Meet your Micro Makers – Ilan Srulovicz from Egard Watches

This feature on Microbrand Watch World is about introducing the people behind our favourite watches to the world. This week we talk to Ilan Srulovicz from Egard Watches.

Welcome back to Meet Your Micro Makers! it’s been a while since our last one what with the holidays and all but we’re back now with our first interview of the year with the founder of Egard Watches.

Tell us a little about yourself and your brand.

My name is Ilan Srulovicz. I started Egard Watch Company approximately 5 years ago in an attempt to design a timepiece for my father as a “tribute” piece. I spent a year working on the design and manufacturing and managed to complete my first timepiece which was called “The Shade”. My father loved it and we put it on a forum and many people asked to buy the timepiece and that’s how the company began. It is built on the philosophy that timepieces are more than just instruments to tell the time but are art pieces that can be worn and passed up or down from family members or close friends. I am always striving to challenge myself and design outside the box and take risks which is something I believe makes the brand somewhat unique in today’s market. I have a background in pre-vis which I use to create 3D elements to our timepieces. Until today my father still gets one of each new timepiece I create no matter what.

Who is your ideal customer?

I love people who are passionate about timepieces, about art and about owning something more boutique and unique that is not mass produced. There is a strong emotional connection for me with my pieces so any customer that relates and feels that the pieces reflect a part of themselves is what I hope for. As I said I don’t believe a watch is as simple as something you put around your wrist and forget about. They represent us. I also love hearing that our watches are given as gifts to loved ones as on some fundamental level the brand was built around this notion.

What motivated you to become a watchmaker?

I touched on this earlier but the desire to make something special for my father was the driving factor. All the watches I liked were either far too expensive or not unique and I wanted to make something more personal for him. My background in design and Prev-is helped the process but the passion to make art that can be worn for the people I care about was really what started the company and kept it going.

What are you working on at the moment?

We did a wonderful collaboration with William Shatner last year entitled Passages which we now recently have new inventory of with a stunning metal bracelet. Those are coming to an end of their limited edition run. We plan on doing some other very unique watches this coming year in collaboration with some celebrities who are driven by the desire to make watches for their family members. We don’t do “endorsements” as our projects are true collaborations where we design the pieces together and make sure that they represent the vision of everyone involved.

What are your plans for the year ahead?

To limit our collection slightly and make iconic pieces that represent the brand. We plan on upping our quality wherever we can and finding unique movements that are less commonly used. We hope to potentially start making in house movements as well in the next year if business goes well.

We have some great fans of the pieces as well as many actors who like to sport our timepieces at events.

Thanks Ilan! to learn more about Egard please visit their website and social media channels listed below.

Website: egardwatches.com

instagram: egardwatchco

twitter: @egardwatchco