Bloomberg Businessweek

60

DESIGN Bloomberg Pursuits August 20, 2018

Every August, like clockwork, millions

of vacationers continue the long-held

practice of takingof from work. They

secure their windows, lock their doors,

and maybe postpone newspaper deliv-

ery so there’s no pile at the door.

But for members of the0.01 Percent,

this also means properly stashing

watches, jewels, paintings, and other

rare goods by punching in the key-

pad codes to their safes from Buben

& Zorweg.

Even in the relatively rareied world

of home security, Buben & Zorweg

stands alone: Its safes are VdS-certiied

(the highest mark of quality available),

come lined in velour and nappa leather,

and are available in aninfinite spec-

trum of colors. Its target customer has

roughly $4 million in disposable income,

according to the company, which hand-

assembles each of its strongboxes at a

factory an hour’s drive from Stuttgart in

Olbronn-Dürrn, Germany.

Eberhard Hagmann, head of design,

joined Buben & Zorweg 15 years ago

after a career at German watchmaker

Junghans GmbH. Watches and safes

aren’t that diferent, he says. Hagmann

helped the company incorporate show-

ier details into its collection. His X-007

safe rises dramatically out of a camou-

laged shell at the touch of a button;

he conceived of another to identically

match the interior design of a client’s

Aston Martin One-77. One of the locking

Six-figure safes that

don’t look like your

typical strongbox

By James Gaddy

A Cool,

Dry, Secure

Place

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY BUBEN & ZORWEG

The housing is

handmade from

high-gloss

Makassar wood

Two-way

mirrored glass

doors are more

than a half-

inch thick and

bulletproof

There’s room

for 38 watch

winders, plus an

additional

eight in the safe

below