Once the purview of 18th century teen queens, jewellery watches are now de rigueur for nearly every watch brand offering. While many ladies’ watches have diamonds, most serious gem-covered pieces are made in small quantities. Many are unique, and that easily catapults them into another realm. But adding sparkle for femininity’s sake is no longer enough—women now expect pieces as serious in their horlogical mechanics as the gents. A peek through the domed sapphire crystal of MB&F’s LM Flying T proves they aren’t just resting their laurels on the appeal of a diamond-set case.
Making a jewellery watch is no longer about lining up gems along the bezel. It takes a unique design, and one or all of the following: more diamonds, bigger diamonds, unique settings, special cuts and above all, perfect workmanship and technical gravitas. In uncertain times, quality is always something to be counted on. It’s a better investment, and it just makes you feel good. But a little showmanship doesn’t hurt either.
Here are six jewellery watches that would have made Marie Antoinette’s head spin.
Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Lune Féerique
This multi-level Art Deco composition fits together like a high-end Lego creation. There are sections of mother-of-pearl, miniature painting, aventurine, opaque enamel beads (representing planets) and panes of plique-a-jour enamel (representing moonbeams). It is set with sapphires, round and rose-cut diamonds (shooting stars) and inlaid with turquoise. The cluster of diamonds at 3 o’clock represents the moon and serves as a backdrop for the hour and minute hand, reminding us that this is, in fact, a wristwatch. A 3D fairy, the brand’s favorite motif, presides at the 9 o’clock position.
Limited to three pieces, price on request.
Richard Mille RM 70-02 Tourbillon Talisman
Richard Mille, which has never made watches for wallflowers, dedicates his latest collection of jewellery watches to the rise of club culture, disco music, and the urban tribe of 10 ladies who inhabited Studio 54 in the 1970s: Bianca, Donna, Paloma, Liz, Grace, Diana, Jessica, Gloria, Jane and Carmen. There are seven pieces of each, set with an array of coloured gems and hard minerals. Shown here is the Bianca (Jagger), with pink sapphire, green tsavorite, peridot and diamonds, paired with a dial plate of tsavorite, peridot, ruby, hematite and pink opal, with indexes made of diamonds, pink sapphires, peridots and tsavorites.
US$548,000 or about RM2.2 million
Bulgari Serpenti Incantanti Rainbow
The rainbow theme trending in jewellery watches at the moment is a natural for Bulgari. It was the Italian jeweller, after all, who rebelled in the 1950s against the traditional, diamond-based Parisian school of jewellery by adding some much-needed bold colour to the genre. Its aesthetic of outsized gems and unusual combinations spills over into its watch collections.
The Serpenti Rainbow is set with 1.67 carats of tsavorite garnets, 1.38 carats of yellow to orange sapphires, a 0.23 carat mandarin garnet, 6.56 carats of pink, blue and purple sapphires and a carat of red spinels and rubies. The bracelet and dial are set with more 9 carats of diamonds.
US$234,000 or about RM950,000
Hermès Arceau Petite Lune
The Petite Lune defies convention in two ways: The moon, here a feminine rendition complete with eyelashes, hovers at 10 o’clock instead of the traditional 6 o’clock position and the diamonds and sapphires are set randomly, as if they were scattered over the dial and sunk in where they fell. Hermès calls the setting jeté style, which means “thrown.” There are 87 sapphires and 68 diamonds set into the steel case and mother-of-pearl dial. The movement is the manufacture Hermès automatic H1837 with a moon phase module.
US$10,375 or about RM42,000.
Zenith Defy 21 Pink Edition
This model is colour-coded to represent the fight against breast cancer, with a portion of sales benefiting research via the Pink Ribbon Association. Mainplate and rotor are treated with a pink PVD finish, the case is 18-karat pink gold, and the bezel is set with 44 baguette-cut pink sapphires weighing 2.12 carats. There are 288 white diamonds totaling 5 carats set in the case. It contains Zenith’s high-beat El Primero 9004 movement with one gear train running at 360,000 vph for a 1/100th chronograph function and another for regular timekeeping running at 36,000 vph. It has a 50-hour power reserve.
US$64,900 or about RM264,000
MB&F LM Flying T in Lapis Lazuli
When MB&F’s first ladies’ watch, the LM Flying T was introduced last year, it was a sign the brand was never going to give up the energy of its 3D spacecraft aesthetic, even for a women’s watch. The new Lapis version takes it firmly into that realm, with a mineral dial whose gold flecks against dark blue resemble the night sky. A band of lapis lazuli surrounds the flying tourbillon escapement and serves as background for the inclined hour and minute subdial, all displayed under a dramatically domed crystal. Case, buckle and lugs are set with 1.7 carats of diamonds.
US$138,000 or about RM560,000
Previously published on Robb Report.
