Elka Watch – „S05“
You can find Elka Watch in the Swiss Pavilion in Hall A1.309L
The Swiss-made brand launched in 2025 with a limited series of 25 pieces each.
With rich shades of green and burgundy, the new creations join the ranks of the young brand's characteristic models, such as the blue "Essence" model created in collaboration with Ace Jewelers and the amber "Loch Lãt".
What all these watches have in common is their inspiration: elegant timepieces from the 1960s and 1907, as well as their mechanical inner workings. These two new examples of this product philosophy feature a sunburst dial in dark green and burgundy beneath a chevé-box sapphire crystal. The leaf-shaped hands display the precise timekeeping from the La Joux-Perret G100 automatic movement, which offers a 68-hour power reserve. It is protected by a 40.8-millimeter stainless steel case with a screw-down case back.
About Elka Watches
Elka Watches was founded just three years ago. However, looking at the watches and the concept, one quickly gets the impression that the brand has an "old soul" and confidently navigates the watch business. And there are several reasons for this.
One of them is named Hakim El Kadiri.
The Elka founder is no stranger to the watch industry. From 2002 to 2021, he worked for the Swatch Group, including for the brands Swatch, Hamilton, and Rado. Then came the pandemic, knee surgery, and a heart attack. For the 56-year-old, this was a clear sign: "It's time to change my life and reinvent myself."„
He couldn't let go of watches, however. But this time he wanted to combine his passion with the full responsibility of being an independent entrepreneur – all that was missing was the watch brand.
And yes, attentive readers might think that Hakim El Kadiri has founded a completely new brand based on the abbreviation of his last name. But that's not the case.
The second reason for the actually correct impression that one is dealing with a "finished brand" lies in the past:
The historic watch brand Elka was created by Louis Eduard Kiek. He founded a company in 1913 with his father and brother-in-law, which was later called Elka Watch Co. Elka stood for Louis Eduard Kiek's son: Ernst Louis Kiek Amsterdam. A branch in Switzerland was added in 1949.
In addition to pocket watches, wristwatches, and jewelry watches, the company also supplied Braille, chess, signal, and time clocks, among other things. Furthermore, the family operated an exclusive shop in Amsterdam selling watches from Rolex, Ulysse Nardin, Vulcain, Breitling, Universal, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Blancpain, as well as clocks and watches from the Elka brand.
In the 1970s, the brand, like so many others, disappeared under the influence of the quartz watch. Ernst Louis Kiek, the last owner, continued to run the business on Kalverstraat with his wife Edith Verpoort until 2000, before the company was finally dissolved. Since Hakim El Kadiri is particularly fond of watches from past decades, he revived the brand name – with the appropriate initials.
However: „Our 2022 brand has no connection to the defunct Amsterdam brand. We simply wanted to pay homage to the old Dutch brand with our first two models.“
He focuses on the charm of modern Swiss-made watches with vintage-inspired designs. He's not interested in fleeting trends, but rather in beauty and function that stand the test of time.
„I want to develop a product, a brand, that reflects me, a product with a soul, with a story set in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A time that, for me, represents the beginning of a new era. The beginning of modern design, when everything was allowed without restrictions. During this time, there was a diversity of forms and ideas; designers had no limits,“ explains Hakim El Kadiri.
