Backes & Strauss

Backes & Strauss

Company type	Private Company
Industry	Luxury watchmaker
Founded	Hanau, Germany (1789)
Founder	Georg Carl Backes
Headquarters	76 Brook Street Mayfair W1K 5EE, London , United Kingdom
Area served	Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas
Key people	Vartkess Knadjian (CEO)
Products	watch, diamonds, jewellery
Website	www.backesandstrauss.com

Backes & Strauss is a British company specialised in the creation of high-end luxury timepieces. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest diamond company in the world.

History

Founded in 1789, by German immigrant businessmen Georg Carl Backes and (later on) Max Strauss, the company is the oldest diamond company in the world.

By the early 19th century Georg Carl Backes was a successful goldsmith in the city of Hanau. During this time, his company (originally named Backes & Co.) had done so well that he sent his 24-year-old son Johann Franz to London to open a new office. After Georg Carl's death in 1819, his son continued trading and manufacturing of diamonds and jewellery. Examples were shown at London's great exhibition in 1851 and two pages of its official catalogue were devoted to illustrations of J.F. Backes's jewellery.

By now, Johann had been joined in the business by his sons, Charles and William and in 1856, the company employed an office boy by the name of Max Strauss. Fifteen years later, Max Strauss was managing J.F. Backes & Co. and in 1873, the company started trading as 'Backes & Strauss'. Manufacturing activities in Britain started in 1877. During that period the hallmark was registered at London's Goldsmiths' Hall in 1878.

Charles Backes died in 1890 and two years later, the company decided to concentrate on diamonds. Operating as 'Diamond and Gem merchants', travelling was intensified between 1904 and 1910, especially to shows.

Today, Backes & Strauss is best known for manufacturing high-end diamond and jewel encrusted fine time pieces in conjunction with Swiss luxury watch brand Franck Muller. The main company operations are run from both Mayfair, London and Geneva in Switzerland.

Although the company retains its renowned tradition and values it has also embraced the technological world forming a special partnership with the global publication Luxurious Magazine® and making the magazines founder Paul Godbold an Honorary Ambassador for the brand.

Masters of diamonds

Every round, brilliant diamond used at Backes & Strauss is an Ideal Cut diamond, designed to emanate optimum fire and brilliance. The perfect symmetry and proportions of an Ideal Cut diamond ensure that the light entering the stone refracts internally from 57 precisely placed facets and travels out through the top of the diamond, creating a mesmerising sparkle.

We work with only the highest specification diamonds. Every diamond at Backes & Strauss is a D, E or F colour and internally flawless with only a very, very slight inclusion.

Perfect symmetry

The most beautiful objects in nature and in art possess symmetry, and so it is with beautifully cut diamonds.

The ultimate test of Backes & Strauss expertise in diamond cutting is the Hearts and Arrows motif. Hearts and Arrows diamonds are the most brilliant and magnificent Ideal Cut diamonds. When viewing a Backes & Strauss diamond up close with the help of a special viewer, a perfect series of eight arrowheads becomes visible on the top of the stone. When examining the stone from beneath, eight hearts circle the diamond.

During hundreds of hours of meticulous planning, precision cutting and hand polishing by Backes & Strauss diamond experts, a natural stone makes the way from its rough form to a final polished brilliant diamond, often losing up to 60 per cent of its original weight in the process.

Every Backes & Strauss watch comes with its own Hearts and Arrows viewer, a testament to our dedication to perfection.

History and heritage

Since 1789, the diamond expertise of Backes & Strauss has spanned the globe. Archives dating from the 19th century show orders for Backes & Strauss jewels which adorned European royalty.

The collaboration between Backes & Strauss and the workshops of expert Swiss watchmaker Franck Muller, has produced a collection of unerringly elegant, intricate fine timepieces, embelished with diamonds, custom cut into unique shapes, polished and then hand set to perfection.

Four Backes & Strauss watch collections reflect the company’s London origins – The Berkeley, The Piccadilly, The Regent and Victoria. Crafted in a choice of 18 carat white or rose gold and set with diamonds, these are watches inspired by the smooth symmetry and grandeur of London’s Regency architecture, in particular the work of 18th century landscape architect William Kent and the architect John Nash for the Prince Regent. In the Victoria collection an intertwined heart motif alludes to Queen Victoria’s everlasting love for her husband Albert.

Meeting of masters

Backes & Strauss and The Franck Muller Group are masters of the art and science of their respective crafts. While Backes & Strauss is occupied with light and Franck Muller is concerned with time, both share a devotion to mathematical precision.

The dial and case of a Backes & Strauss watch reflects the geometric symmetry of the Ideal Cut. Within the beating heart of the watch, the elaborately crafted movements convey a jewel-like beauty,

The result of this meeting of masters is a collection of timepieces so intricate, they are veritable masterpieces both inside and out.

The making of a masterpiece

Combining a brilliance for horology and a passion for diamonds, Backes & Strauss is the ultimate diamond watch company.

At Backes & Strauss, diamonds are fundamental to the design of our watches. Each diamond is selected, cut and polished to perfection and positioned on a watch to maximise its fire.

All Backes & Strauss watches are entirely crafted in the Geneva workshops of Franck Muller Watchland. Renowned for its spirit of innovation and technical excellence, Franck Muller produces all its watch components in-house.

The jewel in the crown

Every Backes & Strauss watch has at least one diamond set into the crown by hand. This jewel in the crown is the Backes & Strauss signature and resembles the pavilion, or base, of a diamond.

Perfection is in the detail

As masters of diamonds, Backes & Strauss has created a watch dial inspired by the craft of diamond setting. Numerals and indexes are polished and set by hand, echoing the diamonds on each Backes & Strauss timepiece. On an inner circle on the watch dial indicating the seconds, small pyramids suggest the shape of polished diamonds.

The Regent collection

The Regent collection takes as its starting point the architecture of John Nash, who in 1811 was commissioned by the Prince Regent to design a huge swathe of London, then known as Marylebone Park. The classical proportions of Nash’s work across London, from Regent Street, to Regent’s Park and St James’s Park, are found in the sweeping curves and bold symmetry of the Backes & Strauss Regent collection.

The Piccadilly collection

The Piccadilly collection is inspired by John Nash’s grand circular junction, Piccadilly Circus, the epicentre of London ever since it was built in 1819. Originally named Regent Circus South, Nash created Piccadilly Circus to complement Oxford Circus, then known as Regent Circus North, which was located at the other end of the sweeping street Nash had designed, Regent Street. Piccadilly Circus also linked Nash’s dramatic vision, which was the height of modern fashion with the neighbourhood of Piccadilly, the bastion of traditional style. This elegant confluence of old and new lies at the heart of the Backes & Strauss Piccadilly collection.

The Berkeley collection

The Berkeley collection takes inspiration from one of London’s great squares, with its spacious, leafy garden in the centre of bustling Mayfair. Originally laid out in the 18th century by Palladian master and landscape architect William Kent, Berkeley Square’s picturesque plane trees were planted in 1789, the year Backes & Strauss began trading. Berkeley Square has since become a famously romantic spot, featuring in the 1970s love song A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.

The Victoria collection

Drawn from the Backes & Strauss archives, a 19th-century brooch with two linked hearts was the starting point for today’s Backes & Strauss sumptuous Victoria diamond watches. Those linked hearts are now fully intertwined and they have become their own motif, repeated again and again in a circle of everlasting love, like that of Queen Victoria for her husband Albert. She was so smitten with him, she proposed the second time they met.

Renaissance at Backes & Strauss

Renaissance at Backes & Strauss is a special range of ultra thin timepieces, each a mere 6.1mm in depth. Renaissance takes its design cues from the Piccadilly and Regent collections with an array of women’s and men’s styles, with and without diamonds, incorporating movements just 2.5mm thin. The decorated inner workings of all Renaissance at Backes & Strauss watches are visible through the transparent sapphire crystal caseback.

Partnership with English National Ballet

Backes & Strauss is delighted to announce its partnership with English National Ballet. The partnership will involve a close collaboration between the two companies both in the UK and internationally. Tamara Rojo the Prima Ballerina and the Artistic Director of ENB is now the ambassador for the very feminine Victoria collection.

"I am thrilled to be working so directly with a brand with a rich history and heritage and I can relate very easily to the Victoria collection which represents the grace, finesse and precision that is central to the world of ballet" stated Ms. Rojo. Vartkess Knadjian CEO of Backes & Strauss added that as a company proud of its British heritage we are delighted to be associated with English National Ballet the quintessential British dance company that through its creativity broadened the appeal of Ballet throughout the world.

See also

• List of companies based in London

References

http://www.backesandstrauss.com/#/heritage/history

External links

• Backes & Strauss Official Website