Michael Galarza has been enthralled with timepieces since before he could read and write. One of his earliest memories is sitting in the corner of the room, with his ear to a pocketwatch that his father owned, listening to its rhythmic beating.
As an adult, he created a boutique luxury goods sourcing and distribution business that specialized in helping companies find the highest quality suppliers worldwide. From the farms that provide the wool that eventually go into a famous British brand's hallmark checkered cashmere scarves to the leatherworkers who produce leather bags for famous French and Italian brands, Michael has a knack for identifying the world's absolute best quality producers in emerging economies.
As he got to know the producers better, he came to a realization that the actual price he could get these same products made for was many times 10% or 5% of what the eventual retail markup was -- far far below what the famous luxury brands charged for them and much higher than the usual markups in standard wholesaling. He realized that the crazy markup was required for these brands to keep paying for celebrity endorsements and sponsoring global sporting events to try to increase brand strength.
And so he decided to see if there was a market for people who cared about receiving a quality timepiece without an overly inflated budget for marketing dollars, who wanted a true timepiece that was worth its value. And so he decided to create a quality dependable Tourbillon timepiece that would be attainable to all that would still have all the hallmarks found in higher end watches.
That was how the ERA prometheus was born.
Since then, Michael and ERA have been featured on mainstream media like NBC, CBS... as well as entrepreneurial magazines like Entrepreneurial Mindset.
Even amongst all the wild success ERA Timepieces has enjoyed in such a short period of time, he is still laser focused on his mission to bring haute horology to everyone who wants it.