In 1946, Christian Dior turned down an offer to join an established couture house in favour of starting his own label. It was thus that the House of Dior began out of 30 Avenue Montaigne, just off the Champs-Élysées.
Today, the Dior Grand Soir Automate Etoile de Monsieur Dior is a refined, precious timepiece that pays tribute to this origin story in a whimsical, fairy tale manner. The 38mm watch features a mother-of-pearl dial printed with a pink-hued rendition of a Parisian sunset. Le 30 Montaigne, the building itself, is prominent featured, with engraved brass windows and gold leaf suggesting a lit, industrious interior. The cloud-strewn sky is dotted with starry diamonds, some of them arranged after the constellation of Aquarius—a good-luck charm and a nod to Dior’s passion for astrology. Parts of the dial, including clouds and the building, are rendered on different layers, giving a three-dimensional, diorama-like feel.
The Christian Dior logo wafts across the upper part of the dial, as if a dream, while the faceted white gold hour and minute hands stand unobtrusively at 12 o’clock. The watch is powered by a quartz movement, but also features a mechanical automaton—the pusher on the crown will bring two stars to life—a shooting star in white gold, and a ‘star of Monsieur Dior’ in pink gold. It is said that a chance encounter with a star pattern on the Paris pavement was a lucky sign that gave Dior the final motivation to found his brand.
The 39mm white gold case is snow-set with 191 diamonds, while the pink gold bezel features 142 diamonds of its own. The caseback is decorated with a pink gold star, and is engraved with the saying: Il était une fois… or, in English, ‘Once upon a time…’. A previous version of this watch featured a similar scene, but with a blue-hued night setting, and won the Ladies’ Complication prize at the 2023 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genevé (GPHG) awards.
