About Us
A company with roots in Switzerland and Romania, Albini Prassa began its activity in Romania in 2004 as a distributor of Swiss watches, the first brand being Tissot. Over the years, Albini Prassa has deepened its knowledge of the Romanian market and specialised in promoting and strengthening the brand image of the international partners it represents, such as Bulgari, Laurent Ferrier, Urwerk, Louis Erard, ZRC, Bomberg and Tissot.
Today the company's portfolio includes established brands as well as avant-garde products whose success rests on innovative design, mechanical architecture or an original story, and on an unusual interpretation of time.
We have also built a bridge between the brands and our market through collections and limited editions such as TISSOT România 1918-2018, a series limited to 1918 pieces, TISSOT Stejarii and Stejarul de Aur, editions created in partnership with the Romanian Rugby Federation in 2018 and 2019, Bomberg Loop, created with the SEZI workshop in Alba Iulia, the QlockTwo Romania edition and, more recently, TISSOT Heritage Săgeata, honouring the centenary of the Franco-Romanian Air Navigation Company (1920-1925 / 2020-2025), the world's first transcontinental airline www.sageataorientului.ro
In 2018 Albini Prassa decided to gradually become a new player in Romanian retail, progressively leaving B2B distribution. With this step, we placed the experience and the space dedicated to the brands at the heart of our concept.
This is how Maison Albini Prassa was born: a place dedicated to time, where the brand experience is personal and attentive. It is a unique place where our mission is to bring balance and harmony between your personal values and your future watch. You will discover the Tissot Heritage space, where every watch created for Romania in partnership with Albini Prassa has its own place and its story is told in detail.
With us you can enjoy our renowned Negroni at the bar or a coffee next to the jungle, surrounded by the BULGARI watch collection.
Maison Albini Prassa is the place where time passes differently, and where the experience we want you to live meets our passion for time.
"Time dedicated pioneers" is our mantra, and perhaps that is why at Maison Albini Prassa you will explore both sides of time: slow time, where patience and attention to detail are key, and time that flies, with energy and momentum through conceptual experiences and events.
In a world where every corner tells a story, we understand how important the visual component is to the narrative. Out of a long-standing passion, we composed this space with Iulia Vilsan, the Sezi workshop, the architecture studio and the best Swiss window designer, Xavier Dietlin.
Origins
Our name, our story
A name matters; think of your own... It often defines us and shows us how to embody it. Origins matter, and for Albini Prassa, origins are everything.
Everyone will tell you that choosing a name for your own company is not easy. I lived this when I founded Albini Prassa in 2004. Since then, many people have asked me about the story behind the name, so the time has come to share the meaning of these words with you. Acknowledging my origins has always been important to me and has guided me to where I wanted to be. Albini Prassa represents my lineage, a family story that begins in the 19th century. It speaks of the values, philosophy, mindset and character that make Albini Prassa what it is today. As a company that revolves around time, representing and supporting brands that keep track of it and that unite past traditions and future innovations, this notion has been essential to our identity, just as my origins have been.
Ion Schiau
fondator Albini Prassa
To know yourself is to be rooted.
My origins and my family have shaped me.
Just before I launched Albini Prassa, my father gave me a symbolic part of my paternal great-grandmother's inheritance. Because I wanted this money to live on and grow, I naturally invested it in my company. My paternal great-grandmother's name is tied to her descent from the Albini family.
It meant a great deal that her family name became part of my company's name. Prassa is the name of my maternal great-grandmother. Albini Prassa is part of my family's story, of the threads that connect me, my story and my company to my roots. It also embodies the different yet complementary origins of my family, a fascinating blend of nations and cultures, firmly rooted in the diversity and richness of the Romanian history I am part of.
A story of time that begins in the heart of Romania, in Transylvania, with its mountains, forests and gold, imbued with the pioneering spirit of the Albini family, which played an important role in the cultural emancipation of the region.
A story that reaches the seashore thanks to the dedicated spirit of the Prassa family, an integral part of the Kefalonian community and imbued with the spirit of the Greek merchants who successfully led trade on the Danube, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean in its golden age.
Septimia Albini & Andronichi Prassa, my great-grandmothers, were two strong women who left their mark on the independent, determined, hard-working and pioneering spirit that continues to shine in Albini Prassa today.
Why a bee?
The bee appears on one of the family coats of arms, and the Romanian word for it, albină, is very close to Albini.
Suggesting the creation of wealth, luck and prosperity, bees embody the idea that anything is possible through persistence.
They are emblems of hard work, precision, dedication and perfect harmony, all reflecting the values I hold dear and that we strive to cultivate at Albini Prassa.
