Xemex

File:Külling, Ruedi.jpg

Ruedi Külling

Xemex is a Swiss watch manufacturer and was founded 1996 by Designer Ruedi Külling and marketing specialist Hanspeter Hanschick.

The story of Ruedi Külling is that of a successful idealist: 1935 born, he worked first as a successful advertiser and graphic designer. During this period he created memorable advertising campaigns for brands such as "Sinalco" and "bic" until he 1994 found himself constrained in his creativity by too much marketing. So he sold his shares in an advertising agency to realize his lifelong dream and design watches. The impetus for this was his idea to transmit the design of the Swiss railway clock to wristwatch format. Encouraged by this success, he summed up the courage to design watches by himself. After one and a half years of preparation, he was ready in 1996: Külling presented his new brand Xemex Swiss Watch with its product philosophy and launched his first line Offroad.

With this first timepiece, the designer and creator of the brand was able to consistently realize his ideas of watch design according to his maxim "Simplify, objectify, clarify".

For watch design Ruedi Külling has the credo: Less is more. With this concept, he had already been successful as a graphic designer: his posters are exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Now some of his watches stand beneath. Furthermore, they can be admired at the London Design Museum and the Guggenheim Museum in New York as well as in the Chicago Museum of Architectur design.

Külling reduces things to the essentials. Clear forms, yet functional and nevertheless stylish, constitute the basis of the design. The watch is used to display the time, without which it would be useless. Therefore, the readability has to be in the foreground; it is achieved by the clarity of the design. The circular time machine quickly gained attention. Functionally and with a stand-alone design, reduced to the essentials, it was welcomed with enthusiasm by all who love conscious design. XEMEX in 2000 and 2001 occupied the first place in design competitions in Germany and in the USA. The watches combine high-quality design with comfort and bring the designer an international recognition.

After the success with the public and the specialized press, in 2000 Xemex presented the line "Avenue", the lines "Speedway" (2003 - today "XE 5000") and "Piccadilly" (2004) followed.

The success of XEMEX is not just based on the particular, fundamentally individual design. When Ruedi Külling had founded Xemex Swiss Watch in 1996, he had conceived the brand from the beginning with all that belongs. The XEMEX brand forms a complete thought out unit. Name, logo, image and design are coordinated and complement each other. The name is internationally pronounceable and can be read both from right and from left, as is evidenced by the clear typography of the logo.

Models

• 1996 Xemex Offroad
• 1996 Xemex Offroad Automatic Chronograph
• 2000 Xemex Avenue
• 2000 Xemex Avenue Automatic Chronograph
• 2003 Xemex XE 5000
• 2003 Xemex XE 5000 Chronograph
• 2004 Xemex Piccadilly
• 2004 Xemex Piccadilly Chronograph
• 2004 Xemex Avenue Petite Seconde
• 2005 Xemex Offroad Signal Yellow

Literature

• Das ZEITGEFÜHL-Uhrenbuch; Author: Gerd-Lothar Reschke; ISBN 3-938607-61-0

Address

Xemex Swiss Watch AG
Überlandstrasse 109-111
CH-8600 Dübendorf/Zürich

Tel (+41) 44 -822 04 01
Fax (+41) 44 -822 04 11
E-Mail: [email protected]

Weblinks

• Xemex - official site
• ZEITGEFÜHL: Neues über Xemex (German)