A Journey Through Time: The Extraordinary Tale of Nazareno Rossetti’s House of Watches

 

Merchants’ origins

In the year 1878, amidst the challenging times of Southern Italy, a visionary named Pantaleo Presicce founded a merchant shop in the Italian quaint town of Presicce, Apulia (today Presicce-Acquarica). These were turbulent years for the South of Italy, marked by emigration to faraway lands.

In his book "Presicce dalle origini al XVII sec. origini e vicende feudali", Sigliuzzo writes:

"Presicce and its dependent fiefs were considered among the poorest in Salento due to the calcareous nature of the soil. However, it evolved into the wealthiest commune in all of Capo di Leuca, a prominent commercial center dominating the markets with its abundant production of olive oil, wine, livestock, raw and processed wool, and cheese. The invisible Presicce, hidden underground in the magical caves of the trappers, brought progress to the new Presicce with its wide and sunny streets, fortified palaces, new churches and chapels, and votive columns—a community of cultured and visionary bourgeoisie, allied with a people unwilling to bend to the whims of the usual tyrannical barons."

Pantaleo Presicce shops' signboar

The first "Pantaleo Presicce" shop in the heart of Presicce's Piazza del Popolo, Apulia, Italy (1889)

In this context, Pantaleo Presicce, blessed with vast land holdings and a bountiful harvest of olives and grapes, decided to establish "Pantaleo Presicce ​e Figli" to trade in timber, tobacco, coffee, grapes, and even accessories like wristwatches, pocket watches, and table clocks, all sold in their shop in Piazza del Popolo. Soon enough, their store became a vital hub and a reference point for the local residents.

With the involvement of his sons the company took on a more entrepreneurial spirit, evolving into a national distributor of raw materials from their vast land holdings and, of course, watches, a catalogue item that held a special place in the Presicce family's heart, fueled by their genuine passion. Their wealth grew, making them one of the most prominent families in the territory. Historic documents even revealed that the Presicce family owned an automobile as early as 1917; an unusual luxury during that period and in the Salento region.

Clemente Presicce and his family portrayed in full in 1918. Francesco Presicce on Clemente's right will be the grandfather of the founder of the Nazareno Rossetti House of Watches.

Subsequently, in the early 2000s, their descendants revitalized the family legacy by founding a new company in Rome, Lazio. This time, they adapted to the times, leveraging the capabilities and knowledge of their associates in mechanical and aeronautical engineering to serve high-tech industries.

 

The First Watch: Fomalhaut Chronospace - A Timepiece for Astronauts

In 2018, the new company received an extraordinary assignment: the development and prototyping of a tachymetric watch for experimental use in suborbital flights by astronauts. And so, the Fomalhaut Chronospace was born. Its key features were:

• Functioning in zero gravity,
• Endurance in the extreme conditions of space,
• Precision in the information displayed on the dial.

The team entrusted with the project worked tirelessly, creating a prototype that aced numerous functional tests.

"After conceptualising the project, we crafted a prototype using highly resilient and lightweight materials like titanium, complemented by an ETA7750 movement. The development process proved to be quite complex, but in the end, we fashioned an elegant and modern watch that operated seamlessly and withstood the harsh conditions of space."

Despite the astronaut mission being canceled, the Fomalhaut Chronospace became an exclusive and singular gem within the Nazareno Rossetti watch collection. This tale encapsulates the fusion of craftsmanship and science, yielding something truly exceptional and unparalleled.

Fomalhaut Chronospace, the watch made for Astronauts

The Birth of Nazareno Rossetti's House of Watches

The prototyping of the unique Fomalhaut Chronospace for experimental suborbital flights marked the creation of the first watch entirely developed and produced under the Nazareno Rossetti brand. In 2020, the registration of Nazareno Rossetti in Rome, Lazio, heralded the continuation of the legacy initiated by Pantaleo Presicce in the late 1800s. The brand's roots found solace in the entrepreneurial spirit that defined the first founders, who, straddling the 19th and 20th centuries, carved a diverse yet quality-driven commercial identity.

"Nazareno Rossetti embodies our professional experiences in aviation while relentlessly pursuing the ceaseless exploration of beauty and style, intricately woven with mechanical precision and unwavering attention to detail—qualities that have forever set us apart. The foundation of the Nazareno Rossetti brand lies in our passion for style, elegance, aviation, space, and exploration."

Nazareno Rossetti's unique crown, a masterpiece of style

 

The Figure of Nazareno Rossetti

The brand's name pays homage to the maternal grandfather of the current CEO, who recalled how his first watch (and his ensuing passion for watchmaking) was a gift from none other than his grandfather, Nazareno Rossetti:

"I was twelve years old when I received my first watch: a black analog timepiece with an orange seconds hand and a quartz movement. It was the 80s—a period forever etched in my memory. It was then that I discovered one of my greatest passions, all thanks to that timepiece bestowed upon me by my maternal grandfather, Nazareno Rossetti. My grandfather was a simple man, yet he always adorned himself in fine Italian attire, with an ancient mechanical timepiece on his wrist. He taught me the essence of being 'essential with elegance'."

 

The Logo: The Astrolabe

Drawing inspiration from both aviation and the cosmos, the watches of the brand are infused with a space exploration flair, evident in both the logo and the chosen name for their inaugural collection. The logo of Nazareno Rossetti features an astrolabe, an ancient astronomical instrument used for analog calculations of celestial bodies' positions, such as the sun, moon, planets, and stars. The astrolabe embodies the concepts of adventure, exploration, space, and stars—the very essence that defines the Nazareno Rossetti brand.

 

The First Collection: Fomalhaut

Fomalhaut is the name chosen for the debut watch collection of Nazareno Rossetti. The name derives from the brightest star in the Piscis Austrinus constellation, the "Southern Fish," located about 25 light-years away from Earth. Fomalhaut is the eighteenth brightest star visible to the naked eye in the night sky and one of the few stars known to have an extensive circumstellar disk of gas and dust. Its identification is made easy, not only by its brilliance but also by its position in a celestial field that lacks conspicuous stars. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as one of the stable anchor points for classifying other stars. The design of Fomalhaut draws clear inspiration from Italian style, and its assembly is completed in Switzerland, making it a "Swiss Made" masterpiece, a testament to precision, innovation, and reliability associated with high-quality products.
 

Nazareno Rossetti's Fomalhaut details

The watch that bears this evocative name features a 44 mm case crafted from brushed 316 stainless steel, paired with a dodecagonal bezel with polished edges and secured with four hexagonal screws. The crown, knurled and engraved with the brand's logo, is screw-down and equipped with a safety bridge for the stop function, fixed to the case with two screws.