How BUBEN&ZORWEG Turned Watch Storage Into a Luxury Business

If you’ve bought a nice watch, make sure you give it a suitable home

Consider, for a moment, the daily existence of your favourite watch. It doesn’t just live on the end of your wrist, does it? When it’s off-duty or being rotated with one of your other pieces, it’s forced to reside elsewhere. Sadly, this second home often isn’t a very salubrious venue. It’s hardly unusual for a watch to end up getting randomly stashed in a sock drawer or being marooned on a bedside table for weeks on end.

Such thoughtless storage isn’t just ill-befitting an expensive watch. It could be actually bad for its preservation. Mechanical watches are, after all, extremely intricate pieces of machinery and their timekeeping integrity can be easily compromised. Direct sunlight, moisture, dust, humidity, magnetic fields – all these can play havoc with your watch.

BUBEN&ZORWEG deliver a luxurious solution. Over the last 24 years, the brand has evolved into the Patek Philippe of watch storage with their safes, winders and watch boxes. Their range of German craftsmanship varies from simple leather watch rolls to protect your timepieces while travelling to wildly extravagant, bespoke commissions that complement the individual décor of your house and can even include built-in hi-fi systems and humidors.

“We’ve made safe rooms for some quite amazing private homes and palaces,” admits the brand’s co-founder Christian Zorweg. “That’s included collections up to 1000 watches. I think the biggest we did was a watch collection worth about $100 million.”

Even if your watch collection isn’t quite at that level (yet), you still need to look after what you’ve got. Most watch owners, for example, don’t own an automatic watch winder. These devices stop the power reserve from depleting when the watch is not being worn and keep the time and date functions ticking over. Not surprisingly, Christian believes they’re an essential item for any self-respecting horophile. “You must have a watch winder,” he insists.

To illustrate why, imagine leaving your car standing undriven in a garage for months on end. After a while, this prolonged lack of activity can affect the life of the battery, while the tyres can go flat and the brakes can rust. “If your watch is lying around unworn, it’s not good for the watch either,” Christian says. “The lubricant inside that you need to reduce friction hardens over time and will reduce the precision of the timekeeping.  A watch winder just winds it enough to keep it going every day.”

Safety is another concern of many of Christian’s clients, particularly in Europe where sadly watch crime is on the rise. “I’ve had people tell me when they go to London, ‘You don’t wear an expensive watch now. It’s just too risky.”

BUBEN&ZORWEG has subsequently become the market leader in luxury safes. All their safes conform to VdS protection guidelines that are the rigorous standards applied by industry and insurance companies. What that translates to are safes that can laugh off intense stress tests and forced-entry attempts using power tools, welding torches and more. Some of them even have bullet-proof glass.

“Forget about the money you lose on a theft,” says Christian. “Think about the time and passion you spent building your collection. Then imagine, one day someone came into your private house and take all that away from you. That’s a very emotional violation.”

Ensuring this peace of mind is one of the factors behind BUBEN&ZORWEG’s growth. But the biggest contributor, Christian suggests, is even more relevant on a daily basis. “The most obvious reason is the convenience,” he says. “A safe allows you to keep all your precious things in one place, while a winder ensures your watches are good to go whenever you want to strap one onto your wrist.”

NITRO 4 Watch Roll

Whether you’re heading on a work trip or a well-deserved holiday, this leather case carries four watches in security and comfort. Slot your watches onto one of the individual velour cushions that nestle snugly into the hand-stitched interior.

VANTAGE 8 Macassar Watch Winder

House and wind eight of your watches within this handsome box constructed with a macassar wood inlay and finished with high-gloss lacquer. A push button LCD panel allows you to program your watch winder with three cycles, a sleep phase mode, fast wind option and your preferred rotational direction. Aesthetically, it’s also a pleasure with the crystal-glass pane on the soft close door displaying your collection invitingly within the plush velour interior.

ORION XL Nappa Black Safe

This multi-storage watch winding system will guarantee the security of your precious watch collection. Hand-crafted in Italian leather, the padded exterior door reveals a luxurious interior lined with drawers of glossy wood inlays and polished chrome. Choose between watch-winding configurations to house eight,16, or 24 watches, while other drawers allow you to store further valuables. All the contents will remain safe and secure behind a Swiss security lock with mechanical key. 

BUBEN&ZORWEG has revolutionised watch storage, making it an essential part of the luxury experience. Their superior craftsmanship, focus on security, and convenient solutions have positioned them as the industry leader. Whether it’s a compact travel case or an elaborate safe room, their products provide watch enthusiasts with the ideal home to preserve the value and significance of their collections. Discover the world of BUBEN&ZORWEG at our Kennedy Chadstone boutique or online today.

Article written by our content contributor Luke Benedictus.