A Swiss watch is definitely one of the most popular items for visitors to take back from a trip to Zurich. But Maurice de Mauriac Zurich is the only brand which actually manufactures watches in Zurich. Which is why Zurich In Your Pocket went to visit owner and designer Daniel Dreifuss at his studio and shop at Tödistrasse 48.

Sitting at his desk, his blue jeans casually turned up, wearing a striped shirt and cloth sneakers, Daniel Dreifuss doesn't look like one would picture an owner of a luxury watch company. His atelier and shop on Tödistrasse doesn't look like a luxury watch shop either. You won't find pretentious interior design, illuminated displays or security guards like in the shops on Bahnhofstrasse. It's rather a mingle mangle of what kept and keeps Dreifuss busy: books, catalogues, miniatures, a bike and, yes, watches designed with utmost care and dedication. But his attitude and his shop are not the only things that are different about him and his brand "Maurice de Mauriac Zurich".

But let's start at the beginning: Dreifuss isn't native to the watch business. He used to be an investment banker. "But fortunately that was a long time ago" he says, not without a smile on his face. In 1987 during the crisis the company he worked for went bankrupt. Dreifuss took it as a signal to do something else with his life and made his first step into the watch business – by coincidence. "I met a guy who was big into promotional and corporate watches." Soon he started doing business with him. But it was meeting Italian artist Claudia Ginocchio a little later that put him on the "de Mauriac-track". Ginocchio has now been his wife for more than twenty years, and she is the mother of his two sons. "She has taught me to think like an artist and made me understand that innovation is achieved only by thousands of tiny changes". Rather than sell plastic watches he decided to design something that suits him better: chronometers. That was the moment when Maurice de Mauriac was born.

"It's a tuneful name that sounds like it has a long tradition" is Dreifuss' outright answer to the question where the name comes from. And tradition is important, not just on the marketing side of the watch business. "It was really hard for an outsider like me to get into the luxury watch market." But with perseverance he found suppliers who were willing to work with him. Like many watch companies he buys the blank clock units – his three part-time watchmakers then assemble them according to the specifications of his models, all in the back of Dreifuss' atelier on Tödistrasse.
Over the years, Dreifuss became a watch designer with verve. "When I have an idea, I can be very persistent until I get what I want." His newest pride for example is a leather box for storing watches. "Take this smell! Isn't it amazing?" he asks. "I can talk to you for an hour, but what you’ll probably remember after our meeting is the awesome smell of this leather." As he says, the details are very important to him. And at moments like these, you really believe him.

"My studio is inspiration for me and my customers alike", he says. Sometimes he even finds inspiration for his watch designs when talking to customers. Or when watching people passing by the huge windows of his workshop. "Anything can be an inspiration" says the man who besides watches loves racing, miniatures and bikes ."Except other watches, really. I avoid looking at watches as well as I can."

In dialogue with a customer in his shop, he tries to figure out which watch fits him best. "A watch usually lives longer than its owner - it's something you buy for a lifetime. That's why it's worth taking your time choosing".

Dreifuss says his biggest achievement is that his company still exists. "It's not about the money. Of course it has to feed myself and my family, but the satisfaction is to create watches the way I do it today. To put something unique into the hands of the client." That doesn’t mean he doesn't want his company to grow – just step by step, patiently and carefully.