OUR STORY
Andreas Knecht
CEO
BASSE BROYE – MAGICAL WATCH-MAKING
Revealed to the general public at the prestigious Baselworld 2014, new watchmakers Basse Broye have already enchanted connoisseurs of the art of horology. This is a tale of friendship and passion, woven out of heritage and the avant-garde.
There are times when coincidences make life sound like something from a storybook. As he entered his forties, the dynamic company boss Andreas Knecht, keen to respect family tradition, set out in search of a watch. He didn’t like any he saw. That is when he bumped into someone he had once taught snowboarding to. As if by magic, Lénaïc Tschanz (for it was he) was now a young watchmaker brimming with ideas. Quite naturally, the two friends decided to create their first model.
Andreas traveled the world for his company and on his travels, he noticed the magical effect his watch had on his colleagues. So he and Lénaïc decided to share their passion with others by founding Basse Broye, a fine watch-making company in the greatest of Swiss traditions. The name is, of course, a way of paying homage to a beautiful region, steeped in history. Indeed, back in ancient times the town of Avenches was known as Aventicum and was the capital of Roman Switzerland. To this day it is one of the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland, and its superb amphitheater bears witness to that.
Without going quite so far back, Avenches was also the hometown of aviation pioneers René Grandjean and Ernest Failloubaz, who flew the first flight in Swiss history in 1910. As the aviation industry developed, so did time recording techniques for pilots right up to the 1920s.
Proud of this heritage, which contributes to its Swiss Made label, Basse Broye offers four models, one of which is a jewellery watch decorated with handset 44 black diamonds. In a nod to the ancient Aventicum, time is indicated in Roman numerals. Because of their passion for precision, Andreas and Lénaïc designed a skeleton model. The movement – the true soul of a watch – is quite fascinating and is visible through this remarkable skeleton in a classic watch face. As for the brand’s logo, it shows two “B”s, back to back, encircling the waves of the River Broye, as if in a wonderful dream.
Let Andreas Knecht and Lénaïc Tschanz make us dream — and enhance the measure of time — for a long time!
