French Watchmaker Hegid x Pieter Ceizer Bend the Rules of Watchmaking with ‘Good Times’ Collaboration
Already known for challenging the norms of watchmaking without sacrificing performance, Hegid has teamed up with typographical artist Pieter Ceizer to reconsider just about every aspect of timekeeping with a limited edition Good Times watch. Writer Dan Latif goes to Hegid’s Place Vendôme boutique to get an early look.
French Watchmaker Hegid x Pieter Ceizer Bend the Rules of Watchmaking with ‘Good Times’ Collaboration
Every Tuesday through Saturday, French watch manufacturer Hegid welcomes visitors to its art-filled boutique at 8 Rue Volney. Sleek and glowing, this jewel box of a shop is positioned immediately behind the Park Hyatt and in the periphery of Place Vendôme, a square known for its distinct concentration of bespoke French goods and historic sense of innovation. These notes are relevant to a watch brand that has been toying with the conventions of high watchmaking while respecting a craft and quality that is unmistakably French.
Pieter Ceizer at Hegid’s 8 Rue Volney Boutique. Image: Dan Latif.
For now, 8 Rue Volney is full of work by Pieter Ceizer, an abstract painter and typographical artist who happens to be one of Hegid’s most recent collaborators. It is here, among Ceizer’s work, that we first encounter Good Times, limited edition release of 30 Hegid timepieces, a watch with personality, joy, and a singular presence, informed by Ceizer’s novel intuition and Hegid’s technical prowess.
Hegid x Ceizer Good Times timepiece. Image: Dan Latif.
As only Hegid’s second collaboration, Pieter Ceizer’s role is anything but incidental. A Dutch artist and typographer now based in Paris, Ceizer has long worked with words and letters as a way of shaping energy and mood. Ceizer is known for collaborations with Uniqlo, Mizuno, Nike, Paris Saint-Germain, Evian, Heineken, and Coca-Cola. His work has also appeared on the streets of New York in murals created in collaboration with Warner Bros.
In the case of Good Times, Ceizer was granted carte blanche access to the watch, and thus challenged almost every aspect of the timepiece in the interest of bringing joy and charm. Utilizing Good Times’s repurposed date window, you’ll see words like “Do,” “rad,” “act,” “hi,” “sk8,” “sex”— the watch contains 31 of these remarks in total.
Concepts for the dial of the Hegid x Ceizer Good Times timepiece. Image: Dan Latif.
“We turned the date disc with its cyclops-style magnifying glass into little words that give a joyful impulse to the day,” Ceizer explains. Pieter Ceizer had even imagined taking the design of the hands further, giving them the look of a paintbrush broken in two. The idea could not be pushed that far, but it speaks clearly to the spirit of the project.
Around the dial, sixty rays recall the rays of the sun. Each one marks a minute or a second, creating a set of natural graduations that make the watch especially easy to read. “Good Times” written clear as day against a dark watch face, completed with a literal nose and smile.
Henrick Gauché, president of Hegid. Image: Dan Latif.
“The watch is there to remind us that life is what we make of it,” says Henrick Gauché, president of Hegid. Even the hour numerals break away from convention, all placed in an apparent disorder. “The 8 is in the right place, by accident,” Ceizer says with a smile. And the way he sees the piece probably says it best: “I see it as a bracelet, a fashion accessory more than an instrument of time.”
Hegid x Ceizer Good Times timepiece. Image: Dan Latif.
The strap, known as Virage, is a new design and carries that same spirit forward with a very specific automotive reference. Made of genuine leather, it takes its cue from the bucket seats of the iconic Lamborghini Miura and has a strong visual presence, especially in yellow. On the back, the words “Made in France” are engraved, while a French flag appears in the stitching at the tip of the strap. That attention to detail and elegance says a great deal about the Hegid approach.
Components of Hegid’s EVOL system, which make up the totality of a Hegid timepiece. Image: Dan Latif.
A Playful Dial, A Serious Movement
That’s not to say this watch isn’t a masterpiece of horology. Technically, the piece is built around the Mirage Soleil capsule (the concept itself a Hegid innovation) with a light-catching, fluted dial that feels playful yet chic. The watch is powered by the Hegid Specimen FE-01 automatic movement and features Super-LumiNova hands and the ability to withstand a true depth of 100 meters
What is a Hegid capsule?
Unique to the brand, a capsule is a component of Hegid’s proprietary EVOL system. Instead of a traditional watch where the case, bezel, and strap are fixed, Hegid separates the watch into individual components which can be purchased and interchanged. A “capsule” contains the dial and complication.
French Craft and the Meaning of Endurance
Ultimately, the piece reflects a certain idea of the craft and commitment to France. “We are craftsmen, not industrialists,” Henrick Gauché says. The movements and cases are made in Maîche, in the Doubs region, while the straps are produced in Besançon, near the Swiss border. It is a very concrete way of grounding the watch in French savoir-faire and in places where watchmaking still carries real meaning.
Behind its free-spirited dial, its mood-lifting words, and its strong fashion presence, Good Times remains a watch built to endure, to change, and to accompany a life. When Pieter Ceizer is asked what superpower he would have liked to give it, his answer is simple: “The superpower to turn back time.” It is a beautiful way of describing a watch designed to keep something of life’s good memories close at hand.
Where to Buy Hegid x Ceizer
Good Times is limited to 30 pieces, each priced at $5,040.00, and will be available for preorder starting on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026 with deliveries beginning September 2026. Reserver preorder here.
Hegid timepieces are available in the United States at Manfredi Jewels, located at 121 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich CT 06830 and 72 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT 06840. Learn more about Hegid here.
Step into the sugary sweet world of this midcentury-inspired timepiece from Armani Exchange, now available at Macy's, Amazon, and Armani Exchange. The Lola Square in Rose Gold retails for $160.00. Styled and shot by Benjamin Schmidt in Los Angeles, California, October 2019.