For those in the know in the luxury watch world, Carl F. Bucherer stands out.

One of the few remaining independent family-run Swiss watch houses dating back to the 19th century, the brand is known for avant-garde style as well as innovation — the kind you usually see coming from one of the bigger watch houses owned by a massive watch holding company.

Carl F. Bucherer introduced its first peripheral rotor movement, the CFB A1000, just over 10 years ago. Evidently it was the only peripheral rotor movement from a watch house to be successfully industrialized.

That’s pretty impressive stuff. And at WatchTime New York this year, fans of the brand paid homage to it, with the Bucherer booth jam packed with enthusiasts the whole weekend long. And these fans - including stars like Keanu Reeves and Sylvester Stallone - love the story of the company just as much as the technology.

“The grandson [of Carl F. Bucherer] today owns the entire group, and he decided that wanted to pay homage and tribute to his grandfather, and that we would distribute the brand in limited quantities, at limited points of sale in certain markets around the world, because we’re a boutique manufacturer and all of our watches are still handcrafted.”

Some of those handcrafted watches on display at WatchTime New York included an innovative timepiece demonstrating one of its newest peripheral movements, the Heritage Tourbillon Double Peripheral Limited Edition, as well as the Heritage BiCompax Annual, featuring two date functions. The former of which is limited to 88 piece and costs an eye-watering $88,888.

For Stoll, luxury watches even at lofty prices will usually find a home, because they cater to certain clientele. “It’s a lifestyle,” for those buyers,” Stoll says. “People that can appreciate fine things in life - they like fine dining, they like luxury vacations, they like private aircraft, beautiful yachts - and luxury watches round out the entire package.”

But Carl F. Bucherer’s newest addition to its ScubaTec dive watch collection came ashore if you will in New York, benefiting a special cause. The Patravi ScubaTec Black Manta Special Edition, a titanium-cased dive watch with DLC coating, showcases a pair of manta rays on the ridged watch face. It also features rubber straps reinforced with recycled nylon made from plastic bottles yanked from the ocean.

The watch highlights Carl F. Bucherer’s ongoing support for the Manta Trust charity. It’s a nice gesture, and supporting great causes is one surefire way to get more fans to your brand. I’m sure Keanu and Sly approve.

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Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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