With a Backes & Strauss watch you not only have in your possession and elegant and beautiful timepiece, but also a perfectly cut set of diamonds.
The brilliance of a stone depends entirely on how light is reflected within and dispersed by the facets. For a diamond to reveal its true beauty, each facet must be cut so that it mirrors its opposite exactly: only then will all the light entering the stone be reflected internally and dispersed through the top alone.
When the symmetry is truly perfect, a unique pattern is formed inside the stone. Look down through the crown with a special viewer and you can see eight arrows radiating outwards. Look up through the pavilion and you can see a circle of eight hearts. The slightest flaw in cutting spoils the 'hearts and arrows'effect, which is why this 'ideal cut' must always be performed to perfection. The skill and experience required to do this are extremely rare. It is, however, a speciality of Backes & Strauss which cuts all its bespoke diamonds in this way.
The Piccadilly collection by Backes & Strauss is shaped by John Nash's great circular junction, Piccadilly Circus, the epicentre of London, since it was built in 1819. It also connected Nash's dramatic vision, the height of modern fashion, with Piccadilly itself, the bastion of traditional style. This concept of an elegant connection between new and old lies at the heart of the Backes & Strauss Piccadilly Collection. On the outside, the face and case evoke the geometric symmetry of the ideal cut. On the inside, handcrafted movements are often described as jewel-like.
Click here to see the Piccadilly collection.
