WHEN he was growing up, Vartkess A. Knadjian used to follow his father to the palace of Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie I. His father, the late Antranig N. Knadjian, was the official royal watchmaker.
Whenever Vartkess set foot in the palace and watched his father in action, he would be filled with pride.
“My father would ’smuggle’ me into the palace. Since the emperor was a watch lover, my father would go to the palace often. Did you know the emperor used to award students who had good grades in school with a gold Omega watch?” he says with a laugh.
That’s just one of the many sweet memories he had of Ethiopia with his father.
When Vartkess was 12, he was sent to Kingswood School in England. He continued his tertiary education in London School Of Economics. He continued to live in London after graduation, with the occasional memory of Ethiopia entering his consciousness.
Growing up as a young man, Vartkess wanted to be successful, just like his father. The 1939 gold pocket watch his father gave him is a reminder of his ambition and his father’s success.
“It is most precious to me because my father made it,” says Vartkess, who intends to pass it down to his children someday.

DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
After he graduated in 1976, Vartkess wasted no time and got a job at a 200-year-old diamond company called Backes & Strauss. He started at the bottom, learning everything he could about diamonds, and worked his way up the corporate ladder. After six years, he was running the company’s Antwerp office in Belgium.
He became managing director in 2001 and today, after 35 years, he’s the group chief executive officer.
“When I started, I dreamt of becoming group CEO someday. In that sense, I was pretty ambitious,” says the 56-year-old, who now lives in Belgium.
When he’s not busy running a luxury company, Vartkess will be at home cooking or he will go running to keep fit.
Though the diamond business is what he does for a living, watch-making is still very dear to his heart.
“During my earlier years at Backes & Strauss, I would compare notes (about diamonds and watch-making) with my father. He used to joke that diamonds were easier to work on than watches,” he recalls.
In 2006, Vartkess introduced Backes & Strauss to the world of horology by launching the brand’s first luxury watch line that beautifully married diamond and watch. The Backes & Strauss diamond watch infused elements of Vartkess’s favourite city, London.
The three main collections in the brand are The Berkeley, The Piccadilly and The Regent.
“These watches are inspired by London’s architecture. That’s why the designs are circular, symmetrical and have beautiful lines,” says the Armenian born in Addis Ababa, adding that Backes & Strauss also popularised the oval-shaped watch.

DIAMOND MEETS HOROLOGY
There’s a high level of detailing and intricacy to make watches with diamonds. That’s especially so for Backes & Strauss, a business that has been around since 1789.
“Our history gives us credibility and integrity. There’s a standard to keep,” says Vartkess, who speaks a little Dutch.
“We’ve perfected the art of ideal cut for diamonds,” he says, explaining that an ideal-cut diamond has perfect symmetry and proportions.
The precisely placed 57 facets on the diamond allow the light that enters it to disperse through the top of the diamond. Backes & Strauss partnered with Franck Muller Watchland workshops in Switzerland to create diamond watches.
One of the basic principles for the watches is that the design has to showcase the diamonds, not the other way around.
“Each diamond on the watch has to be exactly the same to ensure a smooth, even surface. It takes a long time to make a watch because of the complicated process involved. The dial alone sometimes takes four months,” says Vartkess.
The diamonds used for the watches, he points out, are of the finest quality, custom cut into unique shapes, polished and hand set. His experience shows when explaining the ins and outs of diamonds.
The distinguished-looking father of two is excited to have the brand in Malaysia and thinks that the Asian market is open to luxury items. He’s surprised to see the changes in the country compared to the first time he was here in 1983, to buy diamonds in Kota Baru, Kelantan.
“I hope to come here more often, not to buy diamonds but for a holiday,” he says before heading out for a photo shoot.

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