News From Burgdorf to Biel via Saint-Moritz... or the story of a passionate watchmaker at the head of Armin Strom SA.
Once upon a time, in the small Bernese village of Burgdorf (Emmenthal), there was a watchmaker who owned a shop where he sold watches and clocks. He devoted his spare time to his passion: creating hand-engraved skeleton watch movements. From Burgdorf to Biel via Saint-Moritz, where he ran a highly reputed watchmaking business... A long path has led this watchmaker to the doors of his own manufactory: Armin Strom SA.
So it was that in 2006, in Biel, Armin Strom, anxious to keep the flame of his expertise alive, teamed up with Serge Michel, the current CEO. Two years ago, the firm moved into premises of its own at 46, route de Boujean, in Biel. Around twenty people employed in workshops and offices play their part in the design, manufacture and distribution of the firm’s new collections.
Over the past four years Armin Strom has prospered. This is illustrated first and foremost by the launch in November 2009 of the first in-house calibre, the ARM09, enabling the firm to become a fully-fledged manufactory. Comprising 146 parts, with a diameter of 36.6 mm and a height of 6.2 mm, the movement indicates hours, minutes and seconds and displays its seven-day power reserve. In the purest tradition of Armin Strom, the movements are partly engraved by hand, chamfered and polished, and reveal much of their mechanism to the naked eye. The One Week collection, composed of four variants - Earth, Air, Water and Fire – is equipped with this new movement.
To raise the profile of the manufactory, Armin Strom became associated last summer with the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, as the event’s official partner. From this year the firm will also be the official partner – in the guise of Armin Racing – of the Formula 1 Virgin Racing stable. Again in the context of Formula 1, Armin Strom has announced a collaborative venture with Ronnie Wood, the Art Watch and Art Car project, which brings together the worlds of art and Formula 1. Ronnie Wood, the Rolling Stones guitarist since 1975 – who incidentally also played with the Birds and the Faces – agreed to paint a movement for Armin Strom, a Virgin Racing Formula 1 car and a driver’s helmet. After being shown at numerous exhibitions, the helmet and car will be auctioned by Christie's in 2011 with proceeds going to charity. The watch meanwhile will go under the hammer at the Only Watch charity auction next September in Monaco. Other local personalities also support the brand such as Dirk Müller, a leading light in the Frankfurt stock exchange and well known to TV viewers in Germany. Latterly René Schudel, restaurateur and Swiss TV chef, has also joined the ranks of Armin Strom ambassadors. During a recent visit to the Biel manufactory, René Schudel was delighted to discover that small containers used in the kitchen also have their place in the Armin Strom machine room.
From his small workshop in Burgdorf, Armin Strom – now aged 72 – has therefore completed a long journey which today lets him devote all his time to his passion, the creation of hand-engraved skeleton movements. Within the walls of his new manufactory, he also passes on his expertise to young apprentices. The firm’s future is thus assured.
January 26, 2011
