Beverly Hills, Calif.–The Swiss jewelry company Avakian is entering the world of fine watchmaking.
Edmond Avakian is launching his first watch for men, designed and developed in collaboration with his son, Haig Avakian, who heads U.S. operations for Avakian.

The world premiere of the new model, available in a limited edition and sold exclusively in Avakian stores, was held Dec. 4 during a gala at the Avakian store in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The California store opened last year as part of the company’s international expansion plans, joining Avakian stores in Geneva, London and Moscow.

Wishing to perpetuate the family tradition and preserve the authentic Avakian style, Edmond Avakian enlisted independent Swiss craftsmen to design and produce his new watch. With an avant-garde design, the new timepiece has a second time zone, large date display and instantaneous date change with quick correction, and is offered with manual or automatic winding. The model will be available in six formats in the following materials: rose gold, white gold, black PVD and black gold. An interchangeable gold bezel fits onto the case, and is available either plain or diamond-studded.

The manufacture of the gold middle sections and the leather work required were entrusted to a number of small workshops in Geneva, ensuring that the entire design and assembly process is purely Swiss, the company said in a press release.

In 1976, when Edmond Avakian joined his family’s firm, the company specialized in jewelry sales. Committed to develop and expand the business, he turned his attention to jewelry design and became the exclusive distributor of a number of prestigious Swiss watchmaking brands. After arriving in Geneva in 1985, Avakian became a distributor for the most prestigious brands in the Swiss watchmaking industry.

To pay homage to the watchmaking tradition of the Avakian brand and offer his clientele an increasingly extensive range of products, Edmond Avakian decided to create a watch model all his own, designed to match the company’s image.