Issue.15 Issue.15 | Page 47

Questions by: Mike Angangan 1. In 2015, you won an Honour for “Men of Influence” through Men’s Style Australia. How did it feel to win this award? How do you become a “Man of Influence”? I was surprised, and I did not know the Magazine “Polo De’Marco” and I have never heard of this Magazine “Polo De’Marco” before. However, after Basel World and being the first Australian brand - it had a lot of media attention and I think it was a reward to bring the largest and biggest watch brand in the world into Australia. 2. Your brand; “Beusele – Australia” stems from your passion of watches with an essence of Australia. How did that concept come about? I came to Australia for something to do and I applied for jobs on-the-side which I had skills in. One of my talents was that I knew how to make exceptional quality“Watches”. My career background was in Chief Financial Officer (CFO) back in Switzerland. Then I started to make watch components and I was looking for a conceptand I felt Australia was a good concept to start off with this new project. There are not many watch brands in Australia and I felt that putting elements in the crown would be an innovative and very good idea. My family has a home in the Central Coast in Australia and I thought - let’s put some elements in the crown of the watch and you can keep part of Australia with you. There is a sand from Katherine Hill Bay, Red Earth and Coal, and I thought that would be the elements. Australia is rich in its elements and has natural minerals and this is how I thought this concept would come about. 3. You worked with Flinders University in Adelaide and created the Nano Technology. How did that come about? The day I started, I wanted to have my own manufacturing processes in place and it is not easy in Australia to start manufacturing. So subsequently, everything was sent overseas. There is not a lot of manufacturing left in Australia. So, Flinders University contacted me, and they heard that I was looking for manufacturing and we sat down to talk. Then we started a manufacturing business where we are partnered 50/50 - called ‘The Australian Advanced Manufacturing Company Pty Ltd and it is a partnership between Flinders University in Adelaide and Beusele - Australia. 4. You used ‘Bauselite’ which is unique in design, lightweight and is a strong ceramic material. How did that concept come about? “Bauselite” is a material created by the company in conjunction with Flinders University in Adelaide. It is lightweight like ceramic, ceramic is injected. “Bauselite” is basically a rock that is machined and then you put it in the Furness to change the colourand it goes back into the oven. That is where the Nano technology comes into to playand they also inject particles in the rock that has been machined to make it dark again. As it is usually pink and then we put it into the case. 5. On the crown - you use the elements of Australia. What are they? There is mainly sand from iconic places like Bondi Beach, Whitehaven beach , and red earth from the Kimberley. There are also Limited Editions where I have used opal, but