The Marachly family has been in the watch business for over a century and three generations of the family are currently represented in the management of Rama Watch SA, the company behind the RSW brand.
Having started out with a small watch shop overseas, the business moved around the industrial watch city of Bienne on several occasions before establishing itself further along the shores of Lake Bienne in La Neuveville. The model named after this town is currently the brand’s best-seller and this year features new dials with Roman numerals and new colours.
RSW celebrates its centenary with a limited-edition La Neuveville 1914 model, which has a redesigned 42mm case in stainless steel with a domed sapphire crystal and a domed dial featuring the original circular Rama logo. Two versions with a black or eggshell dial are available as a limited edition of 100 pieces each and come with a special RSW jubilee pen, while a third, non-limited, model is available with a silvered dial and an Arabic 12 in place of the vintage logo. All three models are powered by the ETA 2824-2 self-winding movement with date.
The La Neuveville collection is also enriched by a sporty new chronograph in black PVD with a black dial and matching black leather strap that is powered by a self-winding mechanical chronograph movement with a day-date display.
A brand-new collection presented at BaselWorld also takes its name from the local geography. The Chasseral, named after the ridge that overlooks La Neuveville, is an elegant three-hander in stainless steel or yellow PVD, comes in three different case sizes and a choice of quartz of self-winding mechanical movements – the latter featuring the brand’s patented crank-crown system that is found on all its mechanically-powered watches.
Rama Watch also produces timepieces under the Azzaro brand, which traces its origins to Loris Azzaro, a Sicilian born in Tunisia who thus brought a distinctive Mediterranean touch to his fashion creations that lives on in the brand today. The Azzaro watches follow this inspiration with designs that range from sporty to the timeless classic.
These classic designs are clearly aimed at an eastern clientele, as Rafik Marachly, Chairman of Rama Watch SA, explains: “After Japan and the successful introduction of RSW in Hong Kong and in China, we further develop classic models in order to reinforce the position of the brand within the Asian markets.”
Besides this strong presence in the Far East, RSW also goes from strength to strength in the Middle East with the recent opening of a mono-brand store in Kuwait City. And the brand’s popularity is sure to increase further thanks to a strategically placed giant billboard advertising its watches at the entrance of Mecca.
