We are always keen to meet and interview people who are working for watchwinder brands, to learn more about the brand, background and products. This time we were lucky that Mr. Christian Zörweg found time to tell us about Buben & Zörweg, the leader and trendsetter in the market of high end watchwinders.

Could you please introduce yourself and function at Buben & Zörweg? 

My name is Christian Zörweg, I am the co-founder and co-president of Buben & Zörweg.
I formerly worked as a Gemstone-dealer during my university days at Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria. I subsequently founded Buben & Zörweg with my childhood friend, Harald Buben.

How would you describe the Buben & Zörweg company?

“Buben & Zörweg delights lovers of fine timepieces with unique masterpieces of craftsmanship. These exclusive objects of time are characterised by a symbiosis of ground-breaking innovation and elegant design. Selected materials and perfect craftsmanship combine to fulfil and exceed customer expectations."

That is the credo of luxury brand Buben & Zörweg. Since 1995, Buben & Zörweg’s activities have focused on delighting customers with masterpieces of German craftsmanship and testing the boundaries of technology and handicraft. The first milestone after the company was founded in 1995 was the introduction of the Time Mover®; consistent pioneering work soon made Buben & Zörweg the market leader in this segment.

How would you describe the Buben & Zörweg watchwinders?

Certainly we at Buben & Zörweg share the drive to break new grounds and love to develop objects that nobody has seen before. I am responsible for the design and I work together with a team of designers. At Buben & Zörweg we want to link the contemporary with the classic and our objects should be a eye-catcher in any environment. Every product is a unique piece of art itself – it’s a design object which you should present - f.e. in your living room, all our products are made out of the best materials: Italian nappa leather with croco imprint, wood like Makassar, ebony grigio or walnut purl wood, mother of pearl, brushed stainless steel, two way mirror spy glass ...

Can you tell us more about the production proces?

The masterpieces are 100% designed and made in Germany in our manufactory, which is located in the heart of Germany’s engineering region near Stuttgart. About 20 engineers, watchmakers and assemblers are considered a part of the quality assurance system that characterises each individual masterpiece. Wearing white gloves and jackets and countersigning every stage of a stringent quality control procedure is a matter of course at the Buben & Zörweg manufacture.

The watchwinder technology is created together with our partner company ELMA.

It all starts with the beauty that nature has to offer. Selecting raw material. The pattern of the rare macassar ebony which gained it's popularity in the art deco area and will live on in emotional modern Art deco design DNA. It comes naturally that Buben & Zörweg sources and selects worldwide only the very finest veneers.

For the housing we use selected woods such as macassar, high quality carbon fibre, fine leather, etc. whatever the customer desires. Our aim is to create masterpieces that address all senses and fathoms the dimensions of exceptional taste. Exquisite materials, innovative technology, optimum security solutions and fascinating design hand-crafted by masters of their art become solitary objects of desire for people with a sense for the exclusive aesthetics of perfection.

What are the main markets for Buben & Zörweg? And can you tell us more about the business structure; do you have distributors, dealers or do you sell directly to consumers?

Asia, Russia, Middle East, but also Germany, Switzerland and England are important markets.

With 7 standalone boutiques and over 25 in-shop boutiques, the company is present in over 100 countries. We have a strong distributor network and are available from carefully selected jewellers worldwide.

Store Locator

With internet upcoming, do you consider to sell online by strong internet dealers?

Our masterpieces are offered at different prices depending on the country of sale. This is due to the custom duties and import taxes, cost of transport and installation and the tax differences. Therefore we have decided to prevent the prices of our masterpieces from being published via the internet. That is why we don’t consider to sell our masterpieces online.
This may be changed sometime in the future.

In what way will Buben & Zörweg develop the coming years? What will be the focus?

• We will continue to build B&Z as an international luxury brand. More B&Z Boutiques will arise to give our customer the opportunity to even better experience of the universe of B&Z
• B&Z will always be as exclusive as our customers are. We are a luxury brand for people that seek to express their individuality in our exclusive and often unique masterpieces.
• B&Z is a men’s brand and we have many ideas how to enrich this (men’s) world with our competences.
• Our creativity and drive for innovation is deeply implemented in the DNA of our brand and is to stay for the next 20 years and beyond….

We find it challenging to build a brand for the next 100 years that can be handed down in generations - Constantly being creative and open to new opportunities and challenges according to the natural law of change. We stand at the beginning of a long tradition which is very much about the spirit and the people that share it, work together happily and building the house of Buben & Zorweg in an ever changing world….

What new projects can we expect soon?

We are taking another innovative step in the world of elitist interiors in the form of the Bespoke Line: our customers can utilise a fascinating range of options to exert their influence on the appearance of their masterpieces. That is the advantage of luxurious objects perfectly manufactured by hand – incorporating customised changes is no problem at all. There will be a range of 20 carefully selected leather and lacquer colours (10 each) and the customer can choose what he likes most.

Why should we buy a Buben & Zörweg watchwinder?

It’s a piece of art, made out of the best materials, made by the best craftsmen in Germany. The design is unique, but very timeless – it’s something you will love in 20 or 30 years as much as you do now. It’s not a luxury product, that many people own, it’s a well kept secret and therefore even more special. 

Recently we wrote an article about Jebely, a watchwinder brand from Taiwan which produces interesting watchwinders for reasonable prices. As we like to learn more about relatively unknown watchwinder brands we asked Mr. Tony Liao from Jebely for an interview. 

Could you please introduce yourself and function at Jebely?

I’m Tony Liao from Taichung, Taiwan. I did study at the University of the Art at Philadelphia, USA. I also did a major in Industrial Design for product developement. In the company I am currently resonsible for the Jebely watchwinder branding and sales since 2012.

How would you describe the Jebely company?

Jebely is a Swiss brand which we bought in 2003. We believe to bringing the high-end watchwinder to more majority market and add personality to it. For a long period of time, we were OEM/ODM for many brands in US and Europe. As a professional watchwinder manufacturer, we believe we have more proper reason to bring our own brand with our own technology and design to the market.

How would you describe the Jebely watchwinders?

Currently we have three different levels watchwinder for different market.
First is entry level watchwinder, which is made with plastic and metal combination. We are targeting the majority customer with affordable price.

Second, we have standerd and classic style of watchwinder for those who have 3 up to 8 mechanical watches. They are very simple, square-like watchwinder with different special panels and design treatment to represent the different personality and style. Mainly is for the watches collection.

Third, our flagship (or luxury) watchwinder is for special showcase in watch store, club, department store, or special watch collection.

We identified the Jebely watchwinder as the stylize, personalize watchwinder. With modern and unique design style for more younger generation.

Can you tell us more about the production proces?

Currently Jebely watchwinders are all made in Taiwan. We developed our own gear box with Japanese motor which we can provide two years warranty.

Base on our three levels of watchwinder, mainly materials are used as wood, glass, aluminum, and plastic combination.

What are the main markets for Jebely? And can you tell us more about the business structure; do you have distributors, dealers or do you sell directly to consumers?

Currently our main markets are China and Japan where we have our branch office for exclusive sales. We are currently looking for distributors, partners, and dealers worldwide.

In which way will Jebely develop the coming years? What will be your focus?

We are focusing in the entry-level watchwinder and module watchwinder.

If you would compare Jebely with another brand, which brand is this and why?

I will say that we are not easy to compare to any other brand since our product design is very different than others. We are not like traditional watchwinder brands, either we are not very high-end of technique or finishing. We are focusing in stylish consumer product.

What new projects can we expect soon?

We are trying hard to bring the metal watchwinder in entry-level price with unique design style.

Why should we buy a Jebely watchwinder?

With a long period of OEM/ODM background, we are confident to bring the European quality with Asian price, and a stylish design. 

Every watch adept knows that there is a moment to make a decision between being satisfied with the current collection of automatic watches, or to expand it with more watches. This decision is hard to make as it's not one to make with common sense. We all know the passion and love when we see another beautiful watch...There is no end. 

Those who look after their automatic watches use a watchwinder. It keeps the watches in motion, and they should be...compare it with a car. Almost everyone starts with a small watchwinder for one or maybe two watches. But then the collection expands and the small watchwinder doesn't offer the capacity you prefer. You want to store the watches all together, and not some in a watchwinder, others in a watch box and the rest in a cabinet or drawer. That's the exact moment to consider a bigger watchwinder for 4, 6 or maybe even 8 automatic watches. 

If you have only a few automatic watches a single or double watchwinder will do the trick. But when you have more than a few automatic watches we strongly advise to purchase a bigger watchwinder. It's more practical, more safe and is a beautiful sight when all watches do rotate. In fact it's mostly even cheaper than multiple single watchwinders. 

Of course there are also disadvantages. You cannot take a big watchwinder with you at a trip or business travel. You also need to choose the exact watchwinder which fits into your interiour, in terms of material, size and color. A single watchwinder does fit everywhere and won't be irritating, but a bigger watchwinder will when it's not matching it's background. 

If you have a few automatic watches, just stick to a single or double watchwinder and hope you can resist the tempation of buying new automatic watches. But if the flesh is weak there are so many beautiful big watchwinders which are real eye catchers! It will definitely impress your friends:) 

The Italian watchwinder brand Scatola del Tempo is one of the few brands that's still producing watchwinders in an old style. While almost all watchwinder brands innovate and produce more modern and stylish watchwinders, Scatola del Tempo chooses to produce old-fashioned watchwinders with a lack of interesting functions.

In these times that consumers do demand more, and successful brands do listen very well to them, it's a no brainer to meet the consumer demands. Nevertheless the Scatola del Tempo watchwinders are still looking the same for the last 10 years, and don't have exciting options which makes a watchwinder more sexy and attractive for a watch collector. Some say "never change a winning team", but we hear more and more that Scatola del Tempo is selling less watchwinders. Maybe it are rumours, but even in a rumour can be truth. We noticed several dealers stopped selling this Italian brand. 

Good examples of high end brands which understand the consumers demands are Buben & Zörweg, Stockinger but also Orbita. These brands do innovate in design and functionality. These brands also invest in good social media campaigns to keep contact with the consumers. The facebook page of Scatola del Tempo is only updated once per several months, and only has 84 likes. For example, Buben & Zörweg has almost 38k likes, Stockinger 500....

Come on Scatola del Tempo, we expect more from Italians.

The Dutch watch brand Van Speyk launched its first models in 2011. Last week Van Speyk presented its newest Dutch Diver models, which are produced in the Netherlands (Dutch made). Normally we don’t write about watches but as announced we like to write an article about watches in combination with a watchwinder. For this review we did choose for a combination with the Swiss Kubik aluminium black. This watchwinder is one of the most popular models from Swiss Kubik and a bestseller since a couple of years.

Van Speyk Dutch Diver

The new Van Speyk Dutch Diver watch does surprise us. The specs are very good (Miyota movement, sapphire glass, 200m waterresistant, screw crown and double layer dial) but more amazing is the very interesting price; 329,00 euro (incl. 21% VAT and free shipment worldwide). We received the blue Dutch Diver from Van Speyk and the blue color is intriging. It’s a dial color which is quite normal for a watch, but it looks very nice. The advantage is that the watch is easy to combine with all kind of clothing. Blue simply does match with a lot of colors.

We did test the Van Speyk Dutch Diver for two weeks and it keeps time perfectly. At night the luminova does its work fine. We didn’t go snorkling or diving with it, which we should have done with a diver, but we expect the watch is extremely well protected against water as Van Speyk promised it us.

Swiss Kubik aluminium black

One of the most popular watchwinder brands in the price level from 400 to 900 euro is Swiss Kubik. The watchwinder is compact, effective and easy to control. It will wind any automatic watch without a problem. The battery function is great to use the watchwinder at a travel or inside a safe. The Swiss Kubik models don’t use a Swiss motor anymore, but it’s still a good watchwinder for an interesting price. A big advantage is the three year warranty, where many other brands only provide two years. Some call it a detail, but we think it’s proof of good service and aftersales.

We hope Swiss Kubik will introduce new models soon, as most available models are on the market for several years. Swiss Kubik watchwinders did prove its quality and therefore we are very curious about new models in another design.

The Van Speyk Dutch Diver wound by a Swiss Kubik watchwinder

As an automatic watch the Dutch Diver has a powerreserve of about 40 hours. Without any movement the watch will loose its energy, and that’s exactly the reason why a watchwinder is so handy. We did wind the watch with the Swiss Kubik watchwinder and we found out it’s a perfect combination.