Fueled by obsessive creativity and a passion for craftsmanship in all its facets, the newly founded Charles Zuber brand is revealing its first High Jewelry line POMANDER and luxury watch collection PERFOS. These two major collections are unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art Fair on November 17th, 2022 as the Founder’s Edition, inspired by the legacy of the founder.
La Vie, Exubérante
Welcome to the realm of exuberance.
We are a Genevan-born atelier inspired by the life of mystery Swiss jeweller Charles Zuber. In the spirit of rekindling the legacy of our founder, we satiate our hunger through an emotional journey of the unexpected. We are fueled by obsessive creativity, an affinity for crafting mesmerizing moments, and a daring vision, as we captivate the discerning elite who seek for the provocative beauty of simplicity.
We are escaping the codes of the predictable as we fuse the mastery of jewellery-making with the precise craftsmanship of horology to create a singular and distinguishable neo-Swiss luxury experience that induces the spellbinding feeling of desire.
The Charles Zuber Collection, revealed.
The spirit of Charles Zuber is as vibrant as ever. Beyond High Watchmaking and Jewelry with a distinctive aesthetic, the brand’s creations reflect an attitude that values a rich tradition and embraces the new.
High Horology
Charles Zuber Perfos – The Founder’s Edition
“Nothing is left to chance, every detail counts.”
Distinguished by Exuberance.
We present you with an exclusive first glance at the Founder’s Collection. Inspired by our Founder, master
Swiss jeweller Charles Zuber, this special edition of Perfos timepieces embodies the essence of aesthetics and shatters the norms of tradition.
Placed under the sign of a unique blend of materials, colours and savoir-faire, Perfos crystallizes all the skills that revive the history of Swiss watchmaking excellence, which is particularly close to the requirements of High Jewelry.
Universal and iconic by its visual cues, Perfos could only be powered by a calibre that does justice to its aesthetic. The Caliber 01 is a form movement, designed to snugly fit into this particular case, closely following the curves and lines of the interior perimeter to the nearest millimetre. A discreet yet no less impressive prowess, true to the spirit of Charles Zuber. The brainchild of the famous Swiss designer Eric Giroud, Perfos catches the eye with its sleek, powerful build and multiple facets offering a playground for contrasts. Its distinctive dial marries ultracomplex construction with uncompromising elegance.
Projects of substance require time and patience. It took Eric Giroud a year to refine the design of Perfos. With Perfos, he pays homage to the spirit and personality of the master jeweller, a lively and luminous man, building on an aesthetic that echoes that of the timepieces from the 1970s and 1980s, truly a golden age in the history of wristwatches.
Charles Zuber or the art of elevating every detail
Integrated case and bracelet
The designer’s stroke of genius: it was Eric Giroud who came up with a three-tiered case, without straight lines, and gave it a flat bezel and a festival of curves. The Perfos watch epitomizes understated elegance and the provocative beauty of simplicity.
The so-called “sandwich” design is of uncompromising precision. With its chamfered perimeter, it favours a multiplication of facets. The result are rich contrasts between satin-brushed and polished surfaces, between the textures of the materials and the silkiness of their touch. Titanium, steel, the three colours of gold, white, pink and yellow – all play off each other as they alternate and meet.
The uncompromising elegance of the dial
Among the subtleties of Perfos, the sophistication of its dial is one of the most distinctive and uncompromising expressions of elegance. Whether on a black background with gray rhodium-plated indexes, or on a white background with ebony indexes like piano keys, the extreme precision it takes to create each triangular groove from a mother blank, a first dial base upon which a second plate, delicately openworked by laser, is then placed. Each opening coincides perfectly with each of the sixty indexes. How the infinitely small can reveal absolute mastery built on decades of practice! The dial is galvanized, a technique that relies on a pertinent choice of steel. The action of coating the metal with a layer of zinc protects it from corrosion whilst creating an iconic effect with flamboyant tones.
One key element: light. The way it plays on the case and dial pays tribute to Charles Zuber’s sunny personality, which Eric Giroud often describes as «rock’n’roll».
A form movement for an exceptional watch
Charles Zuber is about courage and consistency, and above all chronometric mastery. It is about refusing to compromise and slaking a thirst for universal beauty. A beauty that extends to the hidden parts of Perfos, through the design of a form movement caliber that hugs the rounded corners of the square case.
Automatically wound with a bidirectional oscillating weight, this three-hand caliber with 164 components
and 33 jewels lends itself to future developments and the addition of complications. Decorated and rhodium- plated according to the purest practices of a watchmaking industry proud of its fundamentals, its blued screws as well as other selected details underline the sunray patterns worked on its surfaces that are not visible to the eye.
By now it has become clear: underneath its apparent simplicity, the watch is in fact very complex. Complex in its design and complex in its realization. Nothing is left to chance, every detail counts and increases the watch’s appeal.
High Jewelry
Charles Zuber Pomander Collection
Charles Zuber’s Haute Jewelry is enriched by a fine collection that takes the ancient aesthetic codes of the pomander and reinterprets them with a resolutely contemporary visual and textural language. The pomander fuses the mastery of jewellery techniques with evocative stones in a culmination of beautiful and unique designs. With its iconic pointed arc shape, delicately held by a protective mesh of threads so fine they seem to disappear, Pomander brings together the rarest materials, like angel’s hair crystal with its threads of finest red-gold rutiles that shimmer with an ethereal quality. Charles Zuber explores an infinite spectrum of variations of Pomander: rings, necklaces, earrings, studs, and studded cuffs.
Pomander by Charles Zuber
The name Pomander came naturally – in it everything this object inspires is encompassed. With its iconic roundly tapered end, delicately held by a protective mesh of threads so fine they seem to disappear, Pomander sets the light free to play off its precious and semi-precious stones.
The magic of materials in a spider setting
As they explore the infinite possibilities for jewellery creation, the Charles Zuber atelier applied the art of spider setting to the best practices of High Jewelry, eschewing any form of bonding. Thus, a precious metal claw discreetly surrounds the polished surfaces, bringing out the distinctive shape and depth of this generous dome cut from lavender or black jade, violet amethyst, or from turquoise with lagoon reflections.
Angel’s hair crystal
The innovation of the Pomander collection lies in the use of rutilated quartz, also called angel’s hair crystal, a rare material in haute Jewellery. True to the bold spirit of the designer Charles Zuber, the brand rose to the challenge, capturing the stone’s fascinating aesthetic and almost organic texture.
Long considered a worthless mineral, rutilated quartz is like a diamond in the rough. Indeed, towards the middle of the 20th century, designers and collectors began to appreciate the ethereal beauty of rutilated quartz, so named because of the inclusions that take on reddish and golden tones (hence ‘rutile’); because they evoke shimmering strands of golden hair, this stone is often referred to as angel’s hair quartz.
Symbolically, angel’s hair quartz is connected to the higher realms. It is said to be a stone of celestial power, uplifting and illuminating for the soul, amplifying intention and enhancing intuition.
A Legen in time
Charles Zuber, the man with the golden fingers
Born in 1932 in the mystical town of Kriens, Switzerland, Karl Zuber realized his relentless true passion at an early age, unearthing an aptitude for creating works of art. At 15, he dropped out of school to pursue an apprenticeship with the renowned Lucerne-jeweller, Burger. Mesmerized by the aesthetic beauty of metallics and gemstones, the earnestness he acquired during this apprenticeship eventually manifested into a reality. The “Etoile de Lucerne” a star who was designed by Karl as a submission to the town’s annual competition. The star, which remains an homage to the artist to this day, continues to glimmer in the streets of Lucerne; a glistening ode to the birth of a creative genius.
Years later, after completing his obligatory military service in the early 50s, he pursued his longing to create and left his hometown to settle in the jewellery haven of Geneva. He would go on to receive his certification as a Master Jeweler, allowing him to truly devote himself to his passion. Over time, Karl brought his visionary dreams to life through his craft. Craving to become integrated into the French-Swiss community, Karl soon changed his name to Charles; a rebellious decision to subtly transform into the master he would become.
Charles would go on to sharpen his jewellery-making skills by attending night classes at Beaux-Arts and
working at various jewellery entities, garnering the knowledge and precise craftsmanship that would continue to manifest in his lifetime. In 1962 Charles opened his first jewellery workshop, Ch. Zuber & R. Baumgartner in a suburb of Geneva, designing for Piaget as a first client. By the time Charles was 75 years of age, he had propelled his career to unimaginable heights. His desire to devote his time to his loved ones resulted in the decision to sell his company to two independent gem setters with whom he had frequently worked in the past. Charles passed away in 2012, with a brand yet to be realized for the true gem it would have been.
Today, the spirit of Charles Zuber is brought back to life in a daring approach to luxury, an exuberant neo-Swiss experience.
Charles Zuber Perfos Technical Specifications
Reference: 3901011 – Price upon request
Movement
- Mechanical with automatic winding (micro rotor)
- Power reserve: 38 hours
- Frequency: 28,800 vibrations per hour
- Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
Case & Dial
- Case shape: Octagonal
- Case: Steel
- Dial: Galvanic and mirror polished indexes
- Water resistance: 30 m
- Size: 39 x 39 mm
- Thickness: 9 mm
Strap & Buckle
- Bracelet: Steel
- Buckle: Folding clasp
About Charles Zuber brand
Charles Zuber is a brand that is distinguished by exceptional design and the beauty of simplicity. Initially known for his expertise in setting precious and semi-precious stones, Charles Zuber, the legendary Swiss jewellery designer, who is celebrated through the brand that bears his name, was a craftsman of the most prestigious brands in the worlds of High Jewelry and High Watchmaking, with an aesthetic sensibility, deep knowledge of materials and precious stones, and exceptional know-how from the Métiers d’Art of jewellery and watchmaking creation. Charles Zuber is a Swiss brand based in Geneva, infused with the spirit of the Founder, brought to life by 3 passionate investors who reunited their respective talents to revive the legacy of the late great master jeweller. With each creation, the teams at Charles Zuber place all their knowledge and virtuosity at the service of an exceptional final result that lives up to the highest standards of connoisseurs and lovers of rare refinements. The spark of ambitious projects through prestigious collections, each creation combines several skills to bring forth a dazzling work of art combining technical prowess, age-old mastery and contemporary inspiration. Originally, Haute Joaillerie was the mainstay that built the renown of Charles Zuber the master jeweller. Today, Charles Zuber is brought to life with the unpredictable in mind by escaping the norms of traditional luxury in a neo-Swiss approach that exudes exuberance.