The Serica Parade Has Something For Everyone

The Serica Parade Has Something For Everyone

Words: Jack Shepherdson
Photos: Georgia Griffiths

We’re currently living through the shaped-watch renaissance. It's not just vintage watches either - brands are jumping on the revival with new shapely releases as well. The Serica Parade is one of these new releases, and we’ve just spent a fortnight with it. It channels the era-defining experimental designs of the 60s and 70s, a time when traditional notions of a watch being either square or round were unshackled, and designers went a little crazy. Serica has followed a similar vein with the Parade, alluding to those vintage designs, yet creating a watch that still feels very contemporary.

Serica is a relatively young brand, born in Paris in 2019, primarily making vintage military-inspired tool watches. Their growth in just a couple of years has been meteoric, creating a line of nicely designed, affordable, well-made tool watches, which has made them a fast favourite for watch enthusiasts. The tool watches, Serica’s bread and butter, draw inspiration from the graphic, monochrome field watches issued to WWII soldiers. With affordable, quirky tool watches conquered, Serica has steered the ship towards something a little dressier with the Parade, their true first watch design.

The steel oval case is just 35mm across, meaning it's delicate and subtle on the wrist. Pay close attention to its construction, made of three stacked bands, topped off with the vertically brushed flat bezel. Serica has paid careful attention to the finishing too, with a combination of brushed and polished finishes, making it feel much more premium than its price would lead you to believe. The crown is hidden away on the right side, blending in with crown guards sculpted into the case, which are mirrored on the left. It does make the Parade just that little bit wider, but it brings the symmetry back to the design. It’s very thin at just 8.6mm thick, yet still has an automatic movement inside. This thin profile is one of its best features, allowing it to blend onto the wrist and not dominate an outfit.

The dial is brass, sunray finished with S-curve engravings (watch nerds call these engravings guilloché) radiating from the centre of the dial. They look beautiful, but they’re functional too. There are 60 engravings, with their tips forming minute markers on the dial, accompanied by steel polished markers on the hours.

The Parade is almost unsigned - it doesn’t have a large Serica name above the centre of the dial - just a tiny ‘Serica Swiss’ signature at 6 o’clock on the dial’s edge. I love this restraint; there’s such a relaxed confidence to keeping a dial clean like this. Yes, the Parade has 100 meters of water resistance and an automatic movement, but unlike so many other watches it resists the temptation to write these facts on the dial and ruin the design. There’s no extraneous design or showing off with the Parade.

Serica has also nailed the strap and buckle. The strap subducts under the case slightly so you can’t see the lugs, a detail we love as it preserves the round case lines, and it’s made of a nicely grained brown calfskin that feels great on the wrist. The steel buckle is oval-shaped with a brushed top and polished side, matching the case shape and finishing exactly. It’s little details like this that elevate a watch - Serica didn’t have to do it, but they did.

Whilst it suits the leather strap, the Parade also works well dressed down on a black smooth rubber strap. With 100m water resistance, that configuration makes it one really special summer beach watch. It’s one of the only ornately designed watches in this price range with water resistance, as most brands don’t put the effort into giving what they classify as ‘dress watches’ adequate water resistance. Nothing’s cooler than being able to wear your favourite watch all year round, tucked under a jumper sleeve in winter, then caked in sand and salt at the beach in summer. The Parade affords you that luxury - it seems to be able to do it all.

In Australia, Serica is exclusively retailed by Time+Tide and is priced at A$2,488, placing it at an affordable price point where very few alternatives can compete. If you’re chasing something sculpturally shaped like the Parade, its price puts it in a class of one. In pure shape, its closest comparison is probably the modern Cartier Tank, though Tank prices begin at more than double that of the Parade. The Tank is also powered by a quartz movement, and has no water resistance.

The Serica Parade is a watch caught between two carefully prescribed worlds: dress and sport. But you don’t have to prescribe to labels like these - it’s up to you when and where to wear your watch, as long as it makes you feel good. Maybe that’s why we love the Serica Parade so much: it walks the tightrope between these two worlds, but it can both sing and dance. It’s a fantastic option as an everyday watch, or a watch for special occasions, a first watch, or even a hundredth watch - there’s a little something for everyone in the Parade.