Jaguar
Kerbedanz: jewelry and esoterics
Kerbedanz Watch Company has established its territory in allegories, symbolism and ultra-limited series. Aram Petrosyan, partner and Chief Design Officer, tells us about it.
By Joel Grandjean
Editor-in-Chief
What drove you to create a new brand?
We started working on this unique Kerbedanz project in 2008. We wanted to bring something different to both the form and substance of watchmaking. The Armenian ancestor of my partner Tigran Kerbedanz was a renowned blacksmith who excelled in working with metal. So much so, he was very famous and a much sought after clock repairer. His fame together with a reputation for being a good, generous and meticulous man earned him the respect of his family and all of those around him. Therefore, Tigran Kerbedanz and I decided to create Kerbedanz in order to pay tribute to his ancestor. Our Haute Joaillerie skills have enabled us to co-ordinate our know-how in order to create unique timepieces of high-quality craftsmanship and decoration. We chose to establish the brand in Neuchâtel as the cradle of Swiss watchmaking is full of talented people a creator might need to refer to at one point or another.
When did you sell your first timepiece?
We released our first unique piece in 2011, the year of our establishment! It was a tourbillon with Celtic blue enamel ornamentations.
How many timepieces have you sold? Can you tell us the names of their lucky owners?
In 2013, we sold seventy-seven pieces, of which 47 were tourbillons. Each one of the pieces is unique. Our clients are MIPs (Most Important Personalities), who are famous worldwide. You will understand, then, that we cannot reveal any names. What we can tell you, though, is that each piece has been created with the cooperation of our clients from start to end, including the movement, decorations, cases and dials. Each piece reflects the fusion of our skills and the vision our clients have of the world.
What distinguishes Kerbedanz from the rest in this extremely competitive market? What exactly defines the brand?
A timepiece is a mechanical wonder in a constantly evolving cover. While we do collaborate with the greatest watchmakers, we bring in a new vision and give sense to beautiful watchmaking. It is precisely this giving sense to beauty that provides a new dimension to our creations.
Mechanical mysteries are rounded off with the secrets of allegories, expressed through design and decorations. This enables our audience to reach self-fulfillment through the expression of their spiritual vision.
Why did you choose symbolism for your creations?
Symbols are hermetic representations of great civilizations and schools of thoughts and evoke a particular emotion and a certain feeling of realization in those who are able to decode them. The timepiece thus becomes a medium for staging and communicating a rarely heard story. Kerbedanz timepieces express this story through their movements, dials, cases and decorations.
You chose to only produce unique pieces or series with very few pieces. Did your creative design add something new in technical terms?
We have a very competent and multidisciplinary design team with whom I have been working for a long time. I am a “polytechnician” and a designer; there are also two specialists in microminiature, an enameller, two design-creators and three decorator-jewelers.
The team is united by its fondness for creation and this bind is so strong that we feel we are able to meet all the requirements of creativity.
We find reinterpreting the ancient tradition of Armenian jewelers highly inspirational.
What are the brand’s signature complications and which complications do you produce?
Our base is the tourbillon. To us, the tourbillon is synonymous with precision, both in terms of time telling and of conveying the message we try to express through our concept. The tourbillon fitted at the south or southwest represents life while our crown fitted at northeast – where the sun rises in the summer solstice – represents mind power. We are also working on a minute-repeater tourbillon movement, which features a particular driving mechanism representing the allegories of the five Chinese elements. This model will be introduced at BaselWorld 2015.
Who are your main suppliers for calibers, vital components, craftsmanship and finishes?
Our own craftsmen carry out the crafting and finishing work. The calibers are developed in collaboration with the best watchmakers in the Jura Arc.
The meticulousness of your dials is an essential part of your identity. How do you go about such a creative approach?
We devote our full attention to our dials, which express several dimensions and a unique visual impact. Several layers are overlapped to give this dynamic and harmonious impression in order to send out a powerful message.
Which materials do you use? How do your ultra-complex and customized dials work?
We work mostly with gold, which also demands special care and reflects our jewelry-making legacy. This precious metal also enhances our history and plays a part in our creativity through its symbolism. Where there is nobility, there is also the much sought after precision of our thoughts. Precision is expressed through the tourbillon, the noble metal – gold – and the book that accompanies each piece which reveals the history of all the allegories and civilizations involved.
Tell us about your collaboration with Yvan Arpa from ArtyA.
We are both “crazy” and we both like the same kind of music. We also share a certain creative freedom and spiritual depth.
We have known each other for two years now and when we met we just clicked and it felt as if we were old friends. When we saw his unconventional watchmaking art and when he saw our designs, we both knew that we wanted to get to know each other better. It was then that I decided to develop a dial for him making an association between him and Led Zeppelin. When I showed him the work, it became clear that he was also a fan of the legendary rock band. We will launch other projects together in the coming months.
What are your current projects?
We are putting the final touches to a limited – or rather ultra-limited – edition to find our place in the market. This series will be exhibited at BaselWorld 2015.
Visit the brand new official space of Kerbedanz on Watchonista
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