Backes & Strauss: London Calling

 


Backes & Strauss has released its first tourbillion watch in an ornate design that pays ample tribute to the London company: Collectors diamonds adorn the watch. Its skeletal tourbillion is deco- rated will be hard pressed to forget that Backes is one of the world’s oldest diamond jewelers: More than 600 with radiating arrows that mimic the geometric lines of an ideal-cut diamond observed from the top of its crown. Plus, the watch’s crown, designed to resemble the pavilion view of a diamond, is embedded with an ideal-cut diamond.

The watch’s case bears the shape found throughout Backes’ Berkeley line: a squared-off oval reminiscent of Lon- don’s famed 19th-century Berkeley Square. The movement is attached to a diamond-studded frame, which echoes in miniature the Berkeley case; this frame is attached to the watch’s case with six bridges positioned in radiating symme- try. Oh, and there’s an alligator strap. Just two watches—one in rose gold and one in white gold are on offer, with two ad- ditional designs planned to arrive later this year.