Tellus - Watches By Hovel Chenorhokian

[MosJan]

Tellus

 

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PARENTHèSES

Variations on a theme … (parenthèses, French for brackets) watches with an ETA 2824 automatic movement with an interchangeable case (42 or 46 mm), from stainless steel with or without diamonds to black PVD and 18 carat gold with or without diamonds. Sapphire crystals front and back, water-resistant to 30 metres.

 

 

Tellus (founded in 1926) watches are designed by Hovel Chenorhokian and distributed by the Hexagone company which was founded in 2005.

From an Armenian family that moved to Lebanon, Hovel’s father learned watchmaking from one of his brothers and then in addition decided to open his own business distributing Swiss brands such as IWC, Blancpain and Breitling in the Middle East. The outbreak of the 1975 civil war in Lebanon caused the collapse of his father’s business and Hovel, along with his brother, both of whom were born there, interrupted their studies and took refuge in France.

In the late 1970s with the development of the quartz movement and the beginning of the consumer revolution whereby the watch became a fashion accessory, Hovel and his brother continued the family tradition and founded a small watch distribution business in France that has since flourished and grown to 80 employees.

Hovel’s first own watch creation was the Moog collection of ladies’ watches with a variety of multi-coloured easy-to-change straps. The ‘interchangeable’ concept of the straps was clearly one that he felt could be extended and when he took on the design work for Tellus watches, Chenorhokian came up with another concept whereby elements attached to the watchcase were interchangeable thus giving the timepiece a completely different appearance. Launched at BaselWorld last year, the first deliveries have now been made in France as well countries as distant as Dubai, Kuwait and Australia.

Last summer, whilst on holiday in Groix, an island off Brittany, Hovel Chenorhokian was in a local market when an artist selling sculptures saw his Tellus watch and began discussing it with him. The artist found it fascinating and persuaded him to sell it there and then. The rest of the holiday was watchless, but one imagines that he hopes this little anecdote is but a foretaste of what’s to come commercially