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INTERVIEW

Emeric Delalandre (SK 2016) makes Watchmaking evolve

25 March 2020 INTERVIEW

Emeric Delalandre, a SKEMA graduate of the Class of 2016, has co-founded Hegid a young French company which invented a dressing complication for mechanical watchmaking. The French brand has created, entirely independently, a timepiece that stands out by innovating differently, by rethinking the use of a watch. Make your Evolution". Make your Evolution, whether in the head or on the wrist. Emeric shares with us how this wonderful watchmaking story started. 

 

Can you tell us a little about you, your background, your studies at SKEMA?

I’m 26; I’m originally from Normandy, where I grew up in a family of industrial sector workers.

After studying engineering at Ecole Centrale de Lille, where I earned a degree in industrial and entrepreneurial engineering, I joined SKEMA. I did the MSc in Global Luxury Management, a double-degree programme, partly in North Carolina and partly in France. After several experiences in luxury retail in France and luxury marketing in the USA plus a stint at Apple, I devoted myself, along with my associates, to my mechanical watch business, Hegid.

 

And entrepreneurship?

It’s a quest for adventure, responsibility and independence. I don’t know why, but even as a child I dreamed of setting up my own business, of sharing my professional goals with others, of enabling others to blossom through their work, and of becoming financially invested in a cause that would concern me personally. In my business there are also the customers who buy our products. They are people who are free and creative, who build their watches and their destinies themselves, daily, and it’s emotionally very powerful to feel that sense of gratitude. There are also our partner craftspeople and manufacturers that produce very high-quality watches; we enable them in part to sustain their know-how and expertise locally.

 

Tell us about Hegid. How it was established, its story, how it’s developing, etc.

Hegid is a young house helping luxury watchmaking to evolve thanks to a unique patented innovation. Launched in late 2018, the Paris-based brand produces customisable mechanical watches in France. These are sold by several renowned retail outlets, including Printemps Haussmann.

I started Hegid with my former boss and his brother, Gregory, while I was an intern in the luxury sector during my studies. Henrik (my business partner) already had the Hegid invention in mind at that time. The customisable watch idea was fine-tuned, to eventually become what Hegid is technically and commercially today. I contributed to the creation of the business by being the “catalyst”, the one who triggered each of us to leave our salaried positions to devote our next years to making watchmaking evolve. I’m in charge of the brand’s marketing, something that is vital for the company because we have to exist alongside Swiss giants that have been known around the world for decades.

 

What are the next steps for Hegid?

I hope to see many Skemans wearing Hegid watches. Seriously though, Hegid is gradually growing and making a name for itself in the world of luxury watchmaking. There are already Hegid watches in the four corners of the world, but that’s just the start. It’s very early days yet. Over the coming years, the brand needs to build its reputation, the teams must grow and the products must stand the test of time. We are going to continue to have fun and let time take its course, while promoting our French identity. As long as our approach remains sincere, I think everything should go well. We’ve already been approached by some big players, but Hegid remains our baby.

 

In what ways has your experience at SKEMA or with the alumni network helped you in getting this venture off the ground?

During my final year at SKEMA, I got the chance to work on my entrepreneurial project directly with luxury sector professionals. That taught me a lot. I also gained a lot of operational skills in the luxury market towards which I was heading. And it gave me the chance to start building my business network. Today, I have customers, suppliers, distributors and consultants among SKEMA’s alumni, and I hope some will soon be Hegid employees.

 

Any final words?

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have helped us along the way, notably certain friends and contributors met at SKEMA. We started working on Hegid in 2015 and since then dozens of men and women have participated in some way in this incredible adventure. Hegid unites. That is our greatest source of pride.

 

To find out more, visit Hegid or contact Emeric Delalandre

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