrinkles on a beautiful face,” he said. “Would you rather age with memories, or look like a statue?”
We also looked ahead at what’s next for Serica: more colorful expressions of the Parade, development of a new dive watch (known now as 5303, which I got to see without a camera in hand), and a chronograph project slowly (and thoughtfully) cooking. Jérôme hinted that while Serica will stay true to its aesthetic, now that the brand has established a recognizable design language, there’s room to play.
We closed the conversation with a familiar question: Why watches? For Jérôme, it’s about committing to a craft that blends utility, emotion, and legacy. From bartender to watch journalist to co-founder, he found his calling in creating objects that are functional, mechanical, and beautiful.
To see what Serica is building next, visit serica-watches.com and follow @sericawatches on Instagram.
Huge thanks to the Vancouver Timepiece Show for bringing these conversations to life—keep an eye on timepieceshow.com for their next stop in Toronto.
