When a high jewellery watch achieves its goal, it can captivate you. The combination of two disciplines, timekeeping and jewelry craftsmanship, somehow manages to make the impossible seem possible.
So in the last 12 months, we have witnessed some impressive new jewellery watches. These include pieces from Bulgari, Dior, Van Cleef & Arpels and Audemars Piguet. Here's a selection of the best.
Floral Watches
Flowers have been an important theme in all the high jewellery watch creations of the past year. Using the watch as a canvas, companies created exotic flowers through coloured gemstones.
Perhaps one of the most valuable high jewellery watches in 2022 was Bulgari's Giardino Dell'Eden Tourbillon. It has more than 6,500 gemstones weighing a total of 223 carats.
This stunning piece evokes the beauty of a Mediterranean garden filled with flowers in full bloom.
So they used various valuable lithos to represent this realistic image. Such as Paraiba tourmalines with cabochons, emeralds, garnets, pink tourmalines, opals, rubies, colourful sapphires and diamonds. This watch was completed in more than four thousand hours of work.
Another brand that takes its inspiration from the world of flowers is Hublot, which is no stranger to collaborations. The company has joined forces with the famous contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Thus they recreated one of the famous floral smiley faces on the dial of the Classic Fusion model.
The Takashi Murakami Sapphire Rainbow Classic Fusion watch features 487 gemstones. Such as rubies, pink sapphires, amethysts, blue sapphires, chavorites and yellow and orange sapphires. These are set in 12 colourful petals that revolve around the classic design of Murakami's smiling face.
Dior's latest high jewellery watch is the Dior Grand Soir Herbier N°2. It plays on the house's emblem, the rose, a favourite source of inspiration for founder Christian Dior. The dial of this model was created from pressed white mother-of-pearl leaves. They are framed by lines of white gold and diamond dewdrops. This brings to life the image of a rose bud frozen in the winter frost.
Secret Clocks
Secret watches were one of the first watches that women could wear. So a woman could show off her wealth and social status. At the same time she was able to discreetly keep track of the time.
This year, two secret watches have attracted attention. The first is the Cartier Tutti Frutti secret watch. Its carved emerald surface unlocks upwards to reveal a hidden dial. As one of the house's most iconic design codes, the Tutti Frutti theme first appeared in the early 1900s. When Monsieur Jacques Cartier began designing jewelry in the Indian style.
Tutti Fruitti usually uses a trio of gemstone colours. Green, blue and red through emeralds, sapphires, rubies, spinels and diamonds to create richly sculpted stone jewelry.
Also impressive is the new Perlée secret watch from Van Cleef & Arpels. It uses the characteristic design of golden beads. It combines them to create a solid structure. This watch upgrades the familiar pattern by introducing a warm dose of bold colour into the design. Both ends are set with colorful decorative stones, like a bracelet bracelet, and one end slides to reveal a dial.
Cantran Pavé
The setting of pavé gemstones is perhaps the most common and expected way of setting gemstones in a watch. However, four brands have used an interesting selection of colours, cuts and gemstone patterns to give a new take on this “common” setting in 2022.
On the 50th anniversary of the iconic Royal Oak model, Swiss Haute Horlogerie brand Audemars Piguet has redefined its traditional model. Specifically with a rainbow-shaped gemstone set with 12 “pure” shades using one gemstone per watch.
But the piece, a limited edition, features 790 yellow gold vermeil baguettes cut across the surface of the watch, weighing a total of 29.3 carats. To match the architecture of the Royal Oak's case, bracelet and dial, these gemstones have been individually cut in 153 different sizes of baguette.
Spectacular cooperation
The latest creations from Geneva-based watch brand MB&F are two limited edition Legacy Machine FlyingT models. They include pavé diamonds to evoke the sparkling shine of snow.
So in collaboration with Paris-based jeweller Emmanuel Tarpin, the brand uses the pave setting to recreate the swirling of falling snow and icy stalagmites. Limited to just eight pieces each, this diamond detailing adds a poetic design element to this complex timepiece.
Dazzling diamonds
The Égérie Moon Phase Jewellery diamond watch by Vacheron Constantin uses a classic white pavé diamond to evoke the sparkle of stars in the night sky. What gives this watch a modern feel is that each of the 1,377 diamonds is set in rose gold, adding romance and warmth to the traditional pavé setting.
Cocktail time
Finally, let's not forget the Ondes et Merveilles de Chaumet Escales watch. It features a myriad of colourful gemstones, from red garnets to Paraiba tourmalines. Thus recreating the image of the Florida Gulf Stream on a sandy beach. But the most interesting aspect of this piece is its dial of red garnets and hot orange pavé gemstones.
Hard Stone Details
But hardstone dials are a favourite design element in high jewellery watches, because the craftsmanship required to create them is well known. One of the greatest experts at it, Piaget took it to new heights with the Piaget Solstice Extravagant Touch watch this year.
After using the house's Savoir Faire, its in-house craftsmen managed to mount a piece of rare black opal on a moving tourbillon movement. As a result, it created a striking background on the dial.
Just charming
Chanel sought inspiration from its first watch, the Première watch, when it created the Hors-Serie Première Chain Charms. As it is inspired by the gold chain of the original watch, the small black lacquered dial is set flush with a black velvet ribbon interlaced with a similar gold chain.
However, what makes this watch stand out is the additional carved onyx charms that are hung on the chain. But each of these spherical pendants bears a symbolic Chanel motif: the number 5, a lion, the camellia flower, Gabrielle Chanel's face, a comet and the Byzantine motif. So these hard stone charms add an air of fantasy and opulence to a classic little black watch.
