Chronoswiss revealed the ‘House of Chronoswiss’ last Friday with a ribbon cutting ceremony in the center of Lucerne, Switzerland. Eva and Oliver Ebstein, owners of Chronoswiss; Thomas Gottschalk, a German talk show celebrity; and Stefan Roth, the Mayor of Lucerne were on hand to cut the ribbon and initiate festivities.
HOUSE OF CHRONOSWISS
The new headquarters has an open and transparent design theme created with the use of over 300 square meters of glass as well as glass lighting fixtures by Bocci. The showroom houses the latest collections of Chronoswiss complete with cutting edge display cases while the museum portion exposes the watchmakers workshop. It provides all visitors a view of watchmakers and artisans at work on movement building, enameling and more.
TECHNOLOGY
The space welcomes visitors to explore the 30 year history of Chronoswiss. Six interactive touch screen stations were created for visitors to learn about the brand and the art of watchmaking at their own pace. The latest Chronoswiss timepieces are highlighted in hi-tech display units allowing visitors to discover the details of the watch or the watchmaking techniques used to create each model. The display units project various scenes of life in Switzerland as well as rotate the watches for a closer view.
HEADQUARTERS
In the neighboring location is space for the administrative team from marketing, sales and accounting. Again, the space predominantly uses glass in the design which represents transparency, both in the literal sense as well as the Ebstein approach to transparency within a business.
SIRIUS LION
This summer, Chronoswiss released the Sirius Lion timepiece, a limited edition to the Sirius collection honoring the new ‘House of Chronoswiss.’ The dial pays tribute to the location of the new headquarters with the outline of a lion in iridescent enamel and at 4 o’clock a red 16a commemorating the new location on Löwenstrasse (or Lion Street) 16a, a few blocks down from the Löwendenkmal (or Loin monument). The Sirius Lion collection is complete with the ‘onion-style’ crown, which is emblematic to Chronoswiss. This collection is limited to one hundred in stainless steel and thirty in red gold, both having the serial numbers identified on the dial in red.
CELEBRATION
The evening led to a celebration at the Verkehrhaus Transportation Museum, hosted by Eva and Oliver Ebstein. Guests enjoyed libations while taking a closer look at the sleek wooden boat by Pedrazzini and the Spyker cars featured in Chonoswiss’ advertising, as well as an expansive collection of historic planes on display.
German celebrity host, Thomas Gottschalk, presented a surprise for the evening with a one-of-a-kind timepiece named the Sirius Lion Heart to be auctioned online in mid-Oct. for the Make-a-Wish Foundation Switzerland. The timepiece is powered by a hand-wound and skeletonized ETA 6498 movement and showcases the craftsmanship of Chronoswiss with a handcrafted guilloche and cloisonné enamel of a lion on a solid white gold dial representing the courage those need to face an illness. The Chronoswiss Sirius Lion Heart demonstrates their charitable commitment to helping children as all profits benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
