A brand that echoes my vision. ELKA Watch Co. will be launched in 2022. How and why? I dreamt of developing my own brand but above all I wanted a brand with a story, truth & credibility. I chose to call it by my nickname, ELKA. Since I love the 60s, the products and the aesthetics of that era I have decided to make it my design line for this and future collections. When I wanted to protect the name, I realised that a brand called Elka Watch had already existed but had disappeared around the 60s & 70s precisely during the timeframe that I have chosen to base my designs on. This defunct Elka Watch was named after Eduard Louis Kiek from Amsterdam. I looked through its archives and realised that the brand had strong designs and had worked closely with other big names in the watch industry such as Ulysse Nardin, Heuer, Rolex, Minerva, to name only a few. So, without reviving the brand, I wanted to pay a tribute to this old Dutch brand with my first 2 series.
Why ELKA
The ELKA Watch Co. of 2022 has no connection with the defunct Amsterdam brand. We just wanted to pay a tribute to the old Dutch brand with our first 2 models. About them : Founded in 1877 in Amsterdam by Eliazer Kiek, inventor of the tactile watch for the blind and watchmaker to Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. In 1949, the Elka Watch en Clock Company Amsterdam opened its Swiss branch in La Chaux-de-Fonds (it produced wristwatches of course but also pocket watches, braille watches, chronographs, chess and signal clocks). Then, in the mid-1970s, the brand disappeared along with Ernst Louis Kiek, grandson and last heir.
ELKA Watch en Clock Company Amsterdam