Fashionable high-tech for your wrist

A big player in watch straps comes from Austria. But there are also a few newcomers with great ideas.

Today , nobody needs a watch to tell the right time. But the little timekeepers on the wrist are still highly popular. Swiss brands dominate the market but not when it comes to the one part that actually makes a watch a wristwatch. The Austrian company Hirsch is one of the world market leaders in the production of watch straps. The family-business from Klagenfurt has become one of the main suppliers of straps for the Swiss watch-making industry.

From a workshop to a global player

“The Bracelet since 1765” – the company slogan is confusing at first as the first wristwatch was only made in 1812 by Abraham-Louis Breguet for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples and younger sister of Napoleon Bonaparte.

“The year 1765 refers to the year when our family started to make and work with leather,” explains Nikolaus Hirsch, who is nine generations removed from the workshop founders and heads the marketing and sales departments.

The transition from a small leather workshop to one of the world’s leading producers of watch straps goes back to Hans Hirsch, who started to make the first prototypes at his kitchen table in 1945. Ten years later, in the midst of Austria’s massive economic boom when wristwatches became highly popular, he invented a technique that seamlessly combines the upper leather, the padding and the lining to prevent the intrusion of moisture, perfume, sun lotion and other liquids. The same year, Hans Hirsch patented the so-called Rembordé technique which is still state-of-the art today.

Since then, the company is constantly looking to improve the at first sight simple strap that keeps the watch in place. “There is nothing that can’t be improved”, Hans Hirsch once said. His successors keep to that motto.

Numerous inventions

“Watch straps are worn directly on the skin, often for several hours a day. Therefore, the demands are considerably higher compared to other leather products in terms of wear, wearing comfort and skin tolerance,” Nikolaus Hirsch explains. The list of Hirsch’s innovations is thus quite long. The company researched allergic reactions to leather with the University Hospital for Dermatology in Vienna in the 1980s and subsequently developed the patented Pro Skin protection coat. In addition, an anti-allergic cover for the bottom of the watch was invented, both in a ready-made version for round cases in various sizes as well as cut-outs for rectangular cases and Tonneau cases.

Photo: Habring Uhrentechnik Richard and Maria Habring, founders and owners of watchmaker Habring

Habring is dedicated to the art of watchmaking. The company received the Grand Prix de la Haute Horlogerie four times.

Other surface treatments improved the scratch resistance of the leather, or come with skin-caring extracts of aloe vera.

Many innovations, however, dealt with leather’s aversion to water. What is the point of having a waterproof watch if the strap can’t withstand wetness? By now, Hirsch watch straps can be safely used for water sports, even when diving up to 100 metres, or in the sauna. A milestone in this area is the Performance line, which has a core from natural rubber, coated in fine leather. The first models were launched in 2014; a year later, the line received the renowned Red Dot Design Award.

From a watch strap to a fashion accessory

“In addition to the inside of a watch strap we have always paid a lot of attention to the look,” said Nikolaus Hirsch. “In the last few years this has become more and more important as wrist watches are no longer simply a device for timekeeping but increasingly a fashion accessory to express your own style.”

Accordingly, the range of colours available has grown and grown and by now all models are available in the colours of the season – such as camouflage patterns at the moment. The new slogan “dress up your watch” underlines how important a watch’s aesthetics have become. Thanks to the quick release system, which is compatible with the majority of current watch models, straps can be changed by the owners themselves depending on his mood or the occasion. Hirsch also offers the Appetizer Tray, a box to store up to twelve watch straps.

Alternative materials

Hirsch does not only pay attention to trends in terms of colours but also when it comes to materials. The company does not believe that leather straps will become obsolete but the fact that more and more people consider animal products problematic – even if they come exclusively from certified sources in accordance with all environmental and protection guidelines – is something Hirsch wants to accommodate.

The Performance Collection, for example, is available with a surface from birchbark or shale, which resulted in Hirsch being awarded the Innovation and Research Prize of the Province of Carinthia in 2018. Both products do not only have an extraordinary look but are also 100 percent vegan.

“We have started several projects around animal-free and sustainable materials”.

“We have concerned ourselves with alternatives to leather for several years now,” Hirsch says. “We have started several projects around animal-free and sustainable materials such as plant fibres.” He is certain to present a few vegan innovations in the years to come.

Hirsch is also looking at the integration of high-tech features. The company presented the first strap with an integrated microchip at the Basel Watch and Jewellery Fair 2002. Since then, Hirsch has been making smart watch straps for watchmakers and business clients from other fields such as banks or healthcare. Time tracking and access to the site in Klagenfurt for staff is done with in-house wearables, of course. The lifestyle brand NiMa Atelier, established in 2014 by Nikolaus Hirsch and his brother Matthäus offers customers not only stylish leather straps but also straps for contactless payment.

The latest innovation in the field of digital devices is an adapter that makes it possible to equip Apple smart watches with a Hirsch watch strap.

New sales concepts

The family business is also keeping up with the times in terms of its sales. While the last few decades saw a focus on watch shops – about 16,000 shops and jewellers around the globe carry Hirsch straps – the B2C business is gaining in importance. Hirsch operates its own chain of shops by the name “In-Time” in several countries, selling watch straps and providing various services for watches and jewellery. When the new website was launched in 2019, an online store was added.

The company also increased its activities on social media to keep watch enthusiasts up-to-date with the latest products, offer fashion tips and give insights into the production and the company philosophy. This is an important factor for Hirsch to establish the watch strap as a fashion accessory with regards to people owning two or three of them.

Watches from Austria

There are only very few companies that make watches in Austria but they are able to keep up with the competition from Switzerland, Germany and Japan.

Jacques Lemans managed to establish itself successfully in the segment of low-priced chronometers. The company was founded in 1975 in St. Veit an der Glan (Carinthia) and offers about 600 different models, supplying shops in 120 countries all round the world.

And they are very happy with the Austrian watchmaker, a survey among 9,000 dealers by watch and jewellery publishing house Meth Media showed at the start of the year. Jacques Lemans was voted the favourite supplier and top brand in the category “up to 250 euros”. “We are very proud of this award,” says Alfred Riedl, owner and Managing Director of Jacques Lemans. “It shows that we meet the taste and demands of customers. We feel validated to continue along this path.”

Austrian luxury

Habring is an Austrian watchmaker that can be found at the very top. The company was founded in 2004 by Richard and Maria Habring and is a classic manufacturer, meaning that it develops and builds its clockworks on its own. In 2007, Habring developed a new calibre with a jumping second, patented it and started producing it. This is rather exceptional as even many renowned Swiss and German watchmakers only buy calibres from suppliers and adapt them individually. The Habrings are therefore among a small group of watchmakers who use their own know-how – with great success: The company won the Grand Prix de la Haute Horlogerie, the highest prize in the art of watchmaking, four times in the category “Small Hand”.

Habrings business model has one drawback, of course: The company sells its watches only by order through a small number of selected dealers in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Australia, and is only able to make 200 watches per year at most. So, if you want to put a Habring on your wrist, you need a little bit of patience.

Quality over quantity with carefully selected sales channels is also the credo at Carl Suchy & Söhne, a brand that was highly popular among sophisticated watch enthusiasts during the Austrian Monarchy. It disappeared after the First World War but was revived in 2017. In all fairness, the new company isn’t entirely Austrian though. Financer Robert Punkenhofer teamed up with Swiss Master Watchmaker Marc Jenni, member of the Académie Horlogère des

Photo: Hirsch Créateurs Indépendants, and Swiss manufacturer Vaucher Fleurier, a specialist in luxury Watch straps from Hirsch are not only hand-made, they are also full of innovations. watches. This befits Carl Suchy & Söhne’s history, however, as the original company already had its production site in the Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds. The new company’s connection to Austria and Vienna is both subtle and innovative. For one, there is the model name Waltz No1, which is an homage to the Viennese waltz. And so is the turning disc that replaces the classic seconds hand. The pattern on the inside of the watch strap is borrowed from Adolf Loos. In order to introduce the new old brand among watch enthusiasts, Carl Suchy & Söhne participates at top level watch events such as Baselworld, the Quatar Show Forum or the Austria Connect Exhibition in autumn 2019 in Tokyo, which celebrated 150 years of trade relationship between Austria and Japan. This strategy led to establishing a sales network of internationally renowned dealers such as Hübner in Vienna, Chronopassion in Paris, Noble Styling Inc. in Tokyo and The Lavish Attic in Hong Kong. Thomas Hiden founded Viribus Unitis in 2017 and also references the Austrian Monarchy. Its models can be found in the midprice range, have a sporty look and come with stainless steel, bronze or ceramics cases. The designs lean on classic aviator and scuba watches and the names and colours come from various military units or types of planes from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The available watch straps befit this martial theme and are made from leather of historic uniform fabrics, produced by the Waldviertel-based manufacturer RoPhoto: Waltz man Jandl. They underline the Austrian DNA of the watches, even though Swiss Sellita calibres make them tick. ◆