hen Xavier Castelli received a SwissKubik rotating jewellery box for his 70th birthday, he was immediately drawn to this gift. Captivated by the little Swiss cube, he took an interest in the brand and mentioned it to his son Louis to see if the latter might wish to take it over. It was thus the elder of the two who initiated the idea and played a leading role in the project.

Nothing appeared to predestine his son Louis for a career in the watch industry. A Parisian active at the time in the gas and electricity sectors, he had trained in large corporations and worked for big names such as L’Oréal and ENI as well as doing a stint in the United States.

Together, father and son began to examine the opportunity. A few weeks later, they received a file bearing the name SwissKubik. Founded in Rivaz in 2007 by Philippe Subilia, the brand already enjoyed an excellent reputation among collectors and several watchmakers, but was seeking a fresh boost.

Xavier and Louis Castelli met Philippe Subilia in February 2017, an encounter that proved a catalyst. A few months later, after working in partnership as father and son, Louis relocated to Geneva with his family in order to get operations up and running.

His introduction to watchmaking thus came through the actual watch-winder function. It should be said that SwissKubik is not just another player in the market: the brand is one of the most respected for the simplicity of its design, its mechanical precision and its exceptional autonomy. It popularised the idea of the “cube”, an instantly recognisable shape that is lightweight, compact and minimalist enough to blend into any interior. Renowned for being silent and extremely low-magnetic, the SwissKubik motor has always been one of the industry’s benchmarks.

This first acquisition would however not be the only one. That same year, a banker presented Xavier and Louis Castelli with a second, even more iconic opportunity: Scatola del Tempo. Founded in Italy in 1987 by entrepreneur Sandro Colarietti, the company is considered the inventor of the watch winder.

The first watch winders that Patek Philippe offered its customers came from these workshops. For decades, Scatola del Tempo has embodied the sector’s artisanal luxury: precious leathers, silk, Alcantara, rare wood, hand-finished details, items crafted more like leather goods than technical accessories. It holds a unique, almost mythological place in Italian, Russian and American watchmaking culture. Headed by the founder’s daughter Cristiana Colarieti, the brand joined the Castelli portfolio in December 2017. At that point, the latter’s family holding company, Elix Group, took shape as a small, coherent, agile and ambitious luxury conglomerate.

There was a lot of work ahead of them. When Louis Castelli took over SwissKubik, the brand was producing around 15,000 units per year. The distribution network needed to be streamlined, the product ranges restructured and the brand identity clarified. It was also important to restore ties with the watch brands that had previously used its products for their special presentation boxes, including Piaget, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Rolex and a number of independent watchmakers.

SwissKubik thus regained its natural positioning: a technical, compact Swiss product, equipped with an optimised and extremely reliable motor, produced in Switzerland according to specifications similar to those of watch components themselves. Under the impetus of Elix Group, volumes rose to 25,000 units per year. The return to various markets took place country by country: Switzerland and France first, followed by Benelux, the United States and Italy.

Scatola del Tempo follows a different path. More prestigious, more luxurious and almost more sentimental, it maintains a deep connection with fine materials, leather craftsmen, silk workshops inherited from the Colarietti family, as well as cabinetmakers capable of producing both suitcases and artworks. Where SwissKubik embodies Swiss functional minimalism, Scatola del Tempo champions Italian sensuality. Where one optimises autonomy, the other highlights and enhances materials. Often made to measure, some Scatola del Tempo models sell for several thousand Swiss francs. The brand holds a special place in collectors’ imaginations, almost evoking a golden age of watchmaking culture.

For Louis Castelli, the simultaneous acquisition of the two companies opened up unexpected opportunities for innovation. Long entrusted to Portescap,the SwissKubik motor was completely redeveloped in Ticino. Quieter, less magnetic and with a longer battery life (from three to five years), it was designed exclusively for Elix Group by Faulhaber. The electronics were entrusted to Gigatec, with meticulous control of vibrations, noise, torque and speed variations. The Masterboxes feature a Bluetooth connection, enabling the adjustment of cycles and rotations via a dedicated app. The overall result remains faithful to the SwissKubik spirit: a small, sturdy, accurate, minimalist, totally flawless object.

Scatola del Tempo focuses on what it does best: bespoke designs, fine materials, high-end pieces and artistic partnerships. While SwissKubik explores technical materials such as aluminium, aeronautical ABS and carbon fibre, Scatola del Tempo works with leather, silk, exotic materials, wood and hand-finished details, sometimes in a single item. The two companies are not competitors, instead complementing each other like two facets of the same vision. The latter is not confined to the product, as Louis Castelli emphasises a fundamental element: educating clients.

According to his internal studies, only 2% of watch owners truly understand the usefulness of a watch winder. The majority are not even familiar with the term. The challenge is therefore not to increase demand, but to awaken it. Explaining how an automatic movement works, showing what happens inside the watch case, describing the impact of prolonged stoppage on complications: such are the prerequisites for any sale. Elix Group relies on digital technology, workshop visits and credible influencers who are able to convey passion rather than focusing exclusively on design.

The market is saturated with low-cost copies from online marketing platforms such as Temu, Amazon and Alibaba, on which Louis Castelli categorically refuses to appear: a luxury product cannot be ubiquitous. It must be chosen, understood and desired. The accessory must never devalue the watch.

Within a tougher economic climate, the group is moving patiently forward. It has strengthened its teams and integrated Atelier Alphega in Mulhouse to ensure woodworking mastery. It is also weighing the idea of moving upmarket, developing a manual-winding presentation box project, as well as thinking about how to integrate biomechanical sensors capable of analysing a movement’s amplitude, much as a watchmaker’s stethoscope would do. Watch brands are showing growing interest in white label apps which – within a single interface – would unite the customer’s collection, manufacturers’ official recommendations and useful data on the watches’ life cycle.

Ultimately, the story goes beyond simply producing watch winders. It reconnects with the very origins of Elix Group: a family business that began in the machine tool industry, where mechanical precision and durability were founding values. Scatola del Tempo, for its part, embodies the Italian roots of the Castelli family. Today, the two brands are merging with a single ambition: to modernise an oft misunderstood accessory, to take it beyond its purely utilitarian role and usher it into the realm of design, decoration, leather goods and technological luxury.

This is because what is at stake is not the ability to convince just anyone. Instead, the challenge lies in being on hand at the exact moment when a passionate enthusiast needs it. Nobody buys a watch winder by chance, but rather when they grasp the mechanism it protects. When the watch becomes a companion. When such a companion object becomes naturally indispensable.

This is where SwissKubik and Scatola del Tempo come in: at that precise moment when a passion for watches becomes a way of life. And this is also where Louis Castelli fits in: among this new generation of entrepreneurs who believe that an accessory should be as noble, as accurate and as timeless as the watch it houses.