For over two hundred years, Backes & Strauss have pioneered diamond cutting techniques, producing exquisite pieces of jewellery.
Today, as part of the Franck Muller group, the company is better known for their incredible jewelled watches. This coming together of two renowned brands sees Backes & Strauss producing the light and visual elements of the time pieces while Franck Muller use their extensive experience to produce the timing mechanisms.
The latest offering from Backes & Strauss is the Royal Jester, a collection is so named because of its circular theme. In the centre of the time piece you can witness a sparkling routine performed by their very own version of the jester in the form of a single, round, Brilliant diamond weighing an impressive 1.01 carats and officially certified as being of the finest Dcolour. Internally flawless and with ‘excellent’ symmetry, it further benefits from the signature Backes & Strauss Ideal Cut. If you have the opportunity to look deep inside the diamond with a special viewer the light will refract in the famous ‘hearts and arrows’ pattern which is the coveted sign of a stone which has been cut to perfect symmetry.
But the magnificent ‘jester’ diamond is not the only amusing aspect of this small and very special line of watches, each of which will be a bespoke piece with a different central stone. Clients can choose from the aforementioned diamond, or indulge in courtly colours with a central stone of intense blue, intense pink or fancy vivid yellow. As with all of the timepieces produced by Backes & Strauss, the Royal Jester is a jewelled feast for the eyes, with five rings containing the brands signature diamonds that draw your eyes immediately to the clients chosen centerpiece jewel.
Our brief explanation of the five diamond rings does not do justice to the detailed craftsmanship found on the Royal Jester so allow us to explain this in more detail. Around the outside of the case, there 80 diamonds, with the dial being masterfully invisibly set with two rows of baguettes weighing 2.4 carats. A further 40 baguettes can be seen between the discreet, crimson hour and minute markers, which are ingeniously mounted on crystal discs to create the impression that they are simply floating, unconnected to any mechanism, in the great tradition of the mystery timekeeper. In reality, they are driven by a superb movement with 36 hours of power reserve.
Once again, Backes & Strauss have produced an truly mesmerizing piece of horological jewellery. For those that want to find out more, visit the official website at backesandstrauss.com