The Pierre Kunz story is an inspiring one to anyone in the watch industry. Kunz was a watchmaker with the Franck Muller Group and his ideas and designs were so well received that Muller and Vartan Sirmakes suggested that he start his own company within the Franck Muller Group. That was five years ago, and Kunz is still going strong.
For this year's show (Kunz is showing at Watchland in Genthod, Switzerland), Pierre Kunz will be showing three new watches, all with retrograde functions, something that has become a Kunz trademark.
“Retrograde is an important key to Pierre Kunz,” explains Stefan Kunz (no relation), Vice President, Pierre Kunz. “Pierre wants to work with life on the watch, that's why he likes to have retrograde functions on his watches, because something is always going on. He will also find some other ways to make something special, so in the future we will come with other things than retrogrades. However, retrograde functions are the main characteristic of the brand.”






For this year, Pierre Kunz is continuing to open up the dials of the watches, showcasing pieces of the movement. The first piece is what is being called the Tahiti Moon, because it features Tahitian mother-of-pearl surrounding the moon phase indication. This watch has an open dial, hour and minute retrogrades and is available in red gold, white gold, platinum and steel (the steel version uses a different dial treatment to differentiate it from the precious metals).
Next up is the Second Time Zone, which has a GMT retrograde hour hand, big date with an opening at the bottom of the dial to showcase the date wheels, and a day/night indicator for the second time zone. The watch is available in 41 mm and 44 mm sizes, in gold or platinum.
The last piece to be presented this year is the Tourbillon Art-Deco, which is a square tourbillon, which according to Kunz, is more complicated and more difficult to realize.
The Pierre Kunz brand is five years old this year and looking optimistically toward the future.


Source: Europa Star April-May 2007 Magazine Issue