The Orion XL Nappa in cherry red PHOTO COURTESY OF BUBEN & ZÖRWEG
The Orion XL Nappa in cherry red

With an impressive lineup of bespoke safes launched this year—including the all-new Turbo, Orion, Galaxy Sky and Vision—BUBEN & ZÖRWEG has secured its spot as one of the world’s most innovative safe companies. Here, President Americas Joseph Obermoser talks about its history, custom designs and state-of-the-art technology.

How did BUBEN & ZÖRWEG get into the business of creating safes? The childhood friends Harald Buben and Christian Zörweg first met in Austria and began to dream of traveling the world and conquering it with their unique entrepreneurial style. Inspired by a trip to Australia in their teens, they began selling Australian opals to the jewelry trade while they were at university. While still students, they launched BUBEN & ZÖRWEG in 1995, specializing in luxuriously craft ed watch winders designed to encase and care for self-winding watches.

What should a client look for in a well-made safe? The base of a safe, like its name, is the security aspect. Another essential part is the certification system that rates the safe for insurance coverage. And behind the certification system lies the technology and construction of the safe (safe walls, door, lock, weight, fixation options, etc.). However, in our eyes, the technology and security aspect is just one half of the pitch. It isn’t worth anything when you do not like the safe from a design, material and finishing perspective. Our safes stand out thanks to their superior design, material concept and unparalleled craft smanship, focusing on literally every detail like polishing off the smallest screw to the 10 coats of flawlessly deep high-gloss paint for the interior drawers.

Can you describe your most extravagant commission? One notable and emotional project has been creating a trophy and collector room for a legendary F1 driver. Another one has been an entire CEO office with all kinds of unique functional aspects and design and materials made for a captain of business who is running one of the most valuable companies worldwide. And last but not least, what comes to mind is a particular project for a passionate watch collector with a collection of more than 1,000 watches in Kuwait. We created a full safe room (a personal watch museum) in the client’s house, including a seating area, a library and room for his precious clocks. The watches get displayed via watch winders and a variety of holders, as well as hundreds of drawers.

Besides keeping your valuables secure in a BUBEN & ZÖRWEG safe, what else gives you peace of mind? Our focus has always been on extraordinary, elegant design creatively combined with leading technology made in Germany. The results are inspiring, incomparable objects that cause surprise and fascination in a world that believes it has already seen everything. We also fully live our brand idea: Only with courage, dedication and the claim for perfection can we craft something unique! Therefore, we also offer our bespoke manufacturing process. With BUBEN & ZÖRWEG’s bespoke projects, we bring individualization and personalization to the next level by realizing your personal vision, free of time constraints or limitations and without compromise. Each bespoke masterpiece is the only one of its kind, envisioned to offer something truly unique—a luxury in its purest form.