KERBEDANZ – Pportfolio PHOENIX Tourbillon Yellow Gold - Unique Watch NEW
Unique pieces, the watchmaker’ s Holy Grail
Is it possible to acquire a timepiece that has been conceived and manufactured for oneself alone? The Neuchâtel-based company always comes out with ultra-limited series and unique pieces, so they are in the unique position of making the impossible possible.
Many of the MIP of this world are on a personal quest to find that special ob- ject that reflects their own, personal, quintessence. MIP, for those who don’t know it, means Most Important Personalities, and it has entered the vernacu- lar thanks to Kerbedanz, an independent brand in the very haute horlogerie category. The term was created as an answer to the constant belaboring of the word VIP – Very Important People – which is used for just about anyone. It describes personalities, public or in the background, who achieve the status of leader or absolute pioneers thanks to the vastness of their earthly as-sets, the enviable aura of their social station, or the sheer magical extent of their influence.
Conceiving the ultimate in horological co-creation
Some fans of prestigious watches have such powerful passion, that acquiring models among the rarest and most coveted models of the planet no longer suffices. Having acquired samples of the dearest and most exceptional pieces, they have only one last wish, namely being able to get a timepiece, which is unique and intimately connected to their personal lives, to aspects of their existence that only they and their closest relatives and friends can even comprehend. All famous watchmaking companies have, at some point, been confronted with a request of this kind, and it often produces a feeling of in- completeness on both sides. The buyer will be frustrated at being given the nth iteration of a much- loved model, and then there is the risk of seeing one's own timepiece become a part of the regular portfolio of the brand. On the part of the brand, the mere fact of collaborating and following through could be construed as a weakening of the DNA and an assault on its historical ego.
For Kerbedanz, the problem is reversed. The excellence of the independent company's products rests on its ability to wed the most ancient jewelry crafts and the most mature of traditional Swiss watchmaking crafts. As it happens, the originality of the brand DNA is deeply rooted in the special dialogue bet- ween the future buyer and Aram Petrosyan, the brand CDO –Chief Designer Officer – who manages a team of four other designers. It's a dialogue that in- volves a great deal of interactivity and is fed with drawings, shapes, materials, finishings...
In addition, through this system of personal orders, the brand has sold about four hundred timepieces in three years. This has helped it establish a business in Neuchâtel, in premises overlooking the city's lake. Gradually, as the teams became accustomed to the exercise, some of the models midwifed from this creative effort have indeed slipped into the company's portfolio, always as unique pieces or in ultra-limited series. And so they have become the visible and public face of Kerbedanz. Like the representative collection named "Ê," which plays on the signs of the Zodiac. It starts with a date, an hour and a precise place of birth, and then generates the ultimate emotion of owning a unique piece.
A "symbolist" company, distilling journeys of initiation
There are many watches that tell stories. But a unique watch will tell the story of its owner. Kerbedanz is the only high-end watch brand that turns the jour- ney of initiation into a creative and attractive element. Each work is a distil- late of symbols borrowed from past and present civilizations. In terms of inspiration, it is studded with salient cultural features from various eras and specifi cterritories. The brand makes use of both known elements as well as ones that will always remain secret. The polished es- thetics look quite ordinary at first glance. A closer look reveals a wealth of sym- bols, allegories and references that are more or less directly related to social or geopolitical contexts.
In order to channel and then take advantage of this unending source of inspi- ration, Kerbedanz joined forces with the symbolist Michel Cugnet, who works with the design team to listen to the wishes expressed by the future buyers. He analyzes them, sorts them out, and then, as a real expert cartographer of symbols, be works in tandem with the designers to give them a new life, one made up of interpretations and clear decisions. He chooses the color, the materials, the mo- tifs, the animal or mythological references, and identifies the resonance in the collective unconscious, the universal or particular symbols. He translates the key date into a numerological reference, turns an anecdote into a philosophical precept, and gives a color mentioned by the owner a visual equivalent.
The supreme spirit of personalization
Exclusively hand-crafted dial and cases are designed, manufactured and decorated by KERBEDANZ. Tourbillon caliber, the KRB-01, mechanical hand- wound, was designed, crafted and decorated by the brand and the movement manufacturer Technotime: 27 jewels, 28,800 oscillations per hour (4 Herz), a double-barrel and 120 hours of power reserve.
As for the architecture of the back of the movement, which is protected by a sapphire glass with anti-reflective coating, it is engraved with the colors of KERBEDANZ. The cage of tourbillon is placed in the south west, between 7h and 8h, in response to the axis of the crown located between 1h and 2 h, i.e. in the line of sight of a sunrise, which is in the north-east from the northern hemisphere on the summer solstice.
Everything is conceived and made to order in-house by Kerbedanz or by select artisans from the company's network, from the size of the timepiece, its caliber – even the queens of all complications, the minute repeater or the tourbillon – to the finishing processes, the decoration of the components, the purity, or matching, or amalgamation of materials. From the caliber-maker, to the enameller, from the polisher and engraver, to the miniature painter or Kerbedanz's own master glazer (a technique invented by the company), all work together toward introducing a bit of the owner's soul into the watch. The adventure lasts at least three months. It's a non-negotiable deadline, because, as a feat in itself, it guarantees the highest quality for the product, and there can be no compromise in that department.
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Brand
A name that signifies leader and precursor is worthy of unique personalities. A watch worthy of unique personalities needs to have sublime qualities. This is how Kerbedanz was created as a perfect marriage of watch-making excellence, a unique philosophical concept and a highly creative visual design.
The name KERBEDANZ derives from the patronymic of the Brand’s founding President Tigran Karabedyan.
President Tigran Karabedyan
Paying a tribute to his ancestor, he gives to his company the name KERBEDANZ which means “the heirs of Karabed” (Karabed meaning Precursor/Leader), both qualifiers being perfectly adapted to KERBEDANZ which is a precursor with its concept of specific products’ value. By the way, Kerbedanz appears as a Leader regarding its very unique watch models - or very limited series - dedicated to a very exclusive clientele well known in their activities.
Chief Design Officer Aram Petrosyan
History
The ancestor of Tigran Karabedyan was a renowned goldsmith with wonderful skills to work the metal. He had acquired a great notoriety in the entire region where he exercised his art and was regularly sought to repair failing clocks as well. His fame is not only because of his competence. Indeed he was a good man, humble, generous, devoted to his family, and faithful to his friends. His highly professional skills and knowledge gave him not only a comfortable life but also the consideration and the respect of his surroundings.
Anxious to transfer the legacy of his ancestor and in the respect for the ethical values which had marked his life and works, Tigran Karabedyan decides to create his own watch brand and to locate it in Switzerland, in the city of Neuchâtel, the ancestral cradle of the Swiss watch industry.
The KERBEDANZ watches have a dual heritage: the know-how of the ancestral watchmaking and the ethic value cultivated by a man fair and straight, highly self-demanding in his professional commitment and in his life as well.
Through its product policy - concept, manufacturing and high quality finishing - the excellence of its network and overall the respect dedicated to its Clients, KERBEDANZ will fully reflect these ethical values.
Ethics
The KERBEDANZ watches therefore have a dual heritage: the abilities and the centuries-old tradition of Swiss luxury watchmaking and the ethical values that have accompanied a good and righteous man during his whole life, who was attached to the quality and accuracy of his work as to respect the rules of life.
Chief Design Officer Aram Petrosyan
KERBEDANZ impregnated with the fundamental ethical values, base its principles on the respect of its customers and watches over to offer products of high quality and a distribution that is as selective as exclusive.
Philosophy
Giving sense to beauty
The KERBEDANZ brand has the mission to interpret the multiple universe of human thought as creating exceptional watches by the symbolic content they contain. Through these exceptional watches, KERBEDANZ wants to establish a special relationship with the customers that are named "leaders." These same leaders and precursors, by their actions and charisma, participate in their respective fields to the creation and expansion of the universe of human thought.
By merging the "form and substance" KERBEDANZ carries in his creations perfect union between a philosophical or esthetic symbolism and its cultural translation.
It is this unique creative concept that KERBEDANZ applies to the design of its very exclusive watches, sometimes very evocative or more discrete, mysterious or even subliminal depending on the nature of the subject under discussion. The personalization of the watch can be so secret that its evocation is only comprehensible to its owner.
Chief Design Officer Aram Petrosyan
A World of Symbols
The universe of human thought is not only made of the philosophical and cultural heritage of mankind since ancient times, but it is continually adding new discoveries and theories in such various areas as science, history, philosophy, art and everything related to ethical values that elevate human dignity and give its own value to every civilization and every culture.
To create valuables corresponding to contemporary design, capable of transmitting strong emotions and messages: myths and symbols from the depths of time or exciting visions of a future projection - this is the challenge that KERBEDANZ was sent giving priority in terms of product to the pursuit of excellence, uniqueness, reliability, elegance and innovation at the service of its customers.
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Technical Specifications
Model: KERBEDANZ – Portfolio Phoenix Tourbillon
MOVEMENT
Mechanical hand-wound tourbillon KRB-01 caliber.
Designed, manufactured and decorated by Kerbedanz and Technotime,
27 jewels, 28’800 vib/h, double barrel, 120-hour power reserve.
Special Kerbedanz engraving on the back of the movement.
Tourbillon cage placed at south west, between 7 and 8 o’clock.
FUNCTIONS
Hours, minutes, tourbillon.
CASE
Yellow gold, 45 mm/12 mm.
Designed and manufactured by Kerbedanz.
Sapphire crystal and case back with anti-reflective treatment.
Water-resistant 5 atm.
DIAL
Yellow gold, blue rhodium, hand decorated 3 layer dial, mythological Phoenix motif.
Designed, manufactured and hand decorated by Kerbedanz.
STRAP
Brown genuine alligator mississippiensis.
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Kerbedanz SA
Rue des Moulins 51,
2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
info@kerbedanz.com
+ 41 32 725 18 10
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Kerbedanz.com
