Jewellery Watches: 6 houses that brought the mystery back with a contemporary high watchmaking and high jewelry twist

 

 

Sometimes all you need is a splash of color!

CHOPARD WATERLILY

 

Entirely crafted in ethical 18-carat white gold, this Chopard Waterlily Watch showcases some 43 carats of diamonds set in a floral design composed of jewelled lace petals. More than ever, Chopard celebrates the sacred nature of time by crowning it with the most beautiful of ornaments: a diamond flower.

It is at the heart of Chopard’s Haute Joaillerie workshops that Caroline Scheufele’s most spectacular creations are created. With the Waterlily Watch, the Co-President and Artistic Director of the Maison introduces a jewel paying tribute to the purity and brilliance of diamonds while embodying one of Chopard’s favourite aesthetic codes: the jewellery flower. Playing on the different stone cuts, with heart, half-moon, shiny and trapeze-like shapes, the design of this watch is composed of curves, upstrokes and downstrokes in which gemstones are rimmed with other diamonds. The Maison’s artisans required no less than 36 weeks to complete this one-of-a-kind model from the Red Carpet Collection, on which every tiny detail of the dial, case and bracelet is entirely set with diamonds.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS JARDIN DE GLACE SECRET WATCH

When the season of snow inspires Van Cleef & Arpels’ imagination, jewels take on a white diamond mantle. Precious snowflakes, openwork ribbons and frosty corollas compose a hymn to the splendor of winter. The creations take on a delicate variety of forms, whether crystalizing the lightness of frost or immortalizing the evanescence of a snowy landscape. Part of the Contes d’Hiver collection, Van Cleef & Arpels Jardin de Glace Secret white gold watch features one oval-cut sapphire of 10.30 carats (Sri Lanka), round, marquise-cut and pear-shaped sapphires, turquoise, round and baguette-cut diamonds, and a quartz movement.

HERMÈS ARCEAU H DÉCO

The Arceau watch, designed by Henri d’Origny in 1978, highlights two crafts in a new creation imbued with the Art Deco spirit. Crafted from mother-of-pearl marquetry and set with diamonds, a dial with a moving heart reinterprets the H déco pattern of the porcelain tableware: a black and white motif inspired by the ironwork adorning the boutique on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.

In the centre, slender hands sweep over two intertwined Hs, stamped on a mother-of-pearl disc that twirls to the rhythm of the wrist movements. In a contrasting duo, the black version is lit up by gemset hoops; while the white version, paved with 432 diamonds, is marked with arched gold decorative fillets. This meticulous work accomplished by the Hermès artisans requires two days of work for a single dial. The white gold base is first sculpted in preparation for the mother-of-pearl inlay, and then polished. The mother-of-pearl artisan carefully puts in place each fragment of the motif cut to just 0.2 mm thick and the gemsetter finally adorns it with several hundred diamonds.

 

JACOB&CO THE MYSTERY TOURBILLON (The Mystery Tourbillon / 18-piece limited serie)

The new Jacob & Co. Mystery Tourbillon presents a world first — two linked central triple axis tourbillons placed back to back in the center of the dial — in a gem-set package. The case is invisibly set with baguette hexagonal diamonds and the dial is set with hexagonal, “overlapping” diamonds.

The two mystery disks turn to indicate the time, rotating around the twin triple axis tourbillons, linked by a single differential and turning on three axes: the first axis in 60 seconds, and the second and third axes in two minutes.

The minute disk is set with 119 White Diamonds (≈ 6.80 ct.) and one red ruby to indicate the exact minute. The hour disk is also with 119 White Diamonds (≈ 7.93ct.) and one red ruby (≈ 0.28ct.) to show the hours. The 50mm 18K white gold case features a special domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment to show off the diamonds and the tourbillon, and the bezel inner ring is also set with gems — 12 Blue Sapphires (≈ 1.49ct.) and 108 White Diamonds (≈ 4.56ct.).

 

BVLGARI SERPENTI MISTERIOSI ROMANI – the most expensive high-end timepiece ever made by Bvlgari

Bulgari Serpenti Misteriosi Romani watch is a cuff featuring a snake sinuously coiled around it. To reinforce the theme, the cuff is embellished with baguette-cut diamond scales, so that the wrist inhabits the design and becomes part of the snake itself. Truly spectacular, this one of a kind creation is the most expensive high-end timepiece ever made by Bvlgari, comprising a massive number of precious stones — the snakehead is crowned with a 10-carat Sri Lankan sapphire and a total of more than 60 carats of diamonds and 35 carats of sapphires form the snake’s body and scales.

Serpenti Misteriosi Romani High-Jewellery secret watch in 18kt white gold set with 1 cushion cut sapphire (~10,83 cts), 674 buff-top cut sapphires (~32,49 cts), baguette and pavé-set diamonds (~63,33 cts) on the case, bracelet and dial. Pear-shaped sapphire eyes (~0,70 ct). Pavé-set diamond dial. Quartz movement, Bvlgari customized and adorned with Bvlgari logo.

HUBLOT BIG BANG ONE CLICK RAINBOW

Hublot sets its Big Bang watch models with all the colors of the rainbow, enriching Isaac Newton’s seven hues with the magenta radiance of pink sapphires. Its dial boldly flaunts a chromatic bezel composed of 48 baguette-cut gems.

Eight shades impart a distinctive visual cadence running from dial to case, adorning the 39mm Big Bang One Click Rainbow with 425 brilliant-cut stones and the 45mm Big Bang Unico Rainbow with 388. Eight pop colors: rubies, pink sapphires, amethysts, blue sapphires, blue topazes, tsavorites, yellow sapphires and orange sapphires. This joyful watch also welcomes the colors of the rainbow onto its “gummy” alligator strap, a fusion of natural rubber and alligator leather. Thanks to its patented “One Click” interchangeable strap, the 39mm Big Bang Rainbow can even match its color to that of your It-Bag with a snap of the fingers.