Text and all photos by Thomas, watchesandwords (Instagram), October 2025

„In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.
You find the fun and snap! The job´s a game.“
(Mary Poppins, philosopher)

In my opinion, there are too many wristwatches anyway, with many new models and entire brands being added every year. And many of them are, in my opinion, often insignificant. Quite a few collectors and enthusiasts i meet have long since found their cherished dream watches or favourite pieces and are happy with them. That’s why i personally find it all the more interesting to discover something new, different, special and meaningful, more than just a new watch. In my opinion, that happens rather rarely.

 

KERIS is a small company near Neuchâtel with five people and a few freelancers around: Marie-Aude Acker, Guillaume Sireyx, Benoit Ducray, Yaelle Beatrix and Vincent Cotrait. They can be found in their workshop or at the many shows and events in Geneva throughout the year (EPHJ, Geneva Watch Days, Watches and Wonders). And over the last three years, KERIS has consistently showcased unusual products that visitors have talked about. Above all, however, they have sparked interest every time, not only in the community of Fifth Wrist, but among many other enthusiasts. And at every meeting, i feel the special calmness that is so typical KERIS, and i find myself thinking, „i want to be that cool too.“

The products i discover at KERIS year after year are different. Every time i’ve been to KERIS, i’ve had the feeling: this is exactly what i want, why has no one thought of this before, fabulous. Because more and more often, i don’t want a new, rare watch at all, but time and again i am faced with a problem related to watches and i can’t find a good solution on my own. It all seems so easy from their point of view. The job seems to be a game at KERIS (as Mary Poppins sees the world).

 

Serenity at KERIS

Logically, i didn’t ask Marie-Aude and Guillaume about production figures, spare parts, key figures or components, but first about the reason for their calmness and lack of tension; and short after whether there is anything that annoyed or displeased them. Perhaps it is this balance, this serenity, this lack of tension that is evident in KERIS products. Both in the well-designed „Watch on the Wall“ and in the clarity of the „Mechanical Wonders“). In any case, this became clear to me during my visit to KERIS.

Finding of the day no. 1: „good people make good products“

 

KERIS is around for about four years now

You can find KERIS near Neuchatel in Corcelles-Cormondreche, Switzerland, in a fancy, cool and old-fashioned office building that was formerly used as the Richemont headquarter. Today, this building is home to many innovative companies. A special relic from Richemont’s past is a pond on the property that is now completely natural, an ecological area in balance, untouched and beautiful.

 

Inside the building, employees work on various tasks within the company and help each other. i get the impression that such a small team has to understand each other both entrepreneurially and personally in order to produce products of the quality and usefulness that KERIS does. The people at KERIS are enviably well-balanced. “Is there anything that bothers you, that annoys you, in the industry, in the region or in general? What causes you difficulties, what would you change if you could?” i wanted to know from Marie-Aude and Guilliome. i ask this question to many of my interviewees to learn something beyond the always beautiful or romanticised world of myths in the watch industry. We tend to imagine every activity as perfect and wonderful. How often have i thought about wanting to go from being a buyer or collector to becoming a manufacturer myself? Certainly not a very good idea.

 

The answer to this question surprised me, because it did not involve worries, fears, dissatisfaction with processes, conditions or bureaucracy, but rather (after some consideration) was: “Little, nothing, no, we don’t know what that is. We solve every problem among ourselves. Everyone brings their own special perspective to the table, and so far, nothing has been able to knock us off balance. What fundamentally annoys us are injustices. But we deal with them together before they affect us or our work.”

Finding of the day no. 2: „fairness plays a crucial role – honesty wins“

 

KERIS is a watchmaking workshop where everything is gigantic

At KERIS and inside the office and workshop, there are spareparts, screws, jewels, ball bearings, balance wheels, gears, dent wheels, escapements lying and standing everywhere – but here, everything is huge. i felt like a dwarf running around in a workshop for mechanical watches. It was incredible. A dream came true. i’ve shrunk and can walk around in my drawers full of watch spare parts. What a journey of discovery. Everything is sorted precisely into boxes, the parts are labelled, clean – none of my own workshops or workrooms have ever looked so perfect and tidy.

 

„At KERIS, we don’t want to do everything. No, we think carefully and thoroughly and only do what no one else does and what we have never done before, but which has a place because it is necessary, because it can solve a problem, because it helps people in a certain situation“ this is how KERIS explains the KERIS approach.

 

ALP Clock, Watch on the Wall and Mechanical Wonders

i have been following KERIS products for a long time. The ALP Clock immediately caught my attention. The ALP Clock is a very large pendulum clock, a wall clock, and it is one hundred percent and fully „Made in Switzerland“. A true Swiss product. For me, the ALP Clock marks the beginning of the KERIS brand. This new and very open interpretation of the traditional Pendule Neuchâteloise  was built in a series of ten pieces (wanna know more about pendules neuchâteloise? click here and scroll a bit down (the editor)). Delivery of this special Pendule has begun. In terms of design, the ALP Clock is not to my taste because i am far too much of a traditionalist when it comes to Pendules. But i admire every manufacturer who produces large-scale clocks today.
There are more than enough wristwatches, but not enough wall clocks, grandfather clocks, desk- or table clocks.

 

KERIS’ creative journey continued with the „WOW – the Watch on the Wall“. The „Watch on the Wall“ is a large display frame made by KERIS to magnify a watch onto a larger display on the owners wall. It is build with a 12-megapixel high-resolution camera and a 4K display for viewing the watch on a 72 x 72 cm screen. You can see your watch, your pocketwatch, from the front or from the movement side in a size which makes every detail visible. i really enjoy this detailed visibility of my pieces a lot. And the watch is simply there, on the wall, day in and day out. This is a great fun and a great pleasure to always see a piece like this. And i feel, the „Watch on the Wall“ is not only made for single customers, for watch lovers, or for collectors, but also for dealers, shops, companies, maybe schools, and retailers. As far as i heard from KERIS, the „Watch on the Wall“ is sold to all kinds of customers all over the world.

 

The third step in the KERIS collection is currently the enlarged construction of the „Supersized Timepieces collection“ – the „Mechanical Wonders“. The „Wonders“ are made to understand the mechanical movement and to make it fully visible in all the characteristic components. And overall it is a phantastic conversation piece, a piece for the office desk, a piece for decorating your home. But it is more than this. It can teach people in any kind of school about watchmaking, it can be used in shops to explain the key mechanism of a watch movement – and why not – simply to show off about a hobby – watch collecting in general.

 

At the moment there are two „Wonders“. Number 1 is called „Push“ and shows the mechanism of an automatic winding rotor. But as far as i experienced it, it is much cooler to simply play with the „Push“. i could not stop touching the winding rotor the full long time i visited the KERIS workshop. Very childish, but that´s the way it is.
And besides, I found it very calming or meditative.

 

Wonder Number 2 is called „Meca01“. This piece shows a full hand-wound movement. i have never been so into a movement (not with a large pocketwatch, not with a Pendule or a wall clock), because the „Meca01“ shows an anchor escapement so large, so close, so fully visible. Awesome. Like a toy car or a mechanical miniature of a steam engine.

 

i heard that there will  be a Wonder Number 3 coming in the next few months, but i do not know what we will see next (maybe at Watches and Wonders 2026).
Each „Wonder“ is limited to 100 pieces (and all are sold out at the moment). Whenever a collection is sold out, that execution is no longer available. Not to forget: the „Mechanical Wonders“ are also available as DIY-boxes (with the appropriate tools and assembly instructions)!

 

Forgot something? What does KERIS stand for? And my last piece of advice?

Finally, i have to give the answer to the question about the name KERIS. „Why KERIS?“ Marie-Aude explains „the name KERIS is composed of the names of the two founders, Marie-Aude Acker (KER) and Guillaume Sireyx (IS), with a few superfluous letters omitted“.

And of course i can only ever advise everyone to visit KERIS. Whether at Watches and Wonders, Geneva Watchdays or at EPHJ, a meeting and a talk with KERIS is always time well spent. Asking questions, talking, seeing – it’s always a good experience. They are among the most polite and friendly people you can meet, and they are full of knowledge and great ideas.