About Zircon Swiss – in Biel since 1987

The story of Zircon Swiss begins with Marc Lederrey. For more than two decades he shaped watchmaking as head of research and development at Rado: in 1960 Rado filed the patent for a scratch- and tarnish-resistant watch case – with Marc Lederrey named as inventor. It led to the legendary DiaStar in 1962, one of the world's first scratch-resistant watches. Dozens more Rado patents bearing his name followed until 1986 – among them, in 1980, a watch case whose surround can explicitly be made of ceramic.

Hard, enduring materials remained his life's work. In 1987 he set up on his own in Biel/Bienne and founded Black Pearl Zircon SA. He called his watches of black zirconium blended with ceramic «Les perles noires» – the black pearls – and saw them as his third revolution: «The first shock I caused on the watch market was the scratch-proof watch. Second shock: sapphire. Third shock: black zirconium.» (Journal du Jura, 23 January 1988)

The press celebrated him as «Monsieur Inrayable» – Mr Scratch-proof. «I have always been five years ahead», he told the Geneva newspaper La Suisse in February 1988, which reported on the «new invention by a man from Biel: the ceramic watch» – in a gleaming black never achieved before. Other watch factories bought his watches and launched them under their own brands.

Marc Lederrey shared his knowledge openly, including with companions from the industry. Soon afterwards came a clear market displacement: large groups conquered the world market with the ceramic watch, other factories sold his watches under their own names – and the small manufacture from Biel was pushed out of the market. But the idea lived on.

Today Markus, David and Kyrollos Istafanous carry this legacy forward – with an invention that never existed before: the Bow-Watch-Tie, the bow tie with an integrated Swiss watch and a bezel in faceted zirconium dioxide ceramic. Patent pending, CH 722154. This time, the idea is protected.