If you are looking for a unique and wonderfully crafted watch, then Scott Wilk of WIlk Watchworks is your guy! I met Scott when he was my neighbour at the Spring One of a Kind show in 2011. I met him at the perfect time because I was only a few months away from packing up and moving to Halifax to go to NSCAD to study in the jewellery studio and he was graduate of the jewellery program there ten years earlier. I certainly got lots of tips on what to expect! That spring show was the first show where Scott brought only his watch collection instead of his jewellery line and it has been really great to see how much his business has evolved and grown in the last nine years.
What does handmade mean to you?
This question is extremely difficult for me to give a definitive response to. It sounds like it should be quite simple in that handmade should mean an item is made with one’s own hands. But for my own work, I don’t make every single component from scratch with my own two hands. I purchase some of the components, I design some of the components and have another company make those for me, I make the dials from scratch, and then I assemble and test all those pieces into a complete watch. Is that handmade? Sure seems like it, but I’m not 100% sure. The dictionary definitions are quite vague, but I thought that Ele Willoughby’s answer to this question in one of your previous posts made a concise, well thought out answer.
How long have your been working in your chosen medium? Did you attend college or university to learn your craft?
I’ve been working in the field of horology for about 15 years, but I didn’t go to school to learn to be a watchmaker. I attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, or as it’s now called, NSCAD University, and studied mostly printmaking and jewellery to earn my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After I graduated, I made my own line jewellery for a few years while I worked various jobs, mostly in the retail jewellery stores. It was in one of these stores where the owners decided to show me how to change watch batteries and do simple watch repair tasks. After I learned a little about watch repair, I got really hooked and started tinkering around at home, finding literature and other forms of educational material, and just learned all I could. (Emma’s fun fact: Scott is also a trained gemologist through the Canadian Gemmological Association!)
Tell me about your process. What would surprise people about your process? Is there a part of your process that you don't enjoy?
My process of creating a watch has many varied types of work. There is design work that I use a computer for. There is constructing the dials or faces of each watch, which I make from scratch using mostly jewellery techniques employing high tech and low tech tools. There’s pure watchmaking work in which I disassemble and oil each watch movement for every watch I make, plus there is the assembly and testing process for each watch.
I think many people think that I make every tiny part of the watch from scratch and that’s not the case. If that were true, I’d probably only produce and handful of watches each year and the pricing would be extremely high. I make the dial of every watch from scratch; I design the watch case or body and have another company make those for me in stainless steel. Occasionally I make a case from scratch if it’s a custom piece made from precious metals. I don’t make any part of the watch movement or mechanism, but I do disassemble, oil, and test each new movement before it gets assembled into a finished piece.
Because my process is so varied in the types of work that go into each piece, I’m rarely bored. I find each part of the process enjoyable. What I dislike are other parts of running the business such as taking photos of each piece. I’m slowly losing my enthusiasm for social media, but these tasks are all part of running a small business.
What about your chosen medium(s) made you pursue your craft?
From the time I was a child I always seemed to gravitate to artistic endeavours which were small in scale. I also enjoyed mechanical things so I’m not really sure why it took me 25 years of living before I discovered watches, but I got there and haven’t looked back since. I believe that my exploration of other art mediums helped me to be creative in the work I do today.
If you could work in any other medium, what would it be?
I think I’d like to pursue printmaking again if time allows, but there are so many techniques in the watchmaking field that I haven’t explored yet, it would be hard to justify going back to that medium. Maybe once I’m retired!
What is the most important thing you want people to know about your work?
There are so many things that are important that I want people to know that are not even about the watchmaking, but of course there is a lot about the watches too!
There is so much work that every small business does behind the scenes that I think most people don’t think about, that is instrumental in making that creation happen. There’s all of the administrative work such as email correspondence, DMs, social media, photography, website creation and updating, parts sourcing and ordering, inventory taking, job organization, payroll, etc… and then there’s all the lug work such as driving around to suppliers, lugging booth materials to shows, doing the shows, lugging it all back, etc. and those are just things off the top of my head. I’m very lucky that I have someone to help me with almost all of the administrative work, but many artisans do it all themselves.
As for the watches, I just want people to know that I’ve designed and put every watch together myself, to the best of my ability. I’m highly invested in making them the best that I can because it’s my own work, and I want people to enjoy them for a very long time.
What is your greatest accomplishment, or the thing you are most proud of achieving with your art?
I’ve been very lucky to have had my work featured in some publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The Globe and Mail, Global TV, A Blog to Watch, and many other magazines and blogs, but I don’t really see those as my greatest accomplishment, though it’s very nice to be recognized. I think that my greatest accomplishment, and this is really corny, is simply that customers are happy with my work. I know I can’t please everyone, that’s certainly not my goal but when I see the joy that someone gets from wearing my work, it certainly feels like an accomplishment.
What has been your biggest challenge while pursuing your art?
Finding a balance between home and work has always been a challenge. My wife and I have two boys in elementary school, and I find it a struggle making it all work sometimes.
Has the confusion surrounding the term "handmade" affected your business/practice? What are your thoughts on re-sellers?
I believe it has, because of what I touched upon in my answer to the first question. Because I make some parts and also source some parts, it causes much confusion about the creation of the watch. I am constantly educating people about how I put together my work, what parts I design, what parts I make, and what parts I purchase. I think many people still think I make every little screw and jewel, so it certainly is my job to make sure they have an understanding about my process. I also try and tell people about how commercially available watches are made, because sometimes there is a huge difference in their processes compared with mine, even though pricing may be similar.
As for re-sellers, if people are purchasing goods from someone and selling them, that’s ok, but not at a show that specifically mandates that items are made by the vendor. This type of practice really can make customers feel duped and tarnish the reputation of a show that is supposed to be for handcrafted items, which in turn hurts the vendors who actually make their product. Everyone needs to be able to make a living, but having some integrity, and being honest about what you are selling is important in my view.
How do you (and how can we) educate consumers about what handmade actually means?
Most of my attempts at educating consumers about handmade happens face to face at shows. I find it’s really the best way to get someone to understand about the complexities of the term and how my work fits into that. I’m also slowly trying to add to our website about my process, but it certainly is a lot of work creating content.
How has being an artist changed the way you shop?
I certainly have changed the way I shop over the years in that I prefer to purchase items which are of higher quality and I do have a preference for items made by hand if that is an option. I’d rather purchase something that if taken care of properly can last a very long time. I actually dislike the whole experience of retail shopping at large stores and in malls. I’ve probably become jaded because of my years working in those establishments. I much prefer to speak with people who have created the product themselves, who have a story to tell, and are passionate about what they do.
Who are your favourite makers?
It’s certainly a tall order choosing just a few, but here are some people whose work I think is quite special (besides you Emma!):
Heather Rathbun – Jeweller
Graham Blair – Woodcut printmaker
Byron Hodgins – Painter
Naomi Clement – Potter
Hyun-seok Sim – Jeweller and amazing handmade cameras
Julia Hepburn – Sculpture
Courtney Downman – Glass
Lastly, my sister Erin made these fantastic robot pouches which are awesome and funny.