Sherrie Han, 29

Lawyer, Watchmaker & Founder of The Eliana Timekeeper

WHEN Sherrie Han decided to take a course on watch-servicing a few years ago, she was the only woman in a class filled with "middle-aged men", she says, who perhaps knew more about watches than she did.

But Ms Han was not at all intimidated by the gender imbalance. As a criminal lawyer working at the Pro Bono Services Office, she had represented accused persons who would otherwise not have access to legal representation. There were not many things that daunted her.

Besides, she was much too fascinated by the tiny wheels, screws and springs laid out before her to really care. A lifelong lover of watches, she says: "I was determined to understand all I could about watchmaking . . . with hopes of launching my own watch brand."

Ms Han, 29, had seen a gap in the market for affordable mechanical watches designed specifically for women, and she wanted to fill it. She says: "Over 80 per cent of women I've spoken to don't know the difference between a quartz watch and a mechanical watch. A lot of them just wanted a watch that's 'pretty'.

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"I thought that if I could create a women's watch that matched the intrigue of men's mechanical watches, I could create a new market."

Fast forward to the present, Ms Han is now the proud founder and director of a boutique women's watch company called The Eliana Timekeeper - Eliana being the name of her three-year-old daughter. In an industry dominated by men, she is one of very few women watchmakers.

In 2020, Ms Han and her team were able to raise enough money on Kickstarter to manufacture and launch their first collection of women's automatic watches called The Twilight Glint.

It comprises three models in either silver or rose gold, with either a black or linen dial. Each model is a petite 28mm - one of the smallest automatic watches on the market - with a Miyota 6T28 Japanese automatic movement and a power reserve of 40 hours. (Miyota is part of the Citizen group of companies and its movement is used by many watchmakers, from microbrands to established players such as Timex.)

The scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass case displays the movements clearly on the underside. But Ms Han has also designed an "open heart" cut-out on the dial so that one gets a sneak peek of the movement there too - in the name of getting more women to appreciate the complex mechanism of a watch.

The watches retail at between S$588 and S$590, making them a suitable introductory mechanical watch for a young woman before she graduates to more expensive models.

But, in a surprise twist to the story, Ms Han says most of her customers are "not women, but men who want to buy an elegant automatic piece for their partners", she says. "We get e-mail from men asking if the watches are suitable for their wives."

As The Eliana Timekeeper is just over a year old, Ms Han still holds her day job as a lawyer and runs the business on the side with a couple of friends. Her lawyer-husband and two young daughters keep her busy, but she finds pockets of time to finesse her passion project. She says: "The best time to think about various aspects of the business is when I'm putting my two little girls to bed."

It's also the best time to dream up her next collection. She says: "We faced quite a few global supply chain problems this time with Covid-19 and the US-China global trade war, as different parts of the watch were made in different countries. So, for the next collection, we hope to find ways to have it manufactured completely in Singapore."

Should that happen, it would be another feather in the cap for The Eliana Timekeeper, as well as Ms Han, who seems quite accustomed to breaking boundaries, eliminating obstacles and blazing new trails.