Benrus is an American watch brand that also produces accessories, men’s and women’s clothing, and bags.
History of the Benrus brand
The beginning of the history of this company was laid in 1921 by the three Lazrus brothers: enterprising guys caught a good moment to found their own business, when the world was abandoning pocket watches and moving on to new wrist models. The headquarters of the newly created brand was located in New York, parts were brought from Switzerland, but the watch itself was assembled at a factory in Connecticut. As for the name, it consists of the beginning of the name of one of the brothers, Benjamin, and the “tail” of their surname, Lazrus. By the way, Benjamin himself took it upon himself to manage all the company’s production processes, while his older brother, Oscar, a lawyer by profession, took care of financial issues and advertising promotion of the brand, and his younger brother, Ralph, took care of ways to sell products.
Having successfully started, the brand continued to actively develop during the 20s and 30s, and with the beginning of World War II, it did not fail to support its native army, providing it with its new development – waterproof watches. What is even more remarkable is that it was Benrus who was engaged in the manufacture of clock mechanisms for explosive devices in the name of victory over the forces of the Third Reich. For his dedicated work in providing military support, Benrus even received a state award in October 1943.
After the onset of peace, Benrus was able to once again focus entirely on promoting itself in the American market. Undoubtedly, the brand’s services to its homeland contributed to increasing its popularity and recognition among the common population, however, wider popularity and sympathy of buyers came after the launch of a number of new models on the market, such as Citation, Embraceable, Dial-o-Rama. Stylish and sophisticated, but at the same time quite affordable (prices ranged from 25 to 72 dollars), these watches became the step that already in the 50s led Benrus to the status of the third largest watch company in the United States.
US involvement in the Korean War and then the Vietnam War once again forced Benrus to seek fresh solutions for military needs, resulting in the Type I and Type II diver watches.
The year 1967 was a turning point for the company: it acquired a new owner in the person of Victor Kiama, who chose the wrong time to enter the watch business by acquiring a brand that produces mechanical watches – the so-called “quartz crisis” that began in the 70s had a detrimental effect on the Benrus brand, which declared itself bankrupt in 1977. Soon after this event, the company changed its owner again, but this did not bring any improvement and gradually they began to forget about the once famous brand.
It would seem that Benrus was awaiting complete oblivion, but in 2014 the brand was taken over by Giovanni Feros and, having supplemented the classic Benrus range with accessories, bags, jewelry, clothing for men and women, he completely relaunched the brand, so now Benrus is again confidently going uphill and, according to the new management, we can expect even greater expansion in the coming years, both in the product range and geographically.
Where to buy Benrus brand products in Russia, store addresses
Unfortunately, this brand has boutiques only in the USA.
Official website: https://benrus.com
