Backes & Strauss Watches

Easily one of the most noteworthy luxury diamond watch brands in the world, British brand Backes & Strauss creates some of the most exquisite and bedazzling jewelry watches. Originally founded in 1789 in Germany, Backes & Strauss may well be the oldest diamond company in the world, and puts its incredible expertise in selecting, cutting, polishing, and setting diamonds into jewelry and watches fit for royalty. The brand also offers bespoke services and creates luxurious steel timepieces.

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History of Backes & Strauss

Backes & Strauss is the world’s oldest diamond company, founded by goldsmith Georg Carl Backes in 1789 in Hanau, Germany. After many years of success, the company opened an office in London in 1814, distributing jewelry throughout Europe. Towards the end of the 19th Century, with the discovery of massive diamond mines in Southern Africa, there was a need for controlled diamond distributors. Backes & Strauss stepped up to the role and changed their business model, becoming diamond cutters and distributors.

The company’s daybooks outline its sales team’s journeys worldwide, selling loose diamonds to big names such as Mikimoto, Boucheron, Bulgari, and even Jacques Cartier himself.

Franck Muller Partnership

In 2006, the company joined forces with the Franck Muller Group to produce timepieces, with its first watch collections debuting in 2007.

The Backes & Strauss Crown 

Backes & Strauss’s main selection of timepieces consists of three collections, each named after London landmarks; the Berkeley, the Piccadilly, and the Regent. Every Backes & Strauss watch has at least one diamond set into the crown. This unique crown is the Backes & Strauss signature, known as the “Jewel in the Crown,” and resembles the pavilion, or base, of a diamond.

Who owns Backes & Strauss?

Today, Backes & Strauss is part of the Franck Muller Group, a Swiss watchmaking company based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Fun Fact

Backes & Strauss was granted a Royal Warrant to make a limited series of 60 watches to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. You can see one of their Assyrian-style bracelets on display at the British Museum of London.

Backes & Strauss Collections

  • Regent

  • Berkeley

  • Piccadilly

  • Renaissance

  • Victoria

  • Steel

  • Bespoke