At Jean Rousseau, we have always tried to conciliate respect of our cultural legacy with a strong sense of modernity. This is why the Research and Development department at our Manufacture holds a key position in our functioning. It is what differentiates us from subcontractors and makes us true creators. Even better, it is a source of motivation for all our teams who actively participate in our collections.

Thanks to our teams’ enthusiasm and creativity, we are lucky – and proud! – to introduce new products to our clients on a regular basis. Among the most innovative ideas we have developed these past years, there is a water-repellent watchstrap made of alligator skin, resisting humidity and water drops, or a very thin watchstrap made of ultra smooth Kevlar that increases its resistance. There is also a phosphorescent alligator watchstrap that glows in the dark. On a technical level, we are now able to offer unprecedented material associations (rubber-leather, alligator-rubber) that interest the most renowned watch brands. And we have just launched a watchstrap made of… perfumed leather!

One only needs to slightly rub leather to get a pleasant scent of… chocolate! This new finish (that can be applied to every Jean Rousseau leather or product) is precisely the result of an important research work among our teams. The objective: identify a manufacturing process associating a perfume to a precious skin. Today with this watchstrap, we activate several senses of our clients: touch, sight and smell. The sense of smell is rarely activated when it comes to leatherwork. It is an element of the challenge we wanted to take up.

To do so, several studies were conducted to identify how this special finish could be obtained. As usual, all of our teams took part in the creation process: craftsmen of our skin treatment unit elaborated the recipes, colours and touch. Our head of quality ensured tests respected our quality requirements and security standards. Of course, this perfumed leather meets the highest standards and presents no risks for the health of our clients. Engineers from the technical bureau then guaranteed the exploitability of the material on our products while prototypists made the first watchstraps. Last but not least, our commercial and marketing team confirmed this new creation should please our clients.

For each step of a new creation, our demand is equal: at the slightest dissatisfaction, we go back to square one. It is the price to pay to offer our clients products of the greatest quality. It is also probably thanks to this method that the EPV label (Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant, Long living Heritage Company), a label which applauds excellent artisanal and industrial know-how, has been granted to us since 2007.

Today, we have chosen to start with a chocolate perfume as it is a gourmet’s smell we like very much, evoking rich imagination made of travels and adventures. But for those who try to resist cacao, be patient! New olfactory surprises are to come soon!