BACKES & STRAUSS, The Ultimate Jewellery Watch

Hiren Kumar Bose engages Vartkess Khadjian, CEO, Backes & Strauss for an email interaction on the brand’s launch of jewelled watches in India and its association Franck Muller  

Welcome to India. Will the brand’s entire bouquet be available at Rose The Watch Bar?

Thanks, for your warm welcome. We are thrilled and honoured to be represented exclusively in India by our wonderful partners. My relationship with the Rose founder and managing director Biren Vaidya dates back to the 90s; we have been partners in the business for more than 20 years now. At Rose, both our classic collection of timepieces as well as number of limited pieces will be available. However, clients are more than welcome to place a bespoke order via Rose The Bar.

Unlike many other luxury timepiece companies can we say that Backes & Strauss’ focus is less on horology and more on the notion of selling stately jewellery. What, according to you, is the uniqueness of the brand?

For over two centuries, our expertise has lied in diamonds and jewellery. Ever since we launched in 2007, we have striven to be the ultimate jewellery watch creator. When designing a new timepiece, we always start with the diamonds and/or gemstones and build the watch around it. At the same time, thanks to our horological partnership with Franck Muller, our timepieces have become synonymous with fine watchmaking. As we want to keep evolving as a company and push the boundaries, we are in a constant endeavour to achieve new horological heights all the while staying true to our jewellery know-how.

Our most modest timepieces carry no less than one diamond. As an ode to our history and heritage, each classic Backes & Strauss timepiece boasts at least one Ideal Cut diamond in the crown, also known as our signature Jewel in the Crown. Fortunately, many of our customers enjoy owning a watch that carries a cheeky little secret.

Who, according to you is a typical Backes & Strauss buyer?

Pinpointing the quintessential Backes & Strauss customer has proven to be quite difficult as our clients range from a wide spectrum of countries and backgrounds. However, if we had to define our clientele, we’d say they are hard workers who seize each day with utmost passion and have great taste in watches (of course!).

Do elaborate on your association with Franck Muller. Are the watches made at The Watchland or they just provide you with the complications?

As Franck Muller is our horological partner, each component and watch are manufactured and built at the Franck Muller Group’s Watchland facilities in Geneva.

Most of the Backes & Strauss’ watches are dripping in lavish gems and jewels, and perfectly melds art, beauty, and functionality, like Renaissance Duke Tourbillon, featuring a double peripheral tourbillon, a first for the brand. Do we see more such iterations in the future?

Most definitely; this is exactly the direction we want to go into, specializing in both watchmaking and diamonds. After all, Backes & Strauss represents the meeting between the Master of Diamonds and the Master of Complications, Franck Muller, both sharing a devotion to innovation and mathematical precision. At the end of last year, we released the Renaissance Duke Tourbillon collection, marking our fourth generation of tourbillon watches, housing our very first double peripheral tourbillon mechanism.

It’s a general feeling that jeweled watches are preferred by women than men. Is that true?

If you were to have asked me this question prior to our launch in 2007, I would have agreed with this statement. Today, I can confidently say that some of our biggest diamond-set pieces belong to our male customers.

Which other markets is the brand presently in, and which markets have showered the most positive response to Backes &Strauss?

Backes & Strauss timepieces are available in the UK, the US, Canada, France, Italy, Nigeria, most of the Middle East and APAC, amongst others. We have seen a lot of success in Asia Pacific, and in particular  in Japan, where some of our most extraordinary pieces have found a home.